Polk County itemizer observer., May 18, 2016, Page 11A, Image 11

Polk County Sports
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • May 18, 2016 11A
DALLAS TRACK AND FIELD
Tallon, Webb go 1-2 in 100-meter hurdles
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
INDEPENDENCE — Dallas juniors Stefani
Tallon and Jenifer Webb entered the finals of
the girls 100-meter hurdles with a singular
goal in mind at the Mid-Willamette Confer-
ence district meet. They didn’t want just one
of them to make state. They wanted both au-
tomatic bids to state this Friday and Satur-
day in Eugene.
“Jenifer and I looked at each other and
said it would be so fun if we could take one
and two,” Tallon said.
The duo did just that. Tallon won the race
in 16.55 seconds with Webb hot on her heels
in second in 16.59 seconds.
“I heard people hitting hurdles,” Tallon
said. “I just wanted to have a clean race. I
was so excited at the finish. I turned around
and asked if (Jenifer) took second. She told
me I think so.”
Webb and Tallon have been training part-
ners throughout the season and have helped
each other reach new levels of success.
“We challenge each other from the first
hurdle to the second, from the starting block
and throughout the whole race,” Webb said.
“Every little bit we’re pushing each other far-
ther.”
While each had their sights set on qualify-
CLASS 5A
TRACK AND FIELD
STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS
Dallas qualifiers: BOYS — Jacob Dem-
ing, jr., pole vault (seeded 10th); Aaron
White, jr., triple jump (seeded 14th); Trevor
Cross, fr., 3,000-meter run (seeded 11th); 4 x
100 relay (Jacob Deming, jr., Cody Webb, jr.,
Aaron White, jr., Justin Huxel, sr., seeded
ninth)
GIRLS — Stefani Tallon, jr., 100 hurdles
(seeded eighth); Jenifer Webb, jr., 100 hur-
dles (seeded ninth); Naomi Howe, sr., 300
hurdles (seeded seventh); Kyleen Benz, sr.,
shot put (seeded 10th) and discus (seeded
eighth).
ing for state, they also had a secondary inter-
est. Each wanted the other to grab the final
spot to state.
“We worked so hard together,” Webb said.
“I’m so happy we get to go to state and enjoy
this together.”
Dallas also saw state qualifiers in seven
other events during the district meet.
Jacob Deming won the boys pole vault
with a mark of 12 feet, 9 inches. He was
also part of the boys 4 x 100 relay team
LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer
Dallas junior Stefani Tallon, center, clears a hurdle during the 100-meter hurdles race.
along with Cody Webb, Aaron White and
Justin Huxel that took second, finishing .01
seconds ahead of Central for third.
Naomi Howe finished second in the 300
hurdles (46.82 seconds); Kyleen Benz placed
second in the shot put (35 feet, 9 inches) and
discus (111-11); Trevor Cross took second in
the boys 3,000 (9:20.50); and White finished
second in the triple jump (41-11 ¼) to clinch
their spots at state, as well.
Boys relay hangs on to second in wild finish at meet
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
INDEPENDENCE — En-
tering the Mid-Willamette
Conference district meet,
Dallas’ boys 4 x 100-meter
relay team of Jacob Deming,
Cody Webb, Aaron White
and Justin Huxel was ranked
first in the league.
But the saying goes any-
thing can happen, and the
Dragons found themselves
locked in the closest finish
of the meet.
The tension began before
the race.
“I knew Lebanon had
switched their team with
John Bates, their all-star,
running second,” Deming
said. “I didn’t know they had
also changed their first leg.”
Lebanon’s new leadoff leg
was Raymond Knuth.
“That made me a little
nervous but I thought we
just need to reply on all
those practices we’ve had,”
Deming said.
As the starting gun went
LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer
Dallas sprinter Justin Huxel, center, attempts to finish
strong in the boys 4 x 100-meter relay on Thursday.
off, Deming sprinted out.
The first exchange to
Cody Webb went off without
any major issue.
“I started a little slow, but
by the time I got to Aaron, I
thought I had made up for
it,” Webb said.
The exchange from Webb
to White also went smoothly.
And it appeared the Dragons
had the lead entering the
final leg of the relay, Webb
said.
The final exchange be-
tween White and Webb
proved problematic.
The relay team practices
handoffs every day after
warmups. But, on this day,
the usually automatic mo-
tion set off an adventurous
and thrilling finish.
“I’m standing there and I
see Aaron coming up,”
Huxel said. “I knew I took off
too early. I freaked out a lit-
tle bit and I looked back.”
Deming, watching from
the other side of the track,
knew that was a bad sign.
“I see Huxel turn his face
and I thought, ‘oh no, that’s
not good,’” Deming said.
As runners sprinted to-
ward the finish, it wasn’t
Dallas racing out in first.
“I lost sight of them for a
second,” Webb said. “Then I
see Lebanon shooting out.”
The Warriors grabbed the
lead, but Huxel knew the
Dragons still held second
place.
“I’m thinking as long as
no one passes me, we’re
fine,” Huxel said.
It was around that time
Huxel’s leg began to hurt.
And Central’s Nick Burgett
was gaining quickly.
“From the corner of my
eye, I see the Central guy
coming up,” Huxel said. “I’m
thinking, ‘oh crap.’”
As Huxel tried desperately
to hang on to second, his
teammates were left hoping
for the best.
“I saw the Central guy
closing in,” Webb said. “All I
could think, was no, no, no. I
couldn’t tell how they fin-
ished.”
White was the only one
unable to see just how close
the finish would be.
“It was kind of hard since
I’m behind everyone, every-
one looks basically straight
to me,” White said, smiling.
Huxel and Burgett crossed
the finish in a tight finish —
too close to call in fact.
Neither team knew which
one took second — and
gained an automatic berth
to state in the process, but
the Dragons did have one
piece of evidence to exam-
ine — a video of the finish
shot by Deming’s father.
“My dad showed me a
video of the finish and it
shows Central leaning a little
farther than Huxel,” Deming
said. “All we could do is wait
and pray.”
Dallas wasn’t hopeful
about the final results.
“I totally thought we took
third,” Webb said. “I was
upset, but I was hoping we
could still make it as a wild
card.”
But as the team made its
way to the awards podium,
they happened to glance
down at the results sheets.
There they saw shocking
news: Dallas finished in 43.96
seconds — one hundredth of
a second before Central. The
celebration was on.
“It was the most exhilarat-
ing adrenaline rush ever,”
Deming said.
Despite the handoff is-
sues, Dallas’ squad set a new
personal record and the
Dragons are excited to finish
what they’ve started.
“It means a lot,” Webb
said. “We’ve been working
hard toward this. We’ve been
consistently ranked at the
top. We want to go there and
hopefully do well.”
Dream: Mom inspires daughter
Men’s track takes
to find positives throughout life
WESTERN OREGON ROUNDUP
Continued from Page 10A
That moment was just one of several for the Panthers.
—
Sophomore Bethanie Altamirano always thought this mo-
ment would come. Since running a 300-meter race in mid-
dle school, she circled the 400 as her race once she got to
high school.
“My goal was to go to state and I remember telling myself
I was going to break 60 seconds in the 400 before I graduat-
ed,” Altamirano said.
She achieved both of those goals in a single race becom-
ing district champion in the 400, finishing in 59.61 seconds.
“I ran to my mom and started crying,” Altamirano said.
Her mom has been more than a constant supporter, she’s
been Altamirano’s inspiration and helped change her entire
outlook on life.
As a freshman, Altamirano was excited to start chasing her
goals on the track. But that spring, she received some diffi-
cult news. Her mother, who had been battling kidney prob-
lems, saw her condition worsen.
“She told me during track season that she needed a kid-
ney transplant,” Altamirano said.
Track faded into the background. Her goals disappeared
and although she finished the season, her heart wasn’t truly
in it.
“I wasn’t ready to go to state last year,” Altamirano said. “I
didn’t believe in myself. I was just out of it.”
That began to change. Although her mom has had ups
and downs, Altamirano learned to find the joy in each mo-
ment.
“I started praying more,” Altamirano said. “She’s been in
the hospital so many times, but she’s doing OK right now.
I’ve learned to find the positives instead of the negatives.
Last year, all I found were the negatives and that just brought
me down. This year, I just keep the positive and keep going
forward.”
That new attitude helped Altamirano become a district
champion.
“I felt relief and happiness,” she said. “I think about Steve
Prefontaine’s quote, ‘To give anything less than your best is
to sacrifice a gift.’ I thought I need to go faster. I believe that
God can help me do this.”
Altamirano was also part of the girls 4 x 100 relay team of
Elizabeth Chavez, Alex Alvarez and Reba Hoffman that took
first.
They’ll be joined at state by the boys 4 x 400 relay team of
Isaac Burgett, Joshua Peterson, Juan Rivera and Nick Burgett,
which placed second in 3 minutes, 28.52 seconds; Isaac Bur-
gett, who finished second in the 400 in 50.56 seconds;
Samuel Cole, who took second in the shot put with a throw
of 48 feet, 9 inches; and Peter Mason, who finished second in
the long jump with a leap of 20 feet, 9 ¾ inches.
third at GNAC
Sultessa wins the men’s 800
LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer
Central sophomore Bethanie Altamirano won the girls
400-meter run on Thursday afternoon.
“It means the world to go to state,” Mason said. “My sister
went to state when she was in high school in track. Our
jumping coach has always sent someone to state in long
jump or triple jump. This means a lot.”
Josh Dickson (300 hurdles), Kyle Miller (javelin), the boys 4
x 100 relay team of Casey Brown, Isaiah Abraham, Jaxon
Hutchinson and Nick Burgett and Reba Hoffman (triple
jump) earned wild card berths to state.
The 5A state meet begins Friday at Hayward Field in Eu-
gene.
“(We need to) stay humble,” Hutchinson said. “There are
some great athletes going there. It will be fun to see the com-
petition.”
Itemizer-Observer staff report
MONMOUTH — West-
ern Oregon’s men’s track
and field team placed third
at the
G r e a t
North-
west Ath-
letic Con-
ference
Outdoor
Track and
F i e l d
Sultessa
Champi-
onships
on Friday
and Sat-
urday.
T h e
men’s 4 x
100-meter
r e l a y
team of
Wesley
Warner
Gray, De-
v o n t e
Wo o d s,
A a r o n
Whitaker
and Cody
Wa r n e r
took first
i n 42 . 02
seconds.
Collier
D a v i d
Ribich
won the
1, 50 0 i n
3:54.18;
a n d
Badane
Sultessa
took first
in the 800
Ribich
in 1:54.
The women finished
11th in the team standings.
Emmi Collier repeated
as conference champion
in the shot put, winning
with a throw of 45 feet, 4
inches.
B A S E B A L L FA L L S I N
TOURNEY TITLE GAME: West-
ern Oregon’s baseball team’s
bid for a conference title fell
short as the Wolves lost to
Northwest Nazarene 9-8 on
Friday af-
ternoon in
the GNAC
baseball
champi-
onship.
T h e
Wolves
opened
the tourna-
Podratz
ment with
a 10-2 loss
to Mon-
tana State,
Billings
and a 14-3
win over
Northwest
Nazarene
on Thurs-
day
in
Etheridge
round-
robin play. WOU defeated
MSUB 18-1 in its first game on
Friday, highlighted by Trevor
Podratz’s four hits and four
RBIs.
Nathan Etheridge added a
three-run home run. The vic-
tory set up a winner-take-all
game against Nor thwest
Nazarene.
WOU built a 6-3 lead enter-
ing the sixth inning, but the
Crusaders scored six runs in
the bottom of the seventh to
regain the lead for good.
Western Oregon ended the
season with a 33-23 record.