THE DALLES — The 2026 track and field season kicked off for many Gorge-area small high schools on March 19 at the Mullen Leavitt meet at the Wahtonka campus facility in The Dalles.
Twelve schools — as large as 4A host The Dalles and as small as 1A Glenwood — enjoyed a rainless but windy, cloudy day to open their competitive seasons.
Seniors Ezekiel Marble and Jack Thiemann of Lyle/Wishram each won events in the boys competition — Marble winning two, the 110-meter hurdles in 16.48 seconds and the 300 hurdles in 43.17. Thiemann won the triple jump with a mark of 39 feet, 10.25 inches.
Trout Lake senior Jayden Kusky and Sherman County senior Renan Christiansen resumed their OSAA District 3-1A rivalry in the shot put. Kusky won at 47-8 to Christiansen’s best of 47-3. Kusky beat Christiansen for the 2025 district title, but the Sherman thrower bested him at the state meet where he placed third to Kusky’s fourth.
Horizon Christian senior pole vaulter Ethan Smallfoot tied Mason Morehouse of The Dalles for first place in that event.
The meet’s final event, the 4x400 relay held under darkness illuminated by the stadium lights, was competitive among the top three finishers. Dufur won at 3:51.55, besting Horizon Christian at 3:53.65 and South Wasco County at 3:53.93.
Dufur, Trout Lake and South Wasco had winners in the girls meet. The Redsides were led by senior Bailey Udey, who won the long jump at 15-4.5 and the triple jump at 33-0.5. She is the defending District 3-1A champion and state meet runner-up in the latter event.
Trout Lake had multiple winners, including pole vaulter Jade Mclean, who cleared 9 feet. She also ran a leg on the Mustang’s first-place 4x400 relay. The team of Riley Rickman, Melody Stock, Mclean and Cora Sharp ran 4:27.56 to runner-up Dufur’s 4:33.10. Stock, the defending 1A state champion in the 1500, won that event in 5:01.85.
Dufur was led by the 1-2 finish of Jacey Calloway and Ellie Brock in the 200 (27.97 and 28.10).
Other notable times and marks at the meet included: Sherman’s Eli Pickard’s 24.12 in the boys 200, Brock’s 1:06.69 in the girls 400;,Trout Lake’s Lupe Medina’s 53.51 in the girls 300 hurdles, and Trout Lake’s Ellie Rubush in the triple jump (31-2).
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