Competing in a big-school meet at Gresham on Friday afternoon, the handful of athletes from 4A Philomath put in a noteworthy performance.
Junior Anneka Steen, senior Ahnika Tryon and junior Janice Hellesto for the girls and sophomore Josiah Peters and junior Warwick Bushnell for the boys all came away with victories at the Dean Nice Invitational. Several Warriors put in personal-record times and marks.
Steen cleared a significant milestone by going 5 feet, 4 inches while winning the high jump. Steen’s previous best had been 5-2 on two occasions earlier this season. In the javelin, Tryon notched another victory with a throw of 123-10, the third meet this season that she’s gone 120-plus feet. And in the long jump, Hellesto took first place for the sixth time in seven meets this season with a distance of 17-3.
Peters has been a bright spot for the PHS boys with his throws in the javelin. In this meet, he had his longest throw ever in a competition at 175-6 to take first place. Bushnell had the lone running victory of the day for PHS in the 200-meter dash. In prelims, he ran a PR time of 22.59 and followed with a 22.74 in finals for the victory — beating a Lakeridge sprinter by three hundredths of a second.
To give the performances more context, Philomath and The Dalles were the smallest schools at the meet, both competing in Class 4A, to join 13 schools out of 6A, three out of 5A and two from out of state.
Warrior girls were among seven teams that surfaced as the top teams. Crescent Valley won with 72.75 points but the standings were very tight behind the Raiders with only 3.5 points separating second from sixth. McDaniel was the runner-up with 63.5 followed by Gresham (63.25), David Douglas (62), Lake Oswego (60.5), Philomath (60) and Lakeridge (60).
The PHS girls had a pair of third-place finishes — junior Natalie Dunn in the 400 with a season-best 58.78 and in the 4-by-100 relay with senior Ellie Morton, junior Petra Hernandez, Dunn and Hellesto turning in a PR time of 50.19.
The 4-by-400 relay with junior Adele Beckstead, Morton, Hellesto and Dunn placed fourth in 4:16.84. Senior Madison Juhl placed fifth in the discus with a throw of 100-4. Sixth-place finishes were turned in by Morton in the 100 (13.09), Hellesto in the 200 (26.65) and Beckstead in the 1,500 (4:57.27. Morton and Hellesto both had PRS in prelims in those sprints with times of 12.83 and 25.95, respectively. Beckstead broke 5 minutes for the second time this season.
Lakeridge edged Sheldon and Crescent Valley for the boys title. Philomath finished 12th.
Beyond the wins by Peters and Bushnell, there were a trio of fourth-place finishes to note. Bushnell was fourth in the 400 in 50.46, sophomore Leo Pausch was fourth in the 3,000 with a PR time of 9:24.53 and the 4-by-400 relay was fourth in 3:36.99 with senior Lukas Dunn, sophomore Lukas Hernandez, sophomore CD Nuno and Bushnell.
The rest of the Philomath track and field athletes are competing Saturday at the Junction City Invitational. Next week on Friday, the team heads to the Wally Ciochetti Invitational at Cottage Grove.
