Philomath High School will send 15 qualifiers and five relay alternates to the Class 4A state track meet Friday and Saturday at Hayward Field in Eugene with both the boys and girls expecting to be in contention for team trophies.
For me to say that the girls will be in contention for a trophy is an understatement. In fact, the two-time defending champion Warriors will have their eye on another team title. Coach Joe Fulton said PHS has as good of a chance as any but knows there will be some stiff competition.
“Last year we pretty much ran away from it but this year, I can count about four other teams that are going to score over 50 points at state,” Fulton said, mentioning Mazama, North Bend, La Grande and Scappoose. “We have to really be on top of things and make sure we score every chance we get because it could easily come down to the 4-by-4(00) and if it does, it’s a good thing because we’ve got Janice (Hellesto) on that team now.”
Fulton’s mention of Hellesto refers to the Warrior junior scratching on all three of her long jump attempts at the Oregon West meet. She has 4A’s top marks this season in the event and was expected to win at state. The situation means Hellesto can move to the 4-by-400 relays.
Philomath also experienced a setback with distance runner Ana Candanoza lost to an injury.
“Obviously we had some tough things happen,” Fulton said. “We’re losing 18 points from last year’s state because of Ana being injured and Janice not making it in the long jump. But I think we can make up for it because we still have people in all of those events and we will probably score more in the 4-by-4(00) now.”
The boys, meanwhile, hope to have a shot at winning a fourth-place trophy.
“We could score 35 to 40 points — everything has to go right,” Fulton said. “We’re really not favored to finish first in anything but if everybody has their best performance of the year, we’re going to score some.”
Last year, the boys came up three points short of fourth place.
Heat and flight sheets were to be finalized Wednesday evening but if you take a look at the entries, Philomath has several listed among the best in their events, including four No. 1 seeds.
The Warrior girls could get off to a good start first thing Friday with Adele Beckstead in the 3,000-meter run. She comes in as the top seed with a time of 1047.70, which is more than 8 seconds faster than the second seed.
Hellesto is No. 1 in the 200 with a time of 25.86, which is 0.13 ahead of Scappoose’s Alice Davidson. Natalie Dunn is the runner to beat in the 400 with a seeded time of 57.36. In the 4-by-100 relay, Philomath has the fastest time at 49.47. Fulton has Hellesto, Ellie Morton, Dunn and Petra Hernandez on the relay with Sadie Francis and Baylee Stewart heading down as alternates.
Beckstead is No. 2 in the 1,500 but only .06 of a second behind the top seed, Brooke Perry of La Grande. Anneka Steen (high jump) and the 4-by-400 relay with Beckstead, Morton, Hellesto and Dunn are No. 2 seeds. Melea Lattin and Brooke McDaniel are alternates.
Other high seeds for the PHS girls include Hellesto (third) and Morton (fifth) in the 100, and Ahnika Tryon (fourth) in the javelin.
Warwick Bushnell is seeded high in two of his individual events at third in the 200 and fourth in the 400. Josiah Peters is seeded fifth in the javelin and Lukas Hernandez sixth in the 3,000. Plus, the 4-by-400 relay with CD Nuno, Lukas Dunn, Simon King and Bushnell is sixth. Hernandez and Leo Pausch are listed as alternates.
If it feels to you like the state track and field meet is a little earlier than usual this year, it’s not your imagination. Officials had to move state up a week because of a conflict with the Prefontaine Classic, which is scheduled for May 25 at Hayward Field.
There will be a sendoff for the state-bound athletes at 3:05 p.m. Thursday at the high school. For those who can’t make it to the meet, the action can be followed live on athletic.net.
PHS baseball will hit the road
A victory over then-No. 1 North Marion on Saturday wasn’t enough to boost Philomath up in the OSAA rankings to be able to host a first-round playoff game. The Warriors remained at No. 10 but Philomath did knock North Marion down to No. 2 with Henley now in the top position.
The Warriors have an 18-7 record after an 8-0 win Tuesday over Santiam Christian. Philomath will play Banks, which finished as the No. 1 team in the OSAA rankings for Class 3A, on the road Thursday.
Before the playoff bracket gets filled out completely, there will be four play-in games played and two of them involve Oregon West teams. Newport will host Klamath Union while Stayton heads to North Bend.
If the higher seeds all win their play-in games, Philomath could end up playing at The Dalles, the seventh seed. And if the Warriors win, a rematch with North Marion could be possible in the quarterfinals. A trip to Crook County could be possible. But we’ll have to wait and see how it all shakes out.
By the way, if you’re not taking the trip to Banks Thursday, I’ve been told that the game will be available to watch online at westsidesgreatesthits.com.
(Brad Fuqua is publisher/editor of the Philomath News. He can be reached at News@PhilomathNews.com).