The Rogue River Jr.-Sr. track and field team took another step up last weekend when three of its four athletes qualified for the 3A state championships in Eugene on Thurs., May 28, and Fri., May 29.
Three Chieftain athletes, juniors Reagan Alden (girls’ pole vault), Wyatt Smith (boys’ shot put) and Mason Scott (boys’ 300-meter intermediate hurdles), placed in the single events for which each qualified at the previous weekend’s Class 3A District 2 finals in Phoenix, while a fourth, Nadalie MacCrae, did not make the finals despite running her third-best time of the season in the 100 high hurdles.
Alden, for the second year in a row, reached her personal best height at the state meet at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field. At the meet at which she placed third in Class 3A a year ago, she finished in a tie for fifth this year at 10 feet, 4 ¾ inches.
Alden found a more balanced field in the 3A Girls’ Pole Vault championship round, with as many as seven vaulters passing on the opening height of 7-11 ¼, and as many as six still alive in the competition at 9-10 ¾.
In her quest to win a state championship, Alden was the first to miss at 9-10 ¾, after she had made her first two heights without a miss at 8-11 and 9-5.
Alden reached her personal best at 10-4 ¾, and that was her last height, falling in three attempts at 10-7 ½, leaving her in a tie for fifth with Catlin Gabel sophomore Hailyn White.
Ada Millet, the senior from Coquille who was Alden’s closest competitor at Phoenix last weekend, made 10-7 ½ and stayed in step with the top seed, Lucy Fisher from LaPine, through the next two heights, including her PR at 11-1, but with more misses than Fisher.
“Reagan’s jump at state would have put her in second place last year,” Chieftains coach Dan Alden said, speaking of his daughter. “This year’s competition was just tougher. She would have liked to have placed a little better, but at least she had a PR jump.”
Reagan Alden was beset with injury and illness through the first half of the spring. Vaulting for the first time on April 3, she posted efforts of 9-0 at each of her first four meets before reaching a best mark at 10-3 at Illinois Valley on May 2. Dan Alden said Reagan was battling with a still-swollen ankle that hampered her speed on the runway.
“She probably would have done better if she wasn’t working through injuries this season,” Dan Alden said.
Later on Thursday, Wyatt Smith finished fifth at 48-5, a great improvement over his first state appearance last year, in which he threw 41-8 ½.
Smith threw 47-8 on his first attempt, and that stood until his last attempt in the finals round. Jonas Jacobson of Westside Christian of Tigard, a junior, threw 52-10 ¼ on his first throw and was not challenged. Corbin Rappleyea, the junior from North Valley who won the District 2 title, was third at 50-4 ¾.
“Wyatt was happy with his throw and performance at state, and he should have been,” Alden said. “He’s a super hard worker, and he did great. A fifth-place finish going into his senior year is a good place to be. He definitely has the potential for a first-place finish next year.”
Scott, who won in the 300 hurdles at Phoenix, was in a stacked event at state but made the finals, running in 42.58 seconds in his Thursday preliminary. Running from Lane 7 in the finals, he finished seventh in 43.32, the same time as his preliminary race at Phoenix a week earlier.
“Mason put most of his time into speed and endurance training,” Alden said. “If he spends a little more time on the technical form side of hurdles, he will be a major contender next season. A seventh-place podium finish for a junior in hurdles is great.”
MacCrae finished fifth in her heat of the 100-meter high hurdles in 16.72 seconds Thursday afternoon and didn’t make the Friday afternoon finals. Her heat featured Claire Johnson of Vale, who ran the fastest heat at 14.77, and then won the state title at 14.96 the next day. MacCrae ran her personal-best high hurdles time of 16.39 to win the District 2 finals in Phoenix last weekend.
“Nadalie did great at the state meet. She was working through an injury she got during the 300-meter hurdles at districts that slowed her up a little bit,” Alden said. “She is already making a plan to start working in the weight room this summer, and she’ll be back even stronger next year. Nadalie was our overall highest point-scorer on the team this year, and she’s going to do big things next year.”
Next year, the Chieftains will compete in Class 2A, where they should have better representation at the state meet, higher seedings, and possibly better results.
Dan Alden said the next step is to grow the program and host meets at the R.C. Gail Track and Field Facility, which it cannot do until the track surface is refurbished.
“The track is in pretty terrible condition, and they are going to have to do something about it,” he said. “If the track is not safe for other schools’ kids to run on, it’s also not safe for our kids to run on.”
The program did get a new pole vault pit, which had been on Alden’s wish list last year at this time.
Reach reporter Brian Mortensen at [email protected] or 541-582-1707.