Philomath seniors Warwick Bushnell and Janice Hellesto each put in exceptional performances Saturday at the Meet of Champions, a 34-school track and field meet hosted by Sweet Home High School.
Bushnell placed among the top six in three events to help the boys to a runner-up finish and Hellesto took first place in two events to lead the girls in a third-place finish.
Bushnell’s top performance came in the 400-meter dash with a second-place medal in 50.83 seconds — just under seven-tenths of a second behind Astoria junior Quin Gohr. In the 200, Bushnell ran a 22.83 for third in a close race — the top four runners were separated by just over two-tenths of a second. And in the 100, Bushnell was sixth in 11.36.
The Warrior boys also had a good showing in the 1,500-meter run with juniors Leon Pausch and Lukas Hernandez placing second and fourth, respectively. Pausch covered the distance in 4:12.15 while Hernandez came in with a 4:14.08. Both times were personal records.
Elsewhere, sprinter CD Nuño, junior, placed fifth in the 200 in 23.06. In the field events, sophomore Kaden Howard’s best mark of 19 feet, 3.25 inches was good for fourth place in the long jump and freshman Sammy Hernandez cleared 6 feet to place sixth in the high jump.
The team’s 4-by-100 relay with CD Nuño, Howard, freshman Dreyton Nuño and Bushnell finished fourth in 44.11.
Siuslaw dominated in the team standings with 103 points. Philomath had 50 to take second place with the closest competition behind Junction City (43) and Marshfield (40).
For the girls, Hellesto was a double winner with those performances in the sprints. She had a PR time of 12.41 in the 100 and a season-best 25.93 in the 200. Freshman Kya Bolton placed fifth in the 100 with a 12.94.
Senior Adele Beckstead placed third in the 800 with a season-best time of 2:26.38 and freshman teammate Reagan Nuño was fifth in 2:28.13. Another freshman, Cassidy Smart, placed third in the 3,000-meter run in 10:59.34.
Also turning in a top-six performance was the girls’ 4-by-100 relay, which was third with Bolton, Nuño, senior Petra Hernandez and Hellesto sprinting the oval in 50.56 seconds.
Cascade won a close team race with 60 points, Coquille was second with 55 and Philomath third with 52. The Warriors had a partial lineup at the meet with a few key athletes missing events because of Saturday night’s prom or sitting out to rest nagging injuries.
The teams will see their next action Friday at the Heart of the Valley Spartan Challenge, a new meet hosted by Corvallis High School. Along with the Warriors and Spartans, other schools registered to compete include Central, Churchill, Hillsboro, Roseburg, South Albany, Stayton and Thurston. The meet begins at 3 p.m. with field events and 4 p.m. with running events.
