EUGENE — As the runners emerged from the final turn in the 400-meter dash Saturday at the Class 4A Track and Field Championships at Hayward Field, Philomath junior Warwick Bushnell found himself in second place.
Could he catch the leader? Could he break the 50-second plateau?
Gallery: PHS track and field at 4A State Championships — Day 2 (May 18, 2024)
A collection of photos from Philomath High’s second day at the Class 4A State Track and Field Championships in Eugene on Saturday.
Three-peat! PHS girls win another track and field title
EUGENE — The possibility of a three-peat by the Philomath High girls track and field team appeared to be in jeopardy Saturday at Hayward Field. Heading into the weekend, Philomath had already seen its potential for points lessened by a couple of bad breaks in the previous week’s district meet. Then on Saturday afternoon at…
It soon became clear that Marshfield junior Bodey Lutes was going to win the race with an insurmountable lead, which he did in 47.97 seconds to break his own state meet record. But there was an intense battle for second with Klamath Union senior DayQuan McKay just edging Bushnell at the finish.
“I didn’t think I had a shot at the leader — Bodey’s really good, he’s crazy good — but I did think I was catching the other guys and so there was a little adrenaline boost,” Bushnell said. “When I thought second was possible, I got really excited.”
The third-place finish might’ve seemed like a disappointment in the moment but only a few seconds later, he was elated when he saw the time — 49.78 seconds. It was not only a personal record and the first time he had finished under 50, but the sprint broke the school record of 49.94 that had originally been set by Berle Stratton in 1969 and tied by Abe Brown in 1995.
Later in the afternoon, he did it again. Bushnell placed fifth in the 200 with a PR time of 22.34 seconds. It was the fastest-ever 200 by a PHS sprinter, breaking the school record of 22.40 that Trevor Sartnurak set in 2015.
“My goal all year was to break those school records and it’s a really good feeling. And I’ve had a goal to break 50 for like years,” Bushnell said. “I don’t really care about placements — this year for the sprints, it was pretty deep.”
North Bend senior Jason Padgett won the 200 in 21.50 seconds, which broke the meet record of 21.90 set in 2010 by Ontario’s Matt Anthony. In fact, the top three in the race beat the previous record with Crook County junior Gabe Love coming in with a 21.70 and Marshfield’s Lutes running a 21.81.
“I think that’s probably the fastest 200 ever. I mean, three people broke the state meet record,” Bushnell said. “After I saw the times, I was just so happy to finally reach some of those goals that I’ve had for a while.”
Said PHS coach Joe Fulton, “The guy that won the 200 (Padgett) and the guy who won the 400 (Lutes) are college-level athletes, no doubt about it. They’ll be D1 runners, they’re very good.”
Bushnell also placed sixth in the 100-meter dash in 11.26. It’s an event that he participated in this season only four times prior to the state meet.
“Warwick could be our top athlete in just about any event,” Fulton said. “You name it — the kid is just an athlete and he loves it, he’s a competitor.”
Fulton asked Bushnell heading into the Oregon West meet what events he wanted to compete in and the answer came back as 100, 200 and 400.
“I trusted him and he, of course, won them all (at districts) and made finals at state in all of them and set two school records,” Fulton said.
Bushnell raced seven times in two days when you take into account prelims, finals and the relay.
“We just need to get more boys out,” Fulton said. “When you’ve got a kid like that to build a team around … I just hope other kids at Philomath High School see that and say ‘I’m going to help this guy’ because we’ve got the athletes at Philomath — they just need to come out and if they do, our boys could be state champs, too.”
Peters 3rd in javelin
Sophomore Josiah Peters won a third-place medal in the javelin with a throw of 162 feet, 8 inches. His top mark came on the third of six attempts.
“On my first throw, it didn’t feel like I had a good plant,” said Peters, who mentioned that he was hampered a bit by groin pull during practice a couple of days earlier. “So I worked on my plant and got faster on my crossovers. The third one just felt better.”
Although he tried a couple of other events during the season, Peters has focused all of his attention on the javelin.
“I’ve been doing it since I was 9 in 2016 and I won the Junior Olympics,” Peters said. “I’ve just liked it ever since.”
Fulton sees a hard worker that he believes will reach the top.
“He’s another kid that really studies the event,” Fulton said. “He just focuses on it and keeps getting better and better and he’ll be a state champ.”
King breaks 2 minutes
On the track, senior Simon King placed sixth in the 800 with a PR time of 1:59.25. King was in sixth by the end of the first lap and appeared to be closing in on fifth in the final 50 meters but was edged at the finish line by a Klamath Union runner.
Still, it was a happy moment with King finishing under 2 minutes for the first time.
“It was super special, especially after being injured for almost a month now,” said King, who had to work through a strained hip. “I didn’t really know what was going to happen out there. I’m grateful to have great coaches and great teammates and people who were able to support me this past week and help me believe in myself to be able to go do it. It was really special.”
King became the 18th in school history to break 2 minutes.
“He followed his strategy perfectly,” Fulton said. “I told him to be in last place at 200 meters because I knew those guys were going to go out crazy fast and they did. He made a move at 300 to get in a better position and tucked in … and made another move with 300 to go, which is the way you’re supposed to run it.”
Despite running behind early on, King still had fast times 200 and 400 meters into the race.
“High school boys in the 800, they go out so fast and then they die,” Fulton said. “He was able to hold on and he would have finished one place higher if he hadn’t eased up a little bit at the finish line.”
Team ties for 7th place
Elsewhere, sophomore Lukas Hernandez followed up his sixth-place medal on Day 1 in the 3,000 with a personal-record time in the 1,500. Hernandez ended up ninth in 4:14.16, which bettered his previous PR by 1.4 seconds. La Grande’s Austin Uhl vaulted out to a large lead early and maintained the pace to win in 4:01.20. Hernandez ran anywhere from seventh to 10th from lap-to-lap.
Philomath ended the meet by placing fourth in the 4-by-400 relay. Sophomore CD Nuno, senior Lukas Dunn, King and Bushnell covered the distance in 3:30.87. The team was running around sixth most of the first three laps. Bushnell, the anchor, moved the team up in the backstretch and by the end appeared to have finished in fifth.
However, an incident involving the winning team impacted the final results.
“Baker spiked the baton after they won the 4-by-4(00) and got disqualified,” Fulton said.
Marshfield was declared the winner and Philomath officially placed fourth.
As a team, the boys ended up tied for seventh with Baker and North Bend in the team standings.
“Seventh for a team that really only has like seven varsity-level athletes is pretty good. I was pleased with the boys but we can do better.”
