Trout Lake senior Justin Peck powered his way from third to first over the final 150 meters to win the Class 1A track and field state championship in the 800 meters Saturday.
Peck led Gorge-area individual placers at the meet at Eastern Oregon University in La Grande.
The Horizon Christian School boys and girls were the top Gorge-area team finishers. The Hawks’ 4x400-meter girls relay finished second in the meet’s final event, vaulting the Hawks into 13th place with 23 points. The relay of Grace Schreiber, Valeria Bruggeman, Ellie Rinella and Olivia Nickson finished in a season-best time of 4 minutes, 32.11 seconds to earn the Hawks eight team points. Junior Josh Rogers’ runner-up finish in the triple jump highlighted the Horizon boys, who finished 10th with 21 points.
The day-long meet played out under drizzly, cold (39 degrees during the earlier events like the girls pole vault) to sunny but cool weather conditions before a rain shower hit during the final boys race, the 4x400 relay. The unpredictable weather didn’t deter athletes from the state’s smallest schools.
“I think I could speak for most of the coaches when I say that watching the athletes compete, after having to overcome all the adversity they’ve had to overcome the past two years and to stay focused and train, it was inspiring to see,” Horizon Coach Emma Petshow said.
Peck was inspiring to watch in the boys two-lap final. He burst into the lead on the final corner and won in a personal best 1:58.53. A couple of his Trout Lake distance running teammates also had top-eight (point scoring) finishes. Frosh Myana Stock raced to a lifetime best 2:30.32 to finish second in the girls 800, and frosh teammate Shana Orellano was sixth in a PR 2:32.52. That was the second race of the day for Orellano, who was fourth in the 1500 in a personal best 5:23.0, as the Mustang girls finished in 18th place. Trout Lake sophomore Landon Heberling was second in the boys pole vault at a lifetime best 11-feet, which helped account for the team’s 13th place.
Sherman’s girls were 16th overall with 17 points, led by frosh Sophie Hulke and senior Mercedes Cardona. Hulke was second in the shot put and seventh in the discus. Cardona jumped 15-3 to finish as the runner-up in the long jump.
Dufur was led by junior Abby Beal who was fifth in the girls long jump. Kierstin White was sixth in the 100 and seventh in the high jump, and teammate Ashley Bailey was seventh in the discus. The Ranger 4x100 relay of Emily Crawford, Beal, McKenzie Olson, and White was seventh.
Klickitat’s Chloe Wenz bound a lifetime best of 29-3 to place eighth in the girls triple jump and teammate Laney Tuthill threw 30-11 to place fourth in the shot put.
South Wasco had one state placer in junior Oscar Thomas, who was fifth in the javelin.
Also on the boys side, Lyle’s Aaron Smith had his usual busy day, accounting for all his team’s six points, with three seventh-place finishes: long jump, javelin and triple jump. The latter event — held during one of the sunnier (although windy) times of the meet — was one of the closer ones, as all eight placers surpassed 40-feet.
Horizon’s Rogers led until the second to last round. His 40-7.75 PR was a two-foot personal best and kept him in first place until North Lake senior Silas Roth went 41-4. Nine of the 11 competitors either registered personal or season bests.
“That was a close one,” Rogers said after his day was over, as he watched his teammates run the girls 3000. “It was competitive, and we all got along with each other. It was fun.”
Rogers also anchored the Hawks’ fourth place 4x400 relay which included Caleb Lingel, JJ Holste and Diego Quesada. Horizon’s other team points came from junior Alex Whitaker, who placed fifth in shot put and eighth in the discus, and junior Josiah Sohal, who ran a lifetime best of 10:02.99 in the 3000.
The Hawk girls spread around their team points. Bruggeman tied with two others for the best mark in the chilly pole vault at 8-6, but she was awarded third place based on fewer misses. The Horizon senior captain also ran a non-placing season best 29.53 in the 200 and started the Hawks’ sixth place 4x100 relay. Schreiber anchored that relay and placed eighth in the 300 low hurdles in a lifetime best of 51.58. Nickson was seventh with a personal best 1:05.54 in an ultra-competitive, girls 400. The top three finishers were separated by a half a second.
Horizon’s other team points came from senior Kayla Kilgore, who lowered her school record for the third time in four meets to 12:45.89. She placed sixth and had company in the race in teammates Valena Bruggeman, who also PR’d, as did junior Gus Decker. On a tough weather day, nine of the 15 Horizon athletes who competed at state had lifetime bests, individually or as part of a relay.
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