FISH BOYS WIN THRILLER, GIRLS NEARLY EARN REPEAT TITLE
In one of the most competitive district track meets imaginable, the Astoria Fishermen boys repeated as Cowapa League champions by beating their rivals from Seaside by a half-point, 134.5 to 134, with Yamhill-Carlton, Scappoose and Tillamook all within 27 points of the title.
The girls race was nearly as close with four teams between 114 and 150.5 with Scappoose edging the Astoria girls by just three points to earn the district title.
While the Astoria ladies missed out on the team trophy, the meet was notable for several unprecedented performances by the ladies in purple and gold.
Just a day after Charlene Harber and Laura Bobek raised the standard with school records in the long jump and shot put, the two sophomore athletes added another pair of school records to a memorable 2-day district run.
Bobek eclipsed one of the longest-held track records at Astoria High School, Kam Johnson's discus record, by launching a 147-foot, 8-inch throw to better the Astoria Hall Of Famer's 1981 mark by three feet! Bobek is now the heavy favorite to win state titles in both the shot and discus and has the top female high school discus throw in the state this season. Jamie Coggins will follow her teammate to state in both events, adding a second place discus throw (122-1, a six foot personal record!) to add to her runner-up finish in the shot. Scappoose's Kayla Burrus was also expected to reach the state meet with her third place discus mark (118-10) as the Cowapa League will present a formidable threesome at Eugene.
Harber eclipsed her own school record in the triple jump, going 36-feet, 3 1/4 inches to defeat one of the Cowapa League's top athletes, Stephanie Beeler of Tillamook (35-9 1/4). The gifted sophomore is still just scratching the surface of her potential in this event, having only competed in a few meets this year with no previous experience or training. Later on, Harber on the 100 meters in 12.73 and will head to Hayward Field as a 3-event qualifier and a state title contender in two.
Maddy Adee and Marilyn Brooks also qualified for state. Adee placed second in the 400 meters (1:03.12) and the freshman Brooks was the runner-up in the 100 hurdles (16.62).
Scappoose's depth was too much to overcome at this meet, as the Indians notched 150.5 points to Astoria's 147.5. However, Astoria will likely make a run at a state title this weekend, while the Indians produced just two district champions and three runner-up finishes to Astoria's five firsts and five seconds.
"Going into the meet, we were down 37 points," said Astoria head coach Lynn Jackson. "We shortened it to three and came up just a hair short to repeat the title from last year. I can't be more proud of the kids and the effort that they put forth. Many of them did things just to help the team out."
The Fishermen boys, not to be outdone, also produced a school record mark, although it was only good enough for a second place finish.
Steven Wentworth's dive at the finish line could not vault the Fishermen 4-by-100 relay team to a district title, as Seaside's speedy foursome of Damian Olivar, Dennis Olstedt, Justin Krieger and Joe DeNotta edged the Fishermen quartet of Wentworth, Andres Lopez, John Heick and Kyle McMullen 44.27 to 44.31 to win the title. The Astoria mark did pass the 1999 team's previous record.
Wentworth's effort resulted in some nasty cuts on his legs after tumbling at the finish line and spiking himself. The Astoria senior got bandaged up and nailed down a state berth in the 400 meters, with a second place finish, just 3/100ths of a second behind Chance Rice of Scappoose.
Two other Astorians secured state berths with Nathan Stinnett winning the javelin (162-0) and Alex Whitaker taking second place in the shot put (46-3 1/4).
For the team title, it was another case of depth winning out as Seaside collected six event titles and four runner-up finishes to Astoria's two firsts and four seconds. The win was a pleasant surprise for a team that operated at less than full strength at most of its dual meets this season.
"I knew it was going to be close," said Astoria head track coach Lynn Jackson. "Just pencilling it in, I had us getting ready to score 136 points going into this district meet."
"Very, very tight competition. You just saw it give and take all day throughout this competition. You give up two points in the hurdles and then pick up a couple somewhere else in the shot."
Astoria's Jake Banta (45-3 1/2) and Nathan Stinnett (44-5 1/2) took third and fourth in the shot behind Whitaker's runner-up finish. And the 4-by-1 relay performace, a second place finish when only 4/10th of a second separated the champion Seagulls from the fourt place Scappoose Indians, could have made the difference on Friday. Some unselfishness on the part of the team didn't hurt either.
"I know Justin Tikkala ran the 400," said Jackson, "which he hadn't run all year. He gets to finals and gets seventh place today and scores two points. That's putting himself above the team because he had to run that 400 right before he did the long jump. It all worked out for him. He got second place in the long jump, making it to state yesterday."
"I'm just very pleased with the selflessness on many of our athletes parts."
The Seagulls' Dennis Olstedt was most valuble athlete of the meet, winning both hurdles races and helping both Seagulls relay teams to first place finishes. The Seagulls also got first place finishes from Bjorn McCord (shot, 52-6 1/2), Marla Olstedt (high jump, 5-3), Ashley Mayfield (800 and 1500 meters) and the girls 4-by-100 meter relay team.
The girls race was nearly as close with four teams between 114 and 150.5 with Scappoose edging the Astoria girls by just three points to earn the district title.
While the Astoria ladies missed out on the team trophy, the meet was notable for several unprecedented performances by the ladies in purple and gold.
Just a day after Charlene Harber and Laura Bobek raised the standard with school records in the long jump and shot put, the two sophomore athletes added another pair of school records to a memorable 2-day district run.
Bobek eclipsed one of the longest-held track records at Astoria High School, Kam Johnson's discus record, by launching a 147-foot, 8-inch throw to better the Astoria Hall Of Famer's 1981 mark by three feet! Bobek is now the heavy favorite to win state titles in both the shot and discus and has the top female high school discus throw in the state this season. Jamie Coggins will follow her teammate to state in both events, adding a second place discus throw (122-1, a six foot personal record!) to add to her runner-up finish in the shot. Scappoose's Kayla Burrus was also expected to reach the state meet with her third place discus mark (118-10) as the Cowapa League will present a formidable threesome at Eugene.
Harber eclipsed her own school record in the triple jump, going 36-feet, 3 1/4 inches to defeat one of the Cowapa League's top athletes, Stephanie Beeler of Tillamook (35-9 1/4). The gifted sophomore is still just scratching the surface of her potential in this event, having only competed in a few meets this year with no previous experience or training. Later on, Harber on the 100 meters in 12.73 and will head to Hayward Field as a 3-event qualifier and a state title contender in two.
Maddy Adee and Marilyn Brooks also qualified for state. Adee placed second in the 400 meters (1:03.12) and the freshman Brooks was the runner-up in the 100 hurdles (16.62).
Scappoose's depth was too much to overcome at this meet, as the Indians notched 150.5 points to Astoria's 147.5. However, Astoria will likely make a run at a state title this weekend, while the Indians produced just two district champions and three runner-up finishes to Astoria's five firsts and five seconds.
"Going into the meet, we were down 37 points," said Astoria head coach Lynn Jackson. "We shortened it to three and came up just a hair short to repeat the title from last year. I can't be more proud of the kids and the effort that they put forth. Many of them did things just to help the team out."
The Fishermen boys, not to be outdone, also produced a school record mark, although it was only good enough for a second place finish.
Steven Wentworth's dive at the finish line could not vault the Fishermen 4-by-100 relay team to a district title, as Seaside's speedy foursome of Damian Olivar, Dennis Olstedt, Justin Krieger and Joe DeNotta edged the Fishermen quartet of Wentworth, Andres Lopez, John Heick and Kyle McMullen 44.27 to 44.31 to win the title. The Astoria mark did pass the 1999 team's previous record.
Wentworth's effort resulted in some nasty cuts on his legs after tumbling at the finish line and spiking himself. The Astoria senior got bandaged up and nailed down a state berth in the 400 meters, with a second place finish, just 3/100ths of a second behind Chance Rice of Scappoose.
Two other Astorians secured state berths with Nathan Stinnett winning the javelin (162-0) and Alex Whitaker taking second place in the shot put (46-3 1/4).
For the team title, it was another case of depth winning out as Seaside collected six event titles and four runner-up finishes to Astoria's two firsts and four seconds. The win was a pleasant surprise for a team that operated at less than full strength at most of its dual meets this season.
"I knew it was going to be close," said Astoria head track coach Lynn Jackson. "Just pencilling it in, I had us getting ready to score 136 points going into this district meet."
"Very, very tight competition. You just saw it give and take all day throughout this competition. You give up two points in the hurdles and then pick up a couple somewhere else in the shot."
Astoria's Jake Banta (45-3 1/2) and Nathan Stinnett (44-5 1/2) took third and fourth in the shot behind Whitaker's runner-up finish. And the 4-by-1 relay performace, a second place finish when only 4/10th of a second separated the champion Seagulls from the fourt place Scappoose Indians, could have made the difference on Friday. Some unselfishness on the part of the team didn't hurt either.
"I know Justin Tikkala ran the 400," said Jackson, "which he hadn't run all year. He gets to finals and gets seventh place today and scores two points. That's putting himself above the team because he had to run that 400 right before he did the long jump. It all worked out for him. He got second place in the long jump, making it to state yesterday."
"I'm just very pleased with the selflessness on many of our athletes parts."
The Seagulls' Dennis Olstedt was most valuble athlete of the meet, winning both hurdles races and helping both Seagulls relay teams to first place finishes. The Seagulls also got first place finishes from Bjorn McCord (shot, 52-6 1/2), Marla Olstedt (high jump, 5-3), Ashley Mayfield (800 and 1500 meters) and the girls 4-by-100 meter relay team.
posted by Matt Richert at 11:38 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home