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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (June 15, 2019)
Saturday, June 15, 2019 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS | FACEBOOK.COM/EOSPORTS B1 There’s no one better Hermiston’s Jazlyn romero and Heppner’s Hunter nichols had golden seasons Staff photo by E.J. Harris By ANNIE FOWLER East Oregonian J azlyn romero and Hunter nichols could not be more different. nichols is a distance runner, whereas a trip down the javelin runway is far enough for romero. the one thing that brings them together is that they are the best at what they do, which earned them the east Oregonian’s Outstanding athletes for track and Field. romero, a junior at Hermiston, is one of the top high school javelin throwers in the nation. She is the first Oregon athlete to win a Washington state title. “She wants to be on top (of the podium) every time,” Hermiston coach emilee Strot said. “I think a lot of people still think of her as a basketball player. She is much more.” nichols, a senior at Heppner, dominated on the track all season. He struck gold at the 2a state track meet, winning the 800 meters, the 3,000 meters, and ran the anchor leg on the winning 4x400 relay. “He is a hard worker,” said Heppner coach russ nichols of his son. “I’ve never had to worry about that.” Hard to beat When Hermiston moved from the OSAA to the WIAA this year, Romero already was on the national radar in the javelin. this spring, she moved up into the top 10 at one point, and this week is ranked 12th with a personal best throw of 151 feet, 9 inches. “Being 12th is still really exciting,” romero said. “My goal this season was to break the school record. a lot of the time this season, I forgot I had another season to do it. I’m striving to get it early next year.” Michelle Coombs holds the school record with a mark of 155-11, set in 2008. romero won the 3a state javelin title in May with a throw of 144-11. It was the second-longest winning throw in the 3a division at state in the past eight years. “I went in confident, but no too confident,” she said. “Going in, my mark was the furthest, and I had that security, but anything can happen.” Of the 12 meets she threw the javelin in this spring, there were only two she did not win. She was sixth at the prestigious Pasco Invite, and second at the dean nice Invite in Gresham. While she excels at the javelin, she’s also work- ing on doing the same in the discus. She placed in the top three in seven of the 13 meets she entered. See Track, Page B3
