‘We want to win as much in one year as we can.’ Silverton adds another first-place trophy, this time from the Oregon 5A boys track and field championships
By René Ferrán | Photo by Taylor Balkom
Silverton’s success in boys sports this school year carried over to the OSAA track and field championships this weekend.
The Foxes won the Class 5A football title in the fall, took second at the state basketball tournament in March, and capped the state track meet Saturday by exiting Hayward Field in Eugene with the program’s first team title.
“It’s really showing our competition in our classification,” said senior Orie Schaffers, who won the shot put Friday and placed fifth in the discus behind classmate Sam Willis. “Everybody’s been competing well this year, and we wanted to keep the trend going. We want to win as much in one year as we can.”
The Foxes had only the two state champions but scored points in 10 of 17 events to hold off Crater for the title.
“There was never too much pressure,” Schaffers said. “We’re all pretty supportive, so it was more about wanting to do it for our team, not having to do it.”
Wilsonville, led by javelin champion Chase Hix, and North Bend took home the other team trophies. The Bulldogs won the 4x100 relay, and senior John Efraimson won the 400.
Churchill senior Nathan Fields added titles in the triple jump and 300-meter hurdles to the long jump he won Friday, earning athlete of the meet honors.
“Being at Hayward plus the clap plus having my family out and the crowd here just brought it all together,” Fields said. “For being my last track meet, I got to sign out with a bang.”
Redmond junior Logan Robertson handed Fields his only loss of the meet in winning the 110 hurdles, and teammate Nathan Wachs won the high jump.
North Salem sophomore DeMari Thompson swept the short sprints, breaking the meet record in the 100.
Crater completed a rare sweep of the three distance races, with sophomore Jeffrey Hellman (800) and freshman Josian Tostenson (1,500) joining Friday’s 3,000 winner, junior Tyrone Gorze.
Team scores
Top 10
Silverton 79, Crater 69, Wilsonville 65, North Bend 56, Central 39, North Salem 37, Churchill 37, Pendleton 33, Crescent Valley 33, Redmond 32
State champions
4x100
North Bend, 42.67
4x400
Ashland, 3:25.29
100
DeMari Thompson, North Salem, 10.75
110 Hurdles
Logan Robertson, Redmond, 15.58
200
DeMari Thompson, North Salem, 21.76
300 Hurdles
Nathan Fields, Churchill, 39.16
400
John Efraimson, North Bend, 49.75
800
Jeffrey Hellman, Crater, 1:55.97
1500
Josiah Tostenson, Crater, 3:59.74
3000
Tyrone Gorze, Crater, 8:17.26
Discus
Sam Willis, Silverton, 159-5
High Jump
Nathan Wachs, Redmond, 6-4
Javelin
Chase Hix, Wilsonville, 188-4
Long Jump
Nathan Fields, Churchill, 22-5 1/2
Pole Vault
Taylor Morehouse, The Dalles, 15-0
Shot Put
Orie Schaffers, Silverton, 54-7 1/2
Triple Jump
Nathan Fields, Churchill, 47-1
—
