Fourteen Philomath High athletes won 15 individual events and two relays had first-place finishes in a three-school track and field meet Tuesday in Newport.
Competing in the Morrow Meet, which included the Warriors, Cubs and Tillamook, the boys and girls both finished first. The boys edged Tillamook by just three points while the girls had a little more breathing room with a 36-point margin between them and the runner-up.
The meet served primarily as an opportunity for Philomath’s junior varsity-level athletes to get some time in a meet. There were some varsity athletes participating as well although many of them were experimenting with different events.
Among the top performances were senior Warwick Bushnell’s first-place showing in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.16 seconds. For the girls, senior Janice Hellesto dominated the long jump with a distance of 16 feet, 11.5 inches and senior Hanna McDaniel cleared 5 feet while winning the high jump. Freshman Reagan Nuño took first in the 200 with a time of 27.70 and another freshman, Cassidy Smart, had a fast 800 with a winning time of 2:27.36.
Other winners for the boys included junior Leo Pausch in the 800 (2:10.81), junior Lukas Hernandez in the 1,500 (4:21.28), sophomore Jamin Peters in the shot put (43-11.5), freshman Sammy Hernandez in the high jump (5-10) and junior Blake Hauck in the pole vault (9-0).
The girls also had several other winners, including Hellesto in the 400 (1:02.97), senior Melea Lattin in the 3,000 (12:09.27), senior Petra Hernandez in the 300 hurdles (51.80), sophomore Hailey Eckhold in the triple jump (32-1) and senior Aspen Russell in the pole vault (8-0).
Both relays were also winners for the Warrior girls — the 4-by 100 with junior Lucy King, Lattin, Smart and Nuño (54.06) and the 4-by-400 with senior Brooke McDaniel, Smart, Nuño and Hanna McDaniel (4:28.09).
In all, PHS had 34 season-best marks for the boys and 18 for the girls. Among the most impressive out of that list were Peters’s 43-11.5 in the shot, sophomore Bryce Hruska’s 44.94 in the 300 hurdles and junior CD Nuño’s 52.60 in the 400.
Philomath is scheduled to compete Saturday in the Meet of Champions at Sweet Home. Start times are 10 a.m. for field events, 11:30 a.m. for track events.
