Oregon Elite Meet At Summit High School, Bend By Leo Collins
RESULTS
Summit High sponsored the Oregon Elite Meet for the second straight year, offering a chance for Oregon’s best from all divisions to face each on an excellent track and for the second time Cole Watson of Rogue River not only accepted the challenge but was the star of the meet. His time of 1:52.85 was easily the best single performance of the meet. It was especially impressive, as his season’s goal is next week’s Jim Ryun Mile that will be part of New York’s Diamond League Meet, so he had not been expected to overly tax his system. Demetrius Rhodes of Benson placed 2nd in the event in 1:57, while Beaverton freshman Kevin Kavanaugh finished 4th in 2:01: an excellent time for a member of that class.
The guys from Banks also accepted the challenge with their stated goal to break their school record of 3:27 and they did that easily with a very impressive time of 3:22.42. Their time was nearly the best of the year for all divisions but also a Summit stadium record: the former record being 3:24.07. Garrett James of Churchill & Baylee Hearns of North Medford were both dual winners, as they claimed the guys & girls 100 and 200 meter dashes respectively.
Paige Kouba of South Eugene won a battle of the swift sophomores winning 4:48.90 to 4:55, while Summit’s Kira Kelly followed her team mate to earn third. In the 800 Meter run Sara Fristoe of Summit claimed victory in a time of 2:28 over her team mate Madison Walker by five seconds. Rachel Slater, also from Summit, won the 400M with a time of 60.56.
In other action Anthony Huffman of Forest Grove scored in the pole vault with an effort of 14-03 to defeat Jaimie Clark of Scappoose by 3”. Chris Brooks of Rogue River placed 5th with 13-06 to set a new school record. Ty Slater of LaPine edged Selman Hutchins of Roseburg 175-0 to 175-01 to win the javelin. Pat Madden of Summit earned victory in the steeple chase with a time of 10:16.21. Sara Small of Sisters cleared 10-08 in the pole vault to claim victory over Tesla Wright of Bend, who had a 10-00, while Jazmin Ratleff of Benson leapt 17-10.75 to triumph in the long jump.
For those, who accepted the challenge to race against the best, it was a pleasant day with a comfortable temperature, moderate wind and no rain at least during the meet. It was great to see small schools like Southwest Christian & Rogue River to jump in the car & head to Bend for the meet to take on all-comers from Summit, Benson, South Eugene & North Medford to name just a few of the schools. Given the watering-down of events due to excessive divisions this is an event that is much needed in Oregon & I’d recommend that everyone avail themselves to this event next spring. With so many things to do in and around the Bend area it offers a great opportunity for team bonding. Just for our family we included trips to Tumalo Falls & the Newbury National Monument not to mention the balloon festival. The track, of course, is special in its own right.
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