EUGENE – Even as she was winning the 3,000 meters Friday, Chloe Huyler's thoughts skipped ahead to Saturday's 1,500 final in the OSAA/OnPoint Community Credit Union 6A track and field championships at Hayward Field.
So by the time she got to the starting line in the 1,500, the Lakeridge senior was a model of determination, immediately seizing control of the race and daring anyone to chase her down.
“I think I executed exactly how I wanted to,” Huyler said. “I just wanted to get out hard and never look back. And I think that's what I did.”
The Notre Dame-bound Huyler rambled to an easy victory by finishing in 4 minutes, 23.89 seconds, a 6A meet record. She was never threatened by her primary competition, both from Lincoln – senior Sophia Malinoski (second-4:29.06) and sophomore Ellery Lincoln (third-4:29.95), the reigning champion.
“I knew Ellery has such an amazing kick, and so does Sophia, so I knew that was really the only way I was going to win it,” Huyler said.
Was Huyler surprised that no one matched her early speed?
“Honestly, I really was,” she said. “I looked at the camera after 400 meters and I was like, 'Where's Ellery right now? I'm so confused.' But I think that just gave me even more confidence. With 400 to go I had such a big gap, so I knew I could win it from there.”
Huyler has had many highlights at Lakeridge since transferring from Nevada as a junior, including back-to-back 3,000 titles and a 6A cross country championship. But she said Saturday's win was probably the most gratifying considering she was runner-up to Lincoln in the 1,500 last year.
“This race today is by far the best because I've been beaten by Ellery so many times,” Huyler said. “It feels so good to get her back. I know she's amazing, and she's going to do amazing things in the future, so getting my senior year off on this is just really, really special.”
Huyler was among four athletes to win two individual titles in the 6A meet. The others were Roosevelt junior Aster Jones (100, 200), Tualatin senior Campbell Brintnall (100 hurdles, 300 hurdles) and Tigard junior Marissa Johnson.
Jones repeated as 100 champion after suffering a hamstring injury in helping Roosevelt to first place in the 4x100 relay. She said she probably made the injury worse in winning the 200, but had no regrets.
“It's rough. I made it through, that's all that matters,” Jones said. “I had some room with the time, so I was just like, 'I'm going to coast this 200 so I can stay healthy for Nike Nationals. I just wanted to cross first. That's all that really mattered to me.”
Jones said that overcoming the pain showed her growth as an athlete.
“I think I tore my hamstring. I'm not going to lie,” Jones said. “Or I pulled it of some sort. I'm just glad I got the job done.”
Johnson won her third title in the shot and repeated as champion in the discus. She was happy with the wins, but remains frustrated by the shot, where she was unable to PR this season, unlike in the discus.
“Definitely, the shot did not go how I wanted,” Johnson said. “I started to make really good progress this week, and it did not execute today. But I'm definitely excited about where that's going. Discus, I'm beyond happy with. I know there so much more there, but to get 152 this year was honestly not what I expected.”
Brintnall, who set a 6A meet record in the 100 hurdles (13.98) on Friday, capped a season of vast improvement with another stellar performance. She won the 100 hurdles in 14.18 and the 300 hurdles in 42.30.
“The goal is just to execute,” Brintnall said. “That's been my goal with my coach all season. State meet record yesterday, so today was just about finishing.”
Jesuit junior Iman Foster won the triple jump title in a duel with her Metro League rival, Westview junior Saskia Dorf. Foster jumped 39-6 ¾ and Dorf was second at 38-11 ½. It came one day after Dorf beat Foster by 1 ¼ inches to win the long jump.
“This whole season, I just really wanted to secure the win,” Foster said. “Yesterday was not the best that I've felt all season, so I just wanted to show the state of Oregon what I could do, and what I had to give.”
Other 6A girls repeating as champions Saturday were Lincoln's Malinoski (800) and Mountainside senior Catherine Phillips (high jump).
Jesuit won the team title, its seventh overall and first since 2018. The Crusaders scored 54.5 points to beat West Linn (52), Tigard (43.5) and Roosevelt (43).
5A
Churchill junior Addison Kleinke, the state record-holder in the pole vault, won her third 5A title. She vaulted 12-6, well off her record of 14-0 ¾.
“It's really good to secure it,” said Kleinke, who won her first long jump title Friday. “It's definitely a relief. It's kind of nerve-racking coming in here knowing what I've told the public what my goal is. So I'm definitely held to that standard, and I'm just happy to continue it.”
South Albany junior Pharalynn Dickson won the 100, 200 and 400 for the third year in a row. She also ran a leg on South Albany's winning 4x100 relay.
“I would say my competition pushes me each year,” Dickson said. “I'm never content. I'm always striving for more.”
In both the 100 and 200, South Albany freshman Charis Rettman took second. The addition of Rettman to the team this season challenged Dickson.
“It's tremendous. She's definitely there pushing me each way,” Dickson said.
Thurston junior Brooklyn Anderson provided one of the biggest thrills of the meet in winning the 100 hurdles. She led comfortably before tripping over the final hurdle and somersaulting, but had the presence of mind to somersault again over the finish line.
“All I remember is resorting back to my gymnastics career,” she said.
She said the first somersault was an accident, but the second was intentional. She finished in 14.93 seconds, edging Wilsonville sophomore Maisy Scanlan (15.15).
“I wasn't sure how far back everybody else was behind me, so I just knew to just keep rolling, because I wanted to get first,” she said. “The emotion was confusion, because I wasn't sure if anyone had caught me yet. And then once I saw it up there, I was just so proud, just very, very happy. Nobody's ever cheered for me that loud before.”
Caldera girls and boys teams claimed the school's first state championships. The Wolfpack girls (70 points) outscored South Albany (56), Crescent Valley (48) and Crater (47).
Summit's streak of 14 consecutive 5A titles (2007-18, 2023-24) came to an end. The Storm finished eighth with 38 points.
4A
Philomath senior Janice Hellesto followed Friday's win in the 4A long jump by taking the 100 and 200, recording personal-best times in both events. She won the 100 in 12.14 and the 200 in 24.70.
Hellesto helped propel the Warriors to their fourth consecutive state championship and eighth overall. They scored 80 points to overcome La Grande (69.5), Cascade (52) and Crook County (39).
Molalla senior Peyton Craven won the 100 hurdles for the second year in a row and captured the 300 hurdles. Craven, who won the high jump last year, bounced back with two victories after placing third in the high jump Friday.
Estacada senior Abby Behrman claimed titles in the shot and discus for the second year in a row. She threw a personal-best 44-4 in the shot and hit 138-10 in the discus, off her best of 153-3, which led the state for all classifications this season.
Cascade senior Lillian Pickett successfully defended her title in the 400, running a PR of 55.77. She also ran a leg on Cascade's winning 4x100 relay.
Pickett said she felt the pressure of being a reigning state champion.
“Last year when I went into the race, I told myself, I don't care how I do. As long as I PR, or I feel good, I'm just happy to be here,'” she said. “But coming into this year, as the state champ in the 400, I knew I had to push it.”
Boys
6A
Jesuit senior sprinter Grant Valley punctuated a breakout senior season with titles and 6A meet records in the 100 and 200.
Valley ran the 100 in 10.36 in Saturday's finals, a meet record and the No. 3 time in state history behind Benson's Micah Williams (10.21 in 2019) and Aloha's Thomas Tyner (10.35 in 2011).
He set the meet record in the 200 in Friday's prelims, clocking 21.11, then won the title by finishing in 21.15 on Saturday's final. The 21.11 is No. 2 all-time, behind Williams (21.03 in 2019).
Valley's performance this year has been stunning considering he missed most of the last two seasons with injuries, including a broken fibula and tibia in a football game in September of his junior year.
“I was not expecting this at all,” Valley said. “I hadn't been able to run since my freshman year. I wasn't able to walk like a year ago. I've just come so far.”
Valley ran the 200 in 20.86 in a dual meet, faster than Williams' state record, but the race did not have a wind gauge. Valley was hoping to put to rest any questions about that 200 time in the state meet.
“That was honestly my biggest goal coming into state because I ran that at a dual meet, there was no wind gauge, no video, it looked sus, which, if anyone doubts, I would doubt it, too,” Valley said. “But I had to come out and do what I do and keep training and just have confidence in myself.”
Valley also ran the anchor for Jesuit's first-place 4x400 relay, contributing to Jesuit winning the team overall team title for the first time since 2014. The Crusaders scored 66 points to stand ahead of Lincoln (62), Sheldon (39) and Tigard (35).
Oregon City's 4x100 relay team – which set the state record of 41.00 in the Three Rivers League district meet – claimed the state title by finishing in 41.63 on Saturday. The team is composed of senior Easton Hunt, junior Chase Borden, sophomore Colin Smith and senior Keaton Moore.
“I think that 41.0, it really gave us the confidence we needed to really make us realize what our overall goal was, and that's to win state,” Moore said. “We came into the day knowing what we wanted to do, and I feel like we came out and executed well.”
The Pioneers knew they had a strong relay entering the season, but needed a fourth runner, and found it when they added Hunt, who played on the golf team in his first three years.
“We had three guys that we knew for sure were going to be really strong,” Moore said. “We didn't have a fourth guy. We had to look out in the school. We got him out from golfing and we turned him into a good sprinter because we saw the potential in him.”
Sherwood senior Dylan Weniger, coming off a win in Friday's 3,000, added a title in the 1,500 on Saturday. Weniger finished in 3:57.70 to edge Jesuit junior Kellen Williams (3:58.05).
Sheldon senior Eli Forsha won the triple jump for the second year in a row.
5A
In the 5A meet, Crater senior Josiah Tostenson claimed the 1,500 for the third time and added a title in the 800.
In the 1,500, Tostenson went head-to-head with senior teammate Tayvon Kitchen, who broke the 3,000 state record Friday. Tostenson won in 3:48.63, which was well off his state record of 3:40.06. Kitchen was second in 3:51.10.
Tostenson said he wasn't pushing too hard in the 1,500 because the 800 was looming. He won the 800 in 1:52.19.
Tostenson and Kitchen, who are headed for college careers at Washington and Brigham Young, respectively, savored their last chance to compete together in Crater uniforms.
“Words can't describe how important Tayvon is to me,” Tostenson said. “We almost worked it out to be college teammates. Sorry it didn't work out, but once teammates, always teammates. So we'll see each other in the NCAAs in the future, and it'll be super fun.”
The duo dared to dream about big things this season, and delivered.
“We always talk about these things we can possibly do,” Tostenson said. “Even if people call us crazy, we don't really listen to them. We just like to speak our dreams with each other. … We're going to keep believing in our fitness and see where it takes us.”
Junior Nathan Lindbloom added another title for Crater, repeating as champion in the javelin. Lindbloom took inspiration from watching Tostenson and Kitchen.
“It's amazing. I love seeing them run,” Lindbloom said. “The coach makes it seem like I'm up there with them, but I'm not up there with them.”
Parkrose senior De'Vontae Hillman, who won the long jump Friday, added a title in the triple jump Saturday. Hillsboro senior Ryan LeClair finished first in the 200 and 400.
Caldera joined its girls team in winning the school's first team titles. The Wolfpack scored 80 points to finish ahead of Corvallis (69), Crater (58) and two-time reigning champion Summit (41).
4A
Baker junior Rasean Jones won both 4A hurdles races for the third year in a row.
He set a personal best and 4A meet record by running the 300 hurdles in 37.03, No. 4 all-time in the state. He clocked a wind-aided 13.84 in the 110 hurdles, faster than his PR of 13.96, which ranks No. 3 in state history.
The meet was bittersweet for Jones, who competed for Baker for the last time. He said he is planning to move to Meridian, Idaho, and attend Rocky Mountain High School as a senior.
“Definitely grateful all these years I got to compete here. One of the best tracks in the world,” said Jones, also an all-state receiver in football. “I'm happy I'm here, sad I've got to leave.”
Scappoose's 4x100 relay set the 4A meet record by timing 42.55 with freshman Slater Smith, junior Max Everett, sophomore Bennett Fink and freshman Colton Smith.
The talent was there at the beginning of the season, but the chemistry needed to develop, according to Everett.
“We all came out running like low 11s, but our 4x100 was never great,” Everett said. “We knew going into the season, if we get everything down perfectly, we will win state, and we can break a school record, which we did.”
Marshfield senior Bodey Lutes set a 4A meet record in winning the 800 in 1:50.42, cutting from his previous best of 1:53.00, which broke Steve Prefontaine's school record.
“Sub-1:50 was definitely the goal. I came up short,” Lutes said.
Lutes also ran the anchor leg to help the Pirates win the 4x400 relay.
Henley senior Joseph Janney broke the 4A meet record to win the 100 and added a victory in the 200. Crook County senior Gabe Love repeated as champion in the javelin.
Crook County won the team title for the second year in a row, outscoring runner-up Henley 78-74. Marist Catholic (46), The Dalles (42) and Scappoose (42) were next.
jerryu@osaa.org
Subscribe
