The Oregon State Meet returned after a three year Covid hiatus and the meet did not disappoint.
Friday
Not only had it been three years since the last OSAA State Meet, but Hayward Field has not hosted the state meet since 2018 due to the remodel of the stadium. For many Oregonians, it was their first time in the revamped stadium. Here are some of the Friday highlights.
The noticeable theme for the weekend was the improvement of times since the last state meet. Emily Wisniewski of Crescent Valley ran nine seconds faster than the 2019 winner as Emily won the 5A 3000 in 10:03.76. Kate Peters of Lake Oswego broke the state meet record for the 6A division in a time of 9:25.15. Kate took the lead early and never relinquished her spot in the front. Elwood Hosking of Phoenix roared by Alexander Garcia-Silver of Marshfield to win the 4A 3000 in 8:34.56. Both Elwood and Alexander bettered the 2019 mark of 8:51 by a wide margin. Tyrone Gorze of Crater obliterated the 5A meet recored by nine seconds with his 8:17.26 3000 meter victory. Michael Maiorano of South Medford took the lead of a deep 6A 3000 meter race and held on to a six second gap from the pack with a lap to go. Caleb Lakeman of Tualatin caught Michael and won with a time of 8:13.31. Both Michael and Caleb ran 19 seconds faster than the 2019 winner!
In the 1A/2A/3A portion of Friday's races, several athletes made huge class improvements from 2019. Makena Houston of Columbia Christian won the 1A 1500 in a time of 4:46 which nearly broke the class record, but was 14 seconds faster than the 2019 winner. Zac Knapp of Enterprise was going for the 2A 1500 meet record. Zac came up short of the meet record, but still ran five seconds faster than the 2019 winner. Olyvia Oeverman of St. Stephen's Academy won the difficult 800 and 1500 double win in the 1A division. Hannah Finch of Heppner matched the 2A 800 meter 2019 wining time exactly in 2:24.52. Caleb Brown of Pine Eagle ran almost three seconds faster than the 2019 champion finishing in 1:58.69 in the 1A 800 meter race.
Saturday
Emma Baeth pulled away for a convincing win in the girls 1A 1500 meter race and bettered the 2019 mark by two seconds. Much like the elite mile at April's Jesuit Twilight Relays, Chloe Foerster of Jesuit and Kaiya Robertson were locked in a battle for the finish. Chloe prevailed in a meet record 4:24.39 with Kaiya next in 4:24.87. Henry Tierney of Valley Catholic won the 4A 1500 by almost ten seconds and also broke the 4A meet record in a time of 3:53.54. No meet records or improvements from the 2019 time in the 5A 1500, but is worth mentioning that freshman Josiah Tostenson of Crater edged his teammate Tyrone Gorze in a surprise finish in 3:59.74. Caleb Lakeman of Tualatin and William Heslam of Roosevelt raced to the finish line as Caleb won in 3:50.78 to better the 2019 mark six seconds and win the 1500 and 3000 state titles.
Ava McKee of Crescent Valley bettered the 2019 mark in the 5A 800 meter race with a winning time of 2:18.19. Chloe Foerster of Jesuit won the impressive 800 and 1500 double in the 800 meter time of 2:09.60 and Chloe won the 2019 800 state meet title and is one of the rare back to back champions with a three year gap to complete the amazing achievement. Elwood Hosking of Phoenix caught Henry Tierney of Phoenix to win the 4A 800 meter race and better the 2019 time by almost a second. Jeffrey Hellman of Crater bettered the 2019 and won in a time of 1:55.97. Big shout out to the Crater distance program as three different athletes won the three state distance events. Tommy O'Neil of Canby also bettered the 2019 mark with his win in the 6A 800 at 1:52.71.
Photos from Friday and Saturday's meet are below (note that Saturday we had two cameras so look for both set of pictures within Saturday's gallery):
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