McKenzie Sports Report - April 11

McKenzie Varsity Sports Schedule This Week

The McKenzie Varsity Track and Field teams travel to Mapleton on Thursday, April 11, to participate in the Mapleton middle-of-the-season meet. Field events start at 4:30 pm and the track events begin at 5:00 pm.

The teams travel to LaPine on Saturday, April 13, to participate in the LaPine Invitational. Field events will begin at 10:00 am and track events will start at noon.

McKenzie Boys Second/Girls Third At AMJ Aaron And Marie Jones Invitational

The McKenzie Varsity Boys Track and Field team earned second place in the team scoring at the AMJ Aaron and Marie Jones Invitational Meet. The annual event, hosted by McKenzie Community Track and Field at the iconic Aaron and Marie Jones Community Track venue, was held on Saturday, April 6, and featured seven teams and 123 high school athletes, from around Oregon. Jefferson, a Class 3A PacWest Conference team from the Salem area, Cascade Academy, a Class 1A Mountain Valley team out of Bend, Mannahouse Academy (Eugene), Mapleton, Alsea, and McKenzie, all representing the Class 1A Mountain West League, rounded out the field.

The annual meet commenced on a typical Cascades Spring day, damp and chilly, with a sprinkle of dry mixed in for grins. Jefferson won both the Boys and Girls team competition. The Lions Boys scored 212.5 points and McKenzie finished second with 126.5 points. Mohawk earned third with 84 points, Cascade Academy took a fourth home with 58 points, Mapleton came in at fifth with 19 points and Alsea was sixth on the day with 3 points earned.

The Jefferson Lions Girls scored 147 points to easily outpace the rest of the field. Alsea scored 80 points for a second-place finish, and McKenzie was right behind in third with 74 points. Mapleton finished fourth with 60 points, Mohawk fifth with 49 points, Cascade Academy in sixth with 28 points, and Mannahouse Academy (Eugene) scored 17 points for seventh place.

Griffin Withalm And Will Meister PR To Win Eagle 4 By Relays

Senior Griffin Withalm fired up his Eagle teammates last chilly Saturday, at the AMJ Aaron and Marie Jones Invitational, with a Personal Record first-place 100-meter sprint. Withalm's new finish time for the 100 m. was recorded at 11.64 seconds and inspired his race teammates as Rhys Hamlow finished 10th in 13.44 sec., Hayden Harbick 13th in 13.60 sec., William Valtinson 16th in 14.18 sec., Auden Vailes 17th in 14.46 sec., all Personal Records as well. Eagle Coulter Lyons finished his race in 18th place in 14.67 seconds.

Will Meister's Personal Record arrived a bit later in the day, the 3000-meter race and his new mark was timed at 11:31.89 minutes. The McKenzie quartet Allen Acevedo, Salomon Acevedo, Atom Fetterhoft, and Withalm won both relay races, the 4x100 m. relay in 46.79 seconds and the 4x400 m. relay in 4:08.63 minutes. Allen Acevedo also placed second in a tight 400 m. finish with Jefferson's Drew Withee, who took first. Both runners established Personal Records, Withee, 58.44 seconds, and Acevedo, 58.84 seconds. Meister finished third in the 1500 m. race with a time of 5:28.85 minutes and Corbin Dalton from Mohawk finished first in 5:13.20 min. Salomon Acevedo also brought home a third-place finish, in the 200 m. race, crossing the finish line in 24.89 sec. Cannon Smithers of Cascade Academy won the 200 m. with a time of 24.39 sec. Eagles Valtinson finished ninth in 29.56 seconds and Lyons tenth in 31.41 seconds, a Personal Record for the freshman.

Over in the Boy's field events, Eagle senior Levi Lockard earned a couple of second-place finishes, a discus mark measured at 90 ft. 6 in., and a javelin throw measured at 103 ft. 0 in. Reagan Toetig of Jefferson won the discus with a throw of 92 ft. 11 in. and Lion teammate Andrew Keena won the javelin with a stick of 117 ft. 3 in. McKenzie's Jacob Peek finished third in the discus at 78 ft. 10 in. and earned a Personal Record seventh-place finish in the javelin with a toss of 84 ft. 1.5 in. Hamlow earned a couple of second-place finishes, in the long and high jumps, both Personal Records for the Eagle freshman. In the long jump, Hamlow leaped 16 ft. 11.5 in. He was followed by teammate Vailes, who set his Record of 12 ft. 4.75 in.

Dimetrius Rodriguez of Jefferson won the long jump with a jump of 17 ft. 6 in. Hamlow cleared the high jump bar, at 4 ft. 10 in. for second place, Harbick placed right behind in third place at 4 ft. 8 in. and Reedsport's Keena took first with at 5 ft. 8 in. Hamlow's mark in the pole vault was 6 ft. 6 in., a fourth-place finish, and teammate Harbick finished fifth at 6 ft. 0 in, a Personal Record. Corbin Ellis of Jefferson won the pole vault, clearing the bar at 8 ft. 6 in. Rodriguez also won the triple jump, landing at 37 ft. 11 in. and Harbick finished third with another Personal Record mark of 35 ft. 5.5 in.

Other Boys event winners were Mohawk's Ewan O'Dea in the 300 m. hurdles (49.90 sec.), and Mohawk's Ethan Webb in the 110 m. hurdles (19.9 sec.), Cascade Academy's Jay Brust in the 800 m. race (2:08.54 min.) and Jefferson's Osbaldo Vasquez in the 2000 m. steeplechase (7:45.73 min.).

Liliana Jones And Beckah Short Run and Jump To Second Finishes

McKenzie junior Becka Short and freshman Liliana Jones led their Eagle teammates last Saturday at the AMJ Aaron and Marie Jones Invitational. Short jumped 21 ft. 5.5 inches in the triple jump event and grabbed second place for her efforts. Jefferson's Riley Kemmer won the triple jump with a Personal Record 28 ft. 10 in. leap. Eagles Grace Weiss placed third with a 21 ft. 5 in jump, Paiten Clevenger finished fourth at 20 ft. 7 in. and Sepana Mitchell-Chavez secured fifth at 20 ft. 3 in. Weiss, Clevenger, and Mitchell-Chavez all set new Personal Records. Jones placed second in the 100 meters, finishing the distance in 14.76 seconds behind Alsea winner Tamarra O'Brien, who ran a 14.14-second race. Mitchell-Chavez finished eighth in 18.44 sec. Short brought home a third-place finish in the 300 m. hurdles with a time of 1:24.49 minutes. Mohawk's Lucy Barrowcliff took first with a time of 1:00.28 min., which was a Personal Record for the Mustang athlete.

McKenzie long-distance runner Myra Dion placed third in both the 1500 m. race and the 3000 m. race. Dion's time in the 1500 m. was 6:45.77 min. and that event was won by Paisley Jacobsen of Alsea in a Personal Record time of 5:59.53 min. Dion set her PR in the 3000 m., finishing the longer race in 15:10.85 min. Cascade Academy's Jenna Anne Kerns won that event with a time of 13:09.96 min. The Eagle 4x100 m. relay team, Dion, Short, Weiss, and Jones, also finished third, posting a finish time of 1:02.96 min. Jefferson earned a first-place mark with a time of 57.97 sec.

In the long jump, McKenzie athletes set four new Personal Records. Weiss led the charge with a PR 10 ft. 9.5 in. fourth-place finish. Short followed in sixth place with a 9 ft. 11 in. jump. Clevenger jumped 9 ft. 5 in., for a PR, Mitchell-Chavez finished with a PR 7 ft. 4 in. and Lyla Boydston, in her first meet, jumped 6 ft. 1 in., for a PR. Alsea's O'Brien took first place with a leap of 14 ft. 1 in.

Boydston placed fourth in the shot put event with a toss of 22 ft. 9 in, Eagle teammate Rachel Karch finished sixth at 21 ft. 3.5 in. and senior Riley Morales set a new PR with a 16 ft. 7.5 in toss. Brianna Dabel of Jefferson won the shot put with a throw measured at 26 ft. 2 in. Boydston also finished tenth in the discus with a throw of 36 ft. 2 in. The discus was won by Jefferson's Isabella Hahn with a throw of 60 ft. 8 in.

In the javelin event, Dion led her Eagle teammates with a fifth-place throw, her last, measured at 54 ft. 9 in. Karch placed eighth at 49 ft. 7.5 in., a PR, Morales had her second PR of the afternoon with a fifteenth place throw of 37 ft. 6 in., and the javelin event was won by Mohawk's Bayley Fields, who set her PR with a throw of 75 ft. 8 in.

Other Girls AMJ event winners were Alsea's O'Brien in the 200 m. with a PR time of 29.64 seconds and Jefferson's Dabel in the 100 m. hurdles with a time of 20.30 sec. Lavisa Lamarre of Cascade Academy won the 400 m. event with a PR time of 1:08.18 min., Mapleton's Natalie Stevens won the 800 m. race in a PR time of 2:38.94 min., and Jefferson's Flor Ruiz-Jimenez won the 2000 m. steeplechase event in 11:50.69 min. Holly Gay of Jefferson was a dual event winner, taking first place in the high jump, clearing the bar at 3 ft. 10 in. and again clearing the bar over at the pole vault at 7 ft. 0 in.

A Huge Shout-Out To The Dedicated Track Volunteers

It's always amazing and refreshing when a community comes together with a single purpose and accomplishes such. This past Saturday, the McKenzie community did just that when it showed up on a chilly, damp day to produce the annual AMJ Aaron and Marie Jones Invitational track and field meet.

The following folks volunteered to make the event a success. Pete Petty, Tim Hooten, and Cliff Richardson worked the preceding 2 weeks to prepare the track. Steve Severin for vital work setting up the new pole vault standards. Chris Lester mowing the track infield. Connie Richardson and Jack Devereaux working on event flagging and parameter lines. Petty, along with Monte Wilson worked the volunteer table and cleanup efforts. Hooten led a timing crew consisting of Laurel Meister, Silvia Dion, Kayte Barrett, Megan Weiss, and several Eagle Middle School athletes. McKenzie Community Track and Field President Michael Bergmann serving as Meet Director and Starter. Molly Jackson, Clerk of the Course assisted by sister Amanda Colombrao, Sarah Hunter, and Owen Acevedo. Timing control room and stats, Melanie Brite and Dave Hunter. Announcer, Neil Barrett. In the shot put event, Wade Scofield, Paz, and Devin Thompson. Discus event, Brent Weiss, Connie Richardson, and Mary Lipp. High jump event, Judy Cassad, Sam Swetland, and Kiger Plews. Javelin event, Sharon Zook, Joe Zook and Veronique Loggins. Pole Vault event, Marilyn Cross and Braden Ravenscraft. Long jump event, Bob Wilson, Brandi Ferguson, and Lisa Keevers. Triple jump event, Steve Birskovich, and Dan Willis. Concessions, Fred Heins, Lorinda Marcy, and Melissa Norlund. Cliff Richardson, Field official. I apologize if some folks were not mentioned.