Barrett Justema, Lindsay Siebert, Emily Wisniewski: 3 girls distance runners, 3 stories, each a state champion

By René Ferrán | Photo by Brynn Kleinke 

Barrett Justema experienced both ends of the karmic worm that turns in track and field Saturday at the OSAA state championships. 

In the morning, the Summit senior took advantage of having fresh legs to outkick Emily Wisniewski of Crescent Valley and win the Class 5A 1,500 meters title.

“I knew I needed to be with her at the bell lap, and then we’d probably have, like, an equal chance,” said Justema, who ran a personal-best 4 minutes, 30.69 seconds, to break the meet record and move to the top 30 on the all-time state list.

“I felt in my legs that I had a lot left and felt like once I got going, I felt like I had it.”

A few hours later, though, it was Justema’s turn to have someone with fresher legs outkick her, as Crater junior Lindsay Siebert held off Justema and Crescent Valley freshman Lillian Weiss to win the 800 title.

“I can’t explain to you how happy I am,” said Siebert, whose winning time of 2:15.02 was three-tenths off her personal best. “I’ve never been in a position like this. I ran a 2:21 on this same track exactly a year ago (when she placed third). I never thought I’d be making PRs like this.”

Wisniewski kicked off the distance carnival with a dominant performance Friday in the 3,000, running the third-fastest time in state history in 9:28.52 that puts the sophomore on track to one day challenge Kate Peters’ state-record 9:15.14.

“I’ve been able to progress throughout the season, had my good workouts and kept my easy days easy,” Wisniewski said.

Wisniewski also got a boost from Justema’s teammate, Ella Thorsett, and Canby sophomore Kenzie Bigej, who held with her for the first half of the race so that she wouldn’t have to do the work alone.

Thorsett moved to 10th on the all-time state list, finishing in 9:42.00, with Bigej right behind in 9:42.42, No. 11 all-time.

“They were really supportive before the race and helped push me for that goal,” Wisniewski said.

She hoped this year would turn out different from last spring, when she also won the 3K but faltered on the final lap in the 1,500 to finish third.

Justema, however, wouldn’t let her go so easily. She stayed in Wisniewski’s hip pocket for the first three laps, knowing “I didn’t want to make my move too early, because I knew if I went before, then she would just come with me,” Justema said.

“But at a certain point, I felt like there was only 250 meters left, so I might as well just go and give everything I have left, so I just went and tried to take off and see if it would work.”

Siebert’s self-talk as she battled Justema and Weiss down the stretch in the 800 was more direct.

“I told myself, there’s a time to be nervous, and now is not that time,” Siebert said. “You came on this track, and you’re going to run brave.”

She made her move as the trio went by the steeplechase water jump on the north end of the track. As they turned for home, while she couldn’t see Justema trying to answer her surge, “I could certainly feel her,” Siebert said.

“I knew she was there, and I was just like, ‘You know what you need to do.’ I mean, the time of reckoning is right here. What you do here is going to matter when you cross that line. It’s going to matter tomorrow. It’s going to matter next week. It’s going to matter next year. But you will not forget. That’s what I was thinking.”