The Last Track Meet of the season does not disappoint
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The Last Track Meet of the season does not disappoint
CVC competitors have a great showing—West Salem boys #3 in 6A competition
It was a quite the event this past week at Eugene’s Hayward Field—hundreds of track athletes from across Oregon gathered to strut their stuff as part of the (1A-2A-3A-4A-5A) 6A OSAA State Track and Field Championships. And strut they did—including the competitors from the Central Valley Conference. For the teams from Salem-Keizer, there were some special moments that deserve stories all their own. Instead, they will be compartmentalized for the sake of the writer’s sanity.
West Salem boys bring home a team trophy
After blitzing the competition at the previous week’s Central Valley Conference meet, the West Salem boys looked to bring home a team trophy, and did so with a balanced performance from all their athletes.
Great efforts from sprinter Mihaly Akpamgbo (see below) provided a firm scoring foundation, with 18 total points. But competitors in the relays, and the distance and field events were all instrumental in earning another team trophy for West and head coach Erich Herber. West finished with 49 team points, behind Sheldon (51 points) and Lincoln (55).
The Titans last track trophy in 2018 was for first place—the boys team championship, a first for West in any sport.
The Sprints and Relays
North Salem and West Salem boys have battled all season long in the “short and speedy” races of track and field. They got one more shot at competing with each other Saturday, and the results were as you might expect—mixed.
The 100-meter race has been hyped all season in the CVC—and with good reason. Demari Thompson of North boasted the best mark of the season at 10.59 seconds, but it was recorded about the midway point, and hadn’t been bested yet. Thompson’s times had plateaued, and he actually lost in the CVC District meet to his West Salem rival, Mihaly Akpamgbo.
But when the state finals came around, Thompson—the defending champion in the 5A 100 meters—became the newest champion of the 6A 100 meters, nipping Akpamgbo—10.65 to 10.68 seconds—to take home the title.
But Mihaly claimed the 200 meter crown, outracing the competition to the tape with a time of 21.75 seconds. Akpamgbo and Demari, who hugged at the end of the 100 meters, represent some of best speed in the entire state of Oregon. Thompson is planning to once again play football for North—moving from a wingback to wideout in the Vikings’ new spread offense. Sadly for West, Akpamgbo is not playing football.
The other marquee events are the relays, and both North and West were among Oregon’s top teams.
In the 4x100 meter relay, North has had the superior times all season in the CVC. They did it again in the statewide competition, coming in second place with a 42.11, just .21 seconds behind state champion Sheldon. The Titans finished with a time of 42.99 seconds, good for 11th place.
West Salem maintained its advantage in the longer relay at 4x400 meters. The Titans brought home team points by finishing fifth with a time of 3:24.42—just over two seconds behind the winning team from Lincoln of Portland. North Salem was 11th, at 3:26.67.
Hurdlers
West Salem’s Matt Nivala and North Salem’s Jackie Bier were point getters for their teams in the hurdles.
Nivala was sixth in the boys’ 110 hurdles with a time of 15.21 seconds. Nivala had the chance for points in the 300 meter high hurdles, but false-started, and was disqualified.
Jackie finished second in her preliminary girls’ hurdles race, and ended up third in the finals, posting a solid time of 15.12 seconds.
Distance Running
The one-two punch of West Salem’s Brady Bliven and Jack Meier helped West Salem score significant points in the distance running category.
Bliven was fourth in the 800 meters with a time of 1:55.36. Bliven was also seventh in the 1500 meters, with a recorded time of 3:55.28. Meier was ninth in the 1500 at 3:56.06 seconds. He ran the 3000 meters on Friday, and was runner up with a personal best time of 8:30.80.
West’s Avery Meier (Jack’s sister) and Sprague’s Sara Abbot also had strong performances on the girls side. Abbott was sixth in Friday’s 3000 meters with a time of 10:17.23, while Meier was ninth at 10:33.96. The two runners also did well in the 1500. The freshman Meier was fifth at 4:39.44, while Abbot finished 11th with a time of 4:46.79.
Field Events
For the boys, there were 13 CVC competitors who finished in the top 16 of their respective field events.
The leading finishers out of that list included sixth place finishes by West Salem’s Makai DeBerry in the javelin (50.95 meters) and South Salem’s Griffin Haider in the pole vault at 4.27 meters.
West’s Logan Hilty was a double-placer in the jumps—with a sixth-place finish in the long jump (6.30 meters) and in the triple jump with a seventh-place performance at 12.97 meters.
For the girls, the pole vault yielded a seventh and eighth place finish for the CVC. North Salem’s Mariko Sonis was seventh at 3.05 meters, followed by West’s Allesia Lemeza, who recorded the same height, but with more misses.
Sprague’s Madison Downey had a ninth and eleventh place finish in the long jump and triple jump, respectively. Her long jump distance was 4.96 meters, just behind West Salem’s Olivia Jolivette at 4.98 meters. Downey’s triple jump went 10.51 meters, ahead of West’s Alessia Lemeza, who was twelfth at 10.22 meters.
Outside the CVC, but on the track
Perhaps the most talked about trackster all season was Lake Oswego sprinter Mia Brahe-Pederson, who lowered her state record in the 100 meters to 11-flat (11.00) in winning the event in Eugene.
It is the third fastest time for a high schooler in the United States. The current record is 10.94, recorded by a teen sprinter from Florida.
Brahe-Pederson told reporters (predictably) after her victory that she should break the record down the road.
In Salem-Keizer, outside the CVC
The McKay Royal Scots had one significant performer in the 5A track meet, also at Hayward Field. It came in the person of junior hurdler Isabel Zamora, who finished third in the 100 meter hurdles and the 300 meter high hurdles.
Zamora’s 100 hurdles time was 15.38 seconds, and she was clocked at 46.97 seconds in the 300 hurdles. The McKay girls finished 20th with 12 points in the 5A competition—all of those points recorded by Isabel. The McKay boys were 26th in the 5A meet with 5 points total.
HERE ARE THE CVC RESULTS from the OSAA 6A track and field championships:
Most photos for this story were provided by Laura Ellison of LE Images. Thanks also to North Salem sprints coach Don Berger and West Salem assistant coach Damien Ramirez for their own pictures from the 6A meet.