Updates: Salem and Eugene area athletes compete in Day 2 at Oregon Relays at Hayward Field
Athletes from more than 100 high school programs will compete on Day 2 at the Oregon Relays at Hayward Field on Saturday.
The meet is one of the top high school track meets on the West Coast and comes just about a month before the OSAA state track and field meet, which will also be held at Hayward.
Here's local athletes to watch from Salem and Eugene.
Follow along here for live updates on how Salem and Eugene area athletes perform.
Churchill’s Javin Petry sets PR and Top 5 state record
Churchill senior Javin Petry threw a personal record of 154 feet, 6 inches and placed sixth in the boys discus Saturday morning.
Petry’s performance also set a new state record on the Oregon track and field performance list at No. 5, replacing 153-11 set by Ethan Aman of Franklin.
“I was not expecting to even place,” Petry said.
Petry said he threw a 150 at practice a day prior and knew he could replicate it on the main stage.
“It was just putting everything together to actually throw it,” he said. "I’m so happy I did it because it’s been a long time in the making.”
Petry also hit a new PR of 148-5 in the boys hammer throw and placed 12th.
McNary's Yosef Picazo sets PR in boys 800 meters
McNary sophomore Yosef Picazo ran a personal-best of 1 minute, 58.19 seconds to place 18th in the boys 800 meters. He now owns the 13th-fastest 800 meter time in the state this season among 6A athletes.
West Salem’s John Bateman notches pair of personal bests in hurdles
West Salem senior John Bateman ran a personal-best time in the 110 meter hurdles — and the 10th-fastest time in the state of Oregon this season on Saturday.
Bateman placed 16th out of 52 runners with a time of 15.36 seconds.
In a blistering race that featured five of the top 10 times by Oregon athletes this season, Jayden Jessee of Grants Pass won in 14.13 seconds.
Later in the day, Bateman placed 12th in the 300 meter hurdles with a personal-best time of 40.87 seconds. That’s the 15th-fastest time in the state this spring.
South Salem’s Calvin Stewart continues to build on strong sophomore season
When the season began, South Salem sophomore Calvin Stewart’s main goal was to reach 6-foot, 6 inches in the high jump.
He’s been forced to recalibrate his expectations for the year, though, after he reached that height on April 10 in a dual meet against McNary. Stewart’s breakout performance that day exceeded his previous personal best by 4 inches and proved to be the third-best leap in state this season.
Now, he’s got a different goal in mind.
“It would be cool if I could get to 6-7, because that’s our school record,” Stewart said of the mark set by Sean Monroe in 2007.
Another personal-best wasn’t in the cards for Stewart on Saturday, though. On a windy, slightly rainy day in Eugene, he finished 19th with a jump of 6 feet. North Medford’s Houston Klug, who leads the state with a season-best of 6-9, won the meet with a leap of 6-8.
Only five of the 37 jumpers who participated on Saturday achieved a personal-best.
Stewart said he was hindered by a sore calf at the Oregon Relays, but still was able to draw some positives from the experience.
Last season, as a freshman, he finished eighth at the 6A state meet. In his first meet back at Hayward since then, he felt much more at home in a big-meet atmosphere.
“Last year I was a little bit nervous just because I was a freshman jumping at state; huge meet," Stewart said. “But this year, I was a lot more relaxed and comfortable.”
Sheldon’s Eli Forsha wins boys triple jump, sets PR
Sheldon’s Eli Forsha placed 17th in the boys triple jump at last year’s Oregon Relays.
Today, the junior is a champion after he jumped a personal record of 47-1 1/2.
Forsha improved his previous jump of 46-11 3/4, which stood as the top jump in the state.
Justin Temple Jr. of Puyallup placed second with a jump of 45-3 and Noah Goodrich of Summit placed third at 44-10 3/4. West Salem junior Logan Hilty finished 19th with a jump of 41-3 after taking 13th in the long jump on Friday.
Forsha felt the nerves in his first attempt and as a result jumped 44-4 1/4. But he made up for it in his second attempt with a jump of 46-4 3/4.
“I knew after that first one, I was going to be fine,” He said. “It didn’t feel great but I kept my confidence.”
Forsha knew he had to get a good jump in his third attempt as he was set to run the second leg in the Irish’s 4x100-meter relay prelims soon after.
“I wanted to make sure I was on the board and everything looked good and asked If I could get a clap for the last one, which really helped,” Forsha said.
Soon after Forsha jumped his PR and the relay team placed 15th with a time of 43.22, he was ready for his final jump.
But things didn’t go as planned.
“My hamstring popped and there was no point in trying to finish a jump after that,” Forsha said.
Forsha said he will take the next week light and ease back into competition.
South Eugene finishes second in boys 4x800 relay
South Eugene’s boys 4x800 relay team comprised of Jan Bremer, Yosuke Shibata, Ricard Verges and Raul Verges placed second with a time of 7:58.89.
Herriman placed first (7:50.68) and Franklin placed third (8:03.51)
Two South Eugene boys PR in 800 open
South Eugene senior Jan Bremer ran a personal-record time of 1:56.08 and placed fifth in the boys 800 open.
South Eugene senior Raul Verges ran a personal-record time of 1:56.48 and placed seventh in the 800.
Churchill’s Addison Kleinke finishes second in girls pole vault
Churchill’s Addison Kleinke stunned once again.
The sophomore jumped her best of the season at 13 feet, 5 1/4 inches and placed second in the girls pole vault.
“It feels absolutely amazing,” Kleinke said on being back at Hayward Field. “We haven’t been this high up with marks this early in the season yet. So, it feels so good to be here.”
Ella McRitchie of Bainbridge placed first at 13-5 1/4 – the only difference being Kleinke scratched one more than McRitchie.
Kleinke smiled cheerfully, not fazed of the outcome. More important, she said she's matured and grown as an athlete.
“Absolutely, as an athlete these last six months that we’ve been in our off season, I’ve matured mentally a lot and my approach has become a lot different," Kleinke said. "I feel like I’m taking everything one step at a time instead of jumping forward and looking ahead far.”
Kleinke was just shy of her personal record of 13-7 1/2 she set as a freshman.
South Salem’s Griffin Haider sets sights on return to Hayward in May
South Salem senior Griffin Haider entered the weekend with a bit of a target on his back, as he holds the best pole vault mark in the state this season by nearly half a foot.
But, because of a back injury he suffered while competing in the long jump on Friday, Haider knew it would be difficult to come anywhere close to the 15-foot, 3-inch personal best that he achieved at the Sam Barlow Spring Spectacular back on March 21.
So, rather than focus strictly on results during Saturday’s marquee pole vault event, Haider instead aimed to use the experience to aid him later in the season.
“Basically, the number one thing for me today was — I knew it might not be a great day — but I wanted to at least visualize what state is going to be like,” Haider said. “Just feel it out, visualize myself vaulting here come May.”
Haider ultimately finished ninth with a mark of 13-11 ¼ on Saturday. Chase McGee of Camas (Wash.) won the event with a height of 15-11.
Haider’s rise to the top of the Oregon prep pole vaulting ranks has been relatively rapid. Prior to the start of his junior season, his personal-best was 10-3.
As a junior last spring, though, he made steady gains throughout the outdoor season before winning the Central Valley Conference Championship with a vault of 13-6. One week later at the 6A state meet, he cleared 14 feet and finished sixth.
“Going into (this) season, I was not expecting to go high right away,” Haider said. “But then right before the season started, I got 15 feet right off the bat. Last year, when I came into it, it was a slow build up. But this year I was matching my PR right away. As soon as that happened, I knew I was going to be able to hit some really big PRs.”
Boys 4x100 meter relay
The North Salem 4x100 meter relay unit of Brison SpeakThunder, Pierce Walker, Xander Odom and DeMari Thompson finished seventh with a time of 42.93 seconds.
Their preliminary time of 42.70 earlier in the day was ninth-best out 70 schools.
Jarrid Denney is the high school sports reporter for the Statesman Journal. He can be reached at JDenney@salem.gannett.com or on X @jarrid_denney
Edith Noriega is a sports reporter for The Register-Guard. You may reach her at ENoriega@gannett.com and follow her on X at @Noriega_Edith.
This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Oregon Relays at Hayward Field: Updates for Salem and Eugene athletes
