Spread the news

SAVE & SHARE THIS ARTICLE

Leader of the Pack

Local Sports | Wed, 05/20/2009 - 1:30 pm | Read 1335 | Commented 0 | Emailed 2
Tags: Monmouth, track & field

Prev Next Enlarge

MONMOUTH — One day after seeing West Valley League rival Christian Cabrera of Amity disqualified with a flinch before the start of his 100-meter preliminary heat, Sheridan’s Seth Wenger decided to be cautious. A false start would end his final before it began, and that wasn’t how the sophomore wanted his season to come to an end.

After working hard this season to improve his reaction time out of the blocks, Wenger began to steadily cross the line in 11.24 seconds over the final month of the season. Westside Christian’s Cameron Colby, though, came into the finals with an 11.28-second prelim and Cascade Christian’s Connor Kirkpatrick was seeded third with an 11.30. Even the fourth seeded Ben Rich of Bandon was carrying an 11.32 into the finals, so the margin of error Saturday was incredibly slim.

Still, Wenger wouldn’t risk a DQ.

“I was a little hesitant out of the start,” he said. “After I saw that Christian scratched yesterday, that was my main concern today was a false start.”

The field left the blocks cleanly, though, and Wenger’s kick over the final 10 meters left no doubt: He is 3A’s fastest man. Even with the slower start, Wenger crossed the line in a personal-record 11.14 seconds. Colby matched his prelim time to take second, just ahead of Kirkpatrick, who ran an 11.31.

Wenger, who also finished third in the 200, likely helped shave time by keeping his eyes forward through the finish. During his freshman year he began to develop a habit of throwing a sideways glance toward his nearest competitor as he approached the line. The glance popped up at times this season as well, but on Saturday it was noticeably absent.

“My coach keeps on me about that,” he said. “This year it’s been, ‘Don’t look. Don’t look.’ But (at the end) I still knew it was mine. I felt it, still. And that was pretty nice.”

In the day’s longest race, the 1,500, Amity’s Jon Pennington was hoping for gold. He was more than happy to take home silver, however, running a personal-best 4:12.59. The junior quickly settled into second place and hung on the shoulder of Rogue River’s Cole Watson through three laps, but Watson pulled away in the final 400 meters, crossing in 4:06.32.

“I felt like I was ready for it. I’d been hydrating all day and I ate well,” said Pennington, who later gutted out a fifth-place finish in the 400. “I knew if I tucked in behind Watson I’d run a good pace, and I did. I feel great about second. To end the year on a PR, that’s all you can ask for at the state meet. And finishing behind Watson? I don’t feel bat about that all all; he’s a beast.”

The Sheridan High girls qualified for the 400-meter relay final and finished seventh, but the Dayton boys raced to a third-place finish in the same event.

Anchor Daniel Kubes, the only senior on the Pirates’ relay team, was happy with the placing but felt the team could have done better.

“It does, it feels good. But there was one point yesterday when we were actually ahead of Westside Christian a little bit,” he said.

“Before, it always felt like we were out there running for second, just because Westside is so awesome. But today we came into this race knowing we could get them.”

The Pirates fought their way into the mix, but a slow final hand-off cost precious time.

“The three-four hand-off didn’t click like it normally does,” Kubes said. “I had to stop a little and then restart, so that’s kind of frustrating. I’m frustrated because I knew we had the potential to win, but when you look at the fact that we weren’t even supposed to make it to state, I can’t really be disappointed.”

In other track finals, Valerie Atsma of Amity took sixth in the 100-meter hurdles (17.61), Jade Bachmeier of Amity was eighth in the 100 (13.37) and the 200 (27.61) while Sheridan’s Chris Stash took ninth in the 800 (2:05.51).

In the javelin, it Sheridan sophomore Tre Hale-Edmerson shattered his previous best on his sixth and final throw, moving from seventh to third with a mark of 172 feet, 11 inches.

The throw bumped Amity’s Dominic Upshaw down to fourth and left Hale-Edmerson behind seniors Cole Scherer of Bandon and Jimmy Cook of Grant Union. Both broke the previous state record, set in 2003 by Casey Bochsler of Regis, with Scherer taking gold (189-11) and Cook earning silver (187-09).

“Dominic’s been pushing me all season,” Hale-Edmerson said. “Yesterday I was throwing pretty well, but once today hit, I think the nerves got to me a little. I think a bit part of it was that I just got too confident. I thought I could just go out and throw a PR (of 169-09) like I did at district. And that’s not how it works. This is state.”

He got his mind-set straight, though, and along with Upshaw will enter next season as a preseason state favorite.

In other field-event action, freshman A.J. Hedgecock of Dayton placed fourth, less than an inch behind third place with a 20-02.25. Teammate Dan VanHorn also took fourth in the discus with a 125-06. Stephanie Johnson of Willamina ended her high school career with a fourth-place finish in the shot put (35-03.5) while Amity’s Nikki Newton took 10th.

Sheridan’s Amber Moser was eighth in the triple jump.

Print | Email Updated 1 year 15 weeks ago