STATE 4A-5A-6A Young Haley upstages her brother in another day for the Crousers

EUGENE – The Crouser saga entered another chapter at Day One of the state 4A-5A-6A state meet here at Hayward Field on Friday. With Ryan, the junior at Barlow, sidelined with a broken foot and unable to defend his state championships in the shot and discus, his cousin Sam was set to take center stage and go for the rare weight triple – a sweep of the shot, discus and javelin – something accomplished only once before in state history. By his Uncle Brian, of course, 30 years ago.

 

But Sam, a senior at Gresham High, forgot about his younger sister, Haley, a mere ninth-grader competing in her first Oregon state meet.

 

With the girls’ javelin scheduled for earlier in the day – before Sam’s discus competition – Haley, already an established figure with a throw of 153-4 on the books from a week earlier, had a historic series, throwing a lifetime-best 161-6 to win the 6A state championship. Her series was 149-3, 147-8, 161-6, 147-0, 148-4, 150-5. She beat Elizabeth Brenner, of Jesuit, by 15 feet. (Photo courtesy of Rick Russell, Rick Russell Photography.)

 

Brenner, a junior who also won the shot on Friday, is one of the reasons Jesuit has taken the Girls 6A scoring lead after the first day with 33 points. Brenner threw 146-6, Lexi Ross of Lakeridge 142-1 and Brianna Bain of Aloha 141-9. Ross and Bain both have PRs beyond 150 feet.

 

For Haley Crouser, her 161-6 throw was (1) the 4^th-longest ever by an Oregon prep using the “new” javelin implement (2) a state freshman record using even the old, more aerodynamic javelin – that was 157-6 by the legendary Paula Berry 26 years ago (3) the 3^rd-longest in the U.S. this season among high school girls, trailing only Hannah Carson, of Chandler, Ariz., 171-9, and Victoria Paterra, of Elizabeth, Pa., 162-9. Two years ago, Carson set the national 9^th-grade record, of 167-11.

 

In the late afternoon, Sam Crouser (photo Kim Spir) finally stepped into the discus circle. He threw 193-4 to win the boys 6A discus by 38 feet, although it was well short of the 205-10 Sam threw earlier this season. That mark broke his cousin Ryan’s Oregon all-time state record and is the longest throw in the country this year. It also fell short of the meet record, 197-11, by Brent Patera of Sprague 25 years ago. A year ago Ryan won the event with a throw of 183-2. Ryan has won the event as a freshman and sophomore; in this, his junior season, he broke a bone in his left foot three weeks ago and is out for the year.

 

Sam Crouser returns on Saturday to compete in the shot and javelin. Earlier this spring he broke the national high school record in the javelin, throwing 244-2. Haley also is scheduled to compete on Saturday, in the 100 hurdles. She qualified for the final on Friday, running 15.45 in the prelims, the 4^th-fastest time of the day.

 

Ryan Crouser’s school, Barlow of Gresham, had plenty to cheer about on Friday, however. The school’s star sprinter, Arthur Delaney, had the day’s fastest qualifying time in the 6A 100 (10.71) and 200 (21.95), and their 4x1 had the day’s 2^nd-fastest time, 42.70 to Jesuit’s 42.61. There was talk that Ryan Crouser, to help his school’s team chances, would compete in the shot and discus using standing throws, but doctors eventually ruled that out as too risky.

 

Friday’s sole track finals were the 3,000-meter runs. Drew Jordan of 6A North Medford had the day’s fastest time, winning in 8:40.37 to turn back another spectacular freshman, Kevin Kavanaugh of Beaverton, who ran 8:44.92 for 2^nd place. (That was, however, well short of the state all-time freshman record, 8:26 by Billy Harper 17 years ago.) Jed Tolbert of Henley won 4A, in 8:44.13, while Daniel Winn turned back Max Runia and Josh Elliott of Crater to win 5A.  (6A 3K photo Kim Spir.)

 

In the girls’ feature 3k, Annamarie Maag of Jesuit won 6A handily in 9:57.97.

 

In the pole vault, J.J. Juilfs of Sheldon stole the show with his first-ever 17-footer, going 17-0 ¾ to win 6A. Juilfs, a junior, was nevertheless short of the state-meet record of 17-7 held by Tommy Skipper of Sandy in 2003. It makes Juilfs one of six high school boys to clear 17 feet nationally this year. Brandon Hooper of South Medford, also a junior, was 2^nd at an excellent 15-9. (Juilfs photo courtesy of  Rick Russell, Rick Russell Photography.)

 

In 4A, Dakotah Keys of Sweet Home won the vault at 15-0 in the first of his four individual events. He also advanced to the final of the high hurdles, running 14.79. He is also entered in the high jump and long jump.

 

Seth Monson of Westview and Luke Leddige of Southridge both advanced to two finals. They won separate heats of the 300 hurdles – Monson in 39.33, Leddige in 39.27 – while Monson had the day’s fastest prelim time in the 400, 48.39, and Leddige in the highs, 14.70.

In 5A, Jack Galpin of Crater broke the meet record in the 400, running 48.93 in the prelims.

In girls 5A, Kellie Schueler of Summit continued her quest for 16 state titles. She has won 12 already, and this year is entered in the 100, 200, 400 and 4x4. She won her heats on Friday in the 100 and 200 but was beaten in the 400 by Melissa Baller of Glencoe, 56.87-56.99. Last week she was beaten at District in the 400 by Angelica Rodriguez of Hermiston. Rodriguez won her heat on Friday.