Local athletes hit the track
With the league championships and state meet fast approaching, local track athletes have just a couple of more chances to lock in their times, distances and heights.
Saturday saw Astoria and Seaside high schools travel to Gladstone, Warrenton head to Amity and Knappa travel to Portland.
Local sprinters shine
Seaside’s Ryder Jackson, Astoria’s Sophie Saarheim and Quin Gohr were the standouts at Gladstone over the weekend.
Jackson won the 100 meter dash in a season-best time of 11.40 seconds, while setting a new personal best in the 200 meters of 23.22 seconds.
Gohr blazed a new trail for himself in the 400 meters, setting a new personal best. Gohr crossed the line in 52.19 seconds and now ranks second in the Cowapa League behind his teammate, Andrew Wintersteen, who sits at 52.17 seconds.
Saarheim finished top three in the 100, 200 and 400 meters. She set a new personal best in the 200 meters of 27.35 seconds.
In the distance events, Astoria’s William Laman continued his strong sophomore campaign. After setting a personal best in the 1,500 meters at The Astorian Invitational, he used the Dick Baker Invitational to set one in the 3,000 meters. Laman finished second behind Nathan Contreras of Westside Christian in a time of 9:33.49. This time moved Laman to the top of the charts in the Cowapa League.
Warner sets another best time
Warrenton’s Jayden Warner continued his strong season as he set another personal best over the weekend at the Amity Invitational.
Warner finished second in the 1,500 meters in a time of 4:23.07, and won the 3,000 meters against a very strong boys field. Warner won the 3,000 meters in a time of 9:19.50, which saw him break his previous best time of 9:31.21.
On the girls side, Oshi Ward and Payten Buckelew set best times in the hurdles and 1,500 meters.
Ward finished third in the 100 meter hurdles and set a personal best time of 17.82 seconds, while in the 300 meter hurdles she crossed the line in first place and stopped the clock in a new best time of 50.82 seconds.
Buckelew finished second in the 1,500 and crossed the line in 5:18.75. This was the fastest time she’s run all season and ranks only behind the 5:17.53 she ran last year.
Knappa distance runners stand out
Saturday was a strong day for Knappa High School distance runners as Joshua Peterson and Orrin Jacobson had solid performances.
Peterson ran his best 1,500 meter race of the season with a time of 4:30.70, while Jacobson continued his steady progression in the 800 meters. The freshman ran a 2:35.03 to start off his campaign and has slashed more than 25 seconds off his time in just over a month. Jacobson now sits with a personal best of 2:10.86 and is fifth overall in 2A District 1.
On the throwing side, Parker Stevens set personal best marks in both the discus and javelin. Stevens’ throw of 128’4 in the discus saw him jump to first place in 2A District 1, and his 148’9 in the javelin has him ranked third.
