It is a rarity that an athlete dominates a track and field event the way South Wasco County’s Madisen Davis did this spring.
The junior capped a perfect season with nine wins in nine meets as she captured a javelin state championship with a top distance of 127-feet-1 inch, besting her nearest competitor, Adrian’s Shyanne Allaire (114-6), during opening-day action Thursday at the 1A OSAA State Track and Field Championships at Historic Hayward Field in Eugene.
“Winning state this year was very exciting for me,” Davis said. “It really signified all of the time and hard work that my coaches and I had put in to get this far.”
Added to her 9-0 record, Davis posted a personal-best throw of 131-6 on April 25 to break her previous school record, had a toss of 128-1 to score first in districts and won her state crown by nearly 13-feet.
From April 17 to Thursday, six events, Davis averaged 128-2 on her javelin throws. Those numbers were quite the turnaround from the 114-0 she put up to qualify for state last season.
“Competing last year was a totally different experience,” Davis said. “I was nervous and not confident in myself or my ability to throw. This year, I went out there and acted like I was the best thrower in the state, and just simply threw, and it worked. Someone told me to go out there, smile, and just have fun, and I did.”
With her perfect record this season, Davis is fully aware that next spring she will get the best efforts out of her competition, so she knows the work can’t stop.
“Considering I did win as a junior, this pushes me to really strive for that state title next year as well,” Davis said. “I feel that I have set a high standard for myself and I want to reach it.”
Also for the Lady Redsides, district champion Ana Popchock placed second in the 100-meter hurdle preliminaries after a personal-best time of 16 seconds to qualify for the finals, and she was third-best in the 300-meter hurdle prelims and moved into the finals following a mark of 49.68.
Popchock finished her day by taking third place in the long jump with a leap of 16-4.25, just four inches shy of her personal record.
With the performances of Davis and Popchock, South Wasco County ended first-day action Thursday tied for third place with Southwest Christian (16 points).
Sherman junior Desiree Winslow participated in two sprint events Thursday and was unable to move into the final rounds.
In the 100-meter preliminaries, Winslow put up a 13.46 for 10th place, and in the 200-meter prelims, she added another 10th place mark of 28.35.
Before state, Dufur freshman Kierstin White had competed in the high jump four times and averaged 4-6.25 in her jumps with a first, two seconds and a third to her credit.
Thursday, White shattered her old personal record of 4-8 by two inches after reaching 4-10, which gave her fourth-place honors, and gave Dufur five team points and 14th place in the 23-team standings.
“Setting my personal record at the state track meet was honestly an amazing feeling,” White said. “Hearing the cheers from the hundreds of people in the stands was one of the most memorable experiences I think I’ll ever have. Jumping at this height has me very excited for my future track years to come.”
With her first taste of state, White knows the expectations are going to be high in the coming years, so her plan is to take everything she learned from this season and implementing those lessons toward greater accomplishments.
“Being a freshman this season has taught me a thousand different things, but I believe the most important one was to take care of myself in every way possible, because I can’t do my best if I’m not feeling my best,” White said. “I think this will encourage me to get bigger, faster, stronger and everything in between. I’m confident no matter the turn of the coming years, track will be one of the most phenomenal experiences I’ll ever have.”
Horizon Christian athletes Kaitlin Wenz and Marena Decker were involved in four combined events Thursday, with Decker enjoying the best finish by scoring seventh place in the discus after a toss of 93-7.
Wenz placed 11th in the 100-meter hurdles (28.96) and she was ninth in the long jump (15-0.75).
In the 400, Wenz tallied eighth place with a mark of 1:04.38 to move into the finals.
In the girls’ standings, Cove was ahead of the pack with 31 points, Perrydale had 20 points for second place, and South Wasco County added 16 points for a third-place tie with Southwest Christian.
Griswold and Joseph each put out 15 points and were knotted in fifth place, Hosanna Christian tallied 10 points for seventh place, Dufur totaled five points to claim 14th place, and Horizon Christian ended opening-day action in a tie for 19th place with two points.
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