Day Two Oregon Relays Hayward Field
Almost 7,000 family, friends and fans at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon braved a day that couldn't decide what to do weather-wise: a little sun, clouds, spitting rain, cold wind, sun clouds rain repeat. That's track and field in Eugene, Oregon in the spring.
Highlights of day two:
Junior Kellie Schueler from Summit High 
School in Bend came into the Oregon Relays with some of the best sprint times in the state of Oregon in years. Earlier in the week, on Wednesday in a dual meet against The Dalles-Wahtonka, Kellie posted wind-legal times of 11.89 and 23.95. In windier conditions at the Oregon Relays on Saturday, she tripled in the space of about 90 minutes, running 11.73 for the 100 (2.3 wind), 24.75 for the 200, 55.28 for the 400 and with a bit more rest anchored Summit's second place 4x4 relay, pulling from 5th to 2nd place. Ryan Bailey, the former McKay of Salem High School sprinter (pictured above, extreme left) now running for Rend Lake College in Illinois, ran 10.31 to win the seeded section of the men's 100 and 20.71 to win the 200 (not wind-aided.) Bailey also ran legs on the winning 4x1 and 4x4 teams and should have been voted "Most Popular Personality of the Meet," thrilled to be competing at Hayward Field.
The Big Dave Simpson Track Club, who set out to break the national outdoor high school 4x4 record was actually New Bern in disguise. New Bern has been on a rampage claiming national relay records indoors and out; this outdoor attempt was run in an open race (one of their athletes was not academically eligible to run for the high school team. They could not run as a club team at the Penn Relays so they ran as a club team in Oregon). Close to the lead in the first two laps, Big Dave lost ground on the third lap but managed to finish third overall in 3:12.89 behind Rend Lake (3:10.71) and the University of Oregon (3:10.90 thanks to a big kick by Oregon's Chad Barlow.)
The Big Dave Simpson Track Club, who set out to break the national outdoor high school 4x4 record was actually New Bern in disguise. New Bern has been on a rampage claiming national relay records indoors and out; this outdoor attempt was run in an open race (one of their athletes was not academically eligible to run for the high school team. They could not run as a club team at the Penn Relays so they ran as a club team in Oregon). Close to the lead in the first two laps, Big Dave lost ground on the third lap but managed to finish third overall in 3:12.89 behind Rend Lake (3:10.71) and the University of Oregon (3:10.90 thanks to a big kick by Oregon's Chad Barlow.) Barlow High School's Ryan Crouser (left) took it easy in the high school javelin throw...he doesn't practice it as much and uses it as a warm-up for other events. Still, he finished second in a personal best of 198-05 behind Heritage High School's Jacob Wilson who won 200-07. (Further south, at the Oregon coast town of Bandon, Cole Scherer won the javelin at the 
Prefontaine Rotary Invitational at Marshfield High school with a 190-8 throw. Before being diagnosed with Lyme disease, Scherer was a distance runner.)
Prefontaine Rotary Invitational at Marshfield High school with a 190-8 throw. Before being diagnosed with Lyme disease, Scherer was a distance runner.)Crouser had hoped to take a stab at the national leading discus mark. So the high school discus final was moved to the infield where Crouser won; his second and third throws were fouls but his best throw was his final attempt: 165-10.
In the women's 4x400, Oregon's Keisha Baker, Amber Purvis, Leah Worthen (her mom is the famous Fran Auer Sichting of Marshfield High School) and Jamesha Youngblood broke the meet record set by Athletics West in 1984, running 3:39.23. The previous record was 3:41.44.
Sean Lewis of Damascus Christian, (above left) a small 1A school, dominated the best representatives from the bigger Oregon high schools to win the 300 hurdles (37.50), the 100 (10.92) and place second in the 200. He won the 110 high hurdles in 14.97. He told the Oregonian that this was his state meet, because he doesn't get to compete against the big guys during the season finale.
The 4x4 winning relay team from South Kitsap High School in Washington (right) went to Pre's Rock after the meet, where they left their split times and a special note.
Kim Spir
