Mac Fleet, #356, left, the University City High School, CA graduate who is "coming to Oregon," won the highly hyped boys' high school mile showdown at Portland Track Festival 2009 at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon Saturday evening. The overcast, muggy day gave way to brief rain showers for the two-man 100 metre and open men's 5K races which preceded the high school boys' mile. When the boys' mile lineup started, the rain abated and the winds were blissfully still. Fleet pretty much led all the way after Oregon-bound Elliott Jantzer of Phoenix HS (Oregon) dropped out after appearing to rabbit the first 800. The final results:
1) Mac Fleet, #356, 4:02.90
2) Robby Andrews, #207, 4:03.49
3) Trevor Dunbar, #205, 4:06.65
4) Elijah Greer, #199, 4:08.08
5) Adam Thorne, in green singlet, 4:10.05
Full results will be available soon at http://www.portlandtrack.org/festival/.
American 800 indoor record-holder, Nicole Teeter, (above right) stopped by to watch the meet enroute to Seattle.
Results from the Friday night distance fest at Lewis & Clark College are here: http://www.portlandtrack.org/festival/Results/Friday%20Distace%20Qualifiers.htm. Top performances in the women's and men's 5K races included Renee Metivier Baillie, Nike, 15:50.12, and Ed Moran, Nike, 13:43.50.
Meanwhile, the throws events for the Portland Track Festival took place at the Mac Wilkins Throws Center in North Portland. Sam Crouser, the Gresham High School junior, left, broke his own state record in winning the javelin with a throw of 238-11. That's the top throw by a high schooler this year, and #2 on the all-time high school javelin list. The #1 US prep throw (new javelin) belongs to Tommi Viskari from Amsterdam, NY, way back in 1988. Viskari had the top #2 and #3 throws as well: 236-0 and 234-7 in the same year. Art Skipper of Oregon will forever hold the "old javelin" record of 259-10 from 1988. Oregon grad Russ Francis from Pleasant Hill is #2 on the national prep list for the old javelin at 259-9. The javelin tradition runs deep here in Oregon.
Story, photos: Kim Spir