Wednesday, May 22, 2019 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
9
Two track athletes crowned as state champions
By Charlie Kanzig
Correspondent
For Skyler Larson, a year
of preparation paid off as he
cleared 6 feet 2 inches in the
high jump to win the state
title at the OSAA 4A State
Championships held at Mt.
Hood Community College on
May 17 and 18. Sophomore
Brody Anderson reached the
top of the podium as well
with a stellar race in the 400
meters.
Larson9s win in the high
jump Saturday included
a bit of drama. The State
leader coming into the meet,
Larson and Garrett Hagarty
of Hidden Valley, who had
cleared 6 feet 5 inches back
in April, ended up as the last
two remaining in the com-
petition after clearing 6 feet
1 inch. As the clock inched
toward the 3:30 start time of
Larson9s other event of the
day, the 110 high hurdles,
Larson had time for a couple
of more jumps and cleared 6
feet 2 inches on his second
attempt. Hagarty was unable
to continue due to an injury of
some sort, leaving Larson as
the winner.
However, having run off
to do the hurdles, in which
he placed seventh in 16.63,
he did not get the good news
about the high jump until he
returned to the pit where his
buddy Garrett Kersavage
greeted him with a hug.
Head Coach Jeff Larson,
Skyler9s father, fought back
tears after his son9s win. <This
meet was the culmination of
years of hard work,= he said.
<Skyler was the smallest guy
at every meet his first three
years of high school. I con-
stantly had to remind him to
be patient and work on per-
fecting his technique. I9m so
truly pleased for him. I think
he had at least an inch or two
more in him, but that hurdles
race took away his legs.=
Anderson9s win, while
not unexpected, pitted him
against Casey Tow of Sweet
Home, whom he nipped at the
district meet a week earlier,
and his own teammate and
fellow sophomore Hayden
Sharp. After being the sev-
enth-fastest qualifier on
Thursday, relegating himself
to an outside lane, Anderson
was visible to all of his chal-
lengers, but came through
with the win, just a hair in
front of Tow with a time of
50.45. Sharp finished fourth
in 51.53.
Coach Larson lavished
praise on Anderson. <Brody
ran like a senior instead of
a sophomore,= he said. <He
wisely paced himself through
the prelims in an effort to
save energy for the finals.
His race plan was executed
perfectly as he came off the
corner in control and powered
down the homestretch for the
win. I9m so very happy for
him. He9s still hungry for
more, too. He plans to race in
several Junior Olympic meets
this summer in an effort to
break the 50-second barrier. I
think he9ll succeed.=
Along with the two win-
ners, the Outlaws claimed a
passel of other medals during
the two-day competition.
Junior Kate Bowen got
things started for the Outlaws
on Friday with her best effort
of the season in the 3,000
meters, finishing sixth in
10:46.33. Defending cham-
pion Hannah Rannow of
Siuslaw stormed to another
win in 10:14.3.
Sophomores
John
Peckham and Will Thorsett
found themselves in a barn-
burner of a race in the boys
3,000. The fast pace and
deep field of runners pulled
them both to personal bests.
Peckham placed fifth in
9:03.67 and Thorsett lopped
18 seconds off of his previous
PHOTO BY CHARLIE KANZIG
Skyler Larson won a state title in high jump.
best on his way to ninth place
in 9:09.11, just half a second
from making the podium.
<Unbelievable,= said Josh
Nordell. <Those guys are so
disciplined and so composed.
I couldn9t be more proud of
them.=
For comparison, last year
only five boys ran under 9:10
at State, and the year before
that it was only four, accord-
ing to Nordell. Kale Cassidy
of Baker stole the race with
a time of 8:51.32 in his best
time of the season by 30 full
seconds.
After bowing out of the
pole vault much earlier than
he hoped at 12 feet, Garrett
Kersavage came back with
a seventh-place medal in the
triple jump, with a mark of
39 feet 11 inches.
See CHAMPIONS on page 16
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