Oregon high school boys track and field: 40 names to know in 2024
The Oregon high school boys track and field season got underway this month. Here are 40 of the state's top stars entering 2024.
Note: There are hundreds of standout boys track and field athletes in Oregon this season, and this is not meant to be a "top 40" list. Feel free to let us know about some of the other athletes you're expecting to star in the months ahead.
DeMari Thompson (North Salem) photo by Taylor Balkom
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Sprinters
Bodey Lutes, Marshfield, junior
Lutes moved to Coos Bay last year from Surprise, Ariz., and made an immediate impact with the Pirates, winning the OSAA 4A state title in the 400 meters, anchoring the champion 4x400 relay team and taking second in the 800. In the summer, he was a finalist in the 400 at Nike Outdoor Nationals, and this year, he beat a field of college runners in the 400 at the Linfield Erik Anderson Icebreaker Memorial Invitational.
Cohen Hall, Canby, senior
Hall made the most of the Cougars’ drop to 5A last year, qualifying for the OSAA state meet for the first time in the 100 and 200 meters and placing second and third, respectively, in his specialties. He’s already run 22.13 seconds this year indoors in the 200 in winning the Spokane High School Invitational.
DeMari Thompson, North Salem, senior
Thompson has been one of the state’s top sprinters each of the past two seasons, sweeping the 100 and 200 state titles at the OSAA 5A meet as a sophomore, then coming back to win the 6A title as a junior. He failed to advance to the 200 final last year, which should provide motivation this spring to finish his high school career on a high note.
James Bauman, Lake Oswego, senior
Bauman became Putnam’s first boys track state champion since 2004 last spring when he won the OSAA 5A title in the 100, then transferred over the summer to Lake Oswego, where he was an all-Three Rivers League cornerback for the Lakers. After reaching the semifinals in the 60 meters at the Nike Indoor Nationals, he’ll look to become the first Lake Oswego boy to win the 100 since Greg Lindsey in 1967.
Jason Padgett, North Bend, senior
Padgett anchored the Bulldogs to OSAA state titles each of the past two years — 5A in 2022 and 4A last spring — and added the 100 and 200 titles last season, when his only defeat in the 100 came to South Medford’s Ben Krebs at the Grants Pass Rotary.
Jayden Jessee, Grants Pass, senior
Jessee added the 300 hurdles to his full-time repertoire last season and was rewarded with a couple of Southwest Conference district hurdles titles, then finished second at the OSAA 6A state meet in the 110 highs and fifth in the 300s. He also qualified for state in the high jump, placing third.
Jordan Vega Ramos, Central, senior
Vega Ramos should be among the favorites at the OSAA 5A state meet in the 100 and 200 this spring after medaling in both events each of the past two seasons. He finished fourth in the 100 and sixth in the 200 as a sophomore, then came back last spring to match his fourth-place finish in the 100, improve to second in the 200 and anchor the 4x100 relay to victory. He ran a leg on the third-place 4x400 relay at the Nike Outdoor Nationals.
Joshua Widdows, Catlin Gabel, senior
Widdows won a second consecutive OSAA 3A state title in the 110 high hurdles last spring, finished second in the 300 hurdles and ran a leg on the second-place 4x100 relay — the Eagles won the 4x100 state title each of the previous two years.
Mihaly Akpamgbo, West Salem, senior
Akpamgbo missed his freshman season because of a right hip injury, then failed to make the OSAA 6A state final in the 100 as a sophomore after winning the district title. Last year, everything came together for him — he won Central Valley Conference district titles in the 100 and 200, won the state title in the 200 after finishing second in the 100, and won the USATF Junior Olympic 17-18 regional title in the 200.
Rasean Jones, Baker, sophomore
Jones dominated in the hurdles races last season as a freshman, going undefeated in the 110 highs and rebounding from a runner-up finish in the 300s at the Greater Oregon League district meet to win the OSAA 4A state title. He recently helped the Bulldogs win their first basketball state title since 2007, scoring 13 points in the final against Junction City.
Distance
Asher Danielson, Wells, senior
Danielson has a flair for design — he created the jerseys the Guardians wore at the OSAA 6A cross country state meet in the fall, where he made the podium for the first time with a second-place finish to lead his team to the third-place trophy. On the track, he took seventh in the 800 and fourth in the 1,500 at state last spring.
Caden Swanson, Jesuit, senior
Swanson is poised for a big season after chopping five seconds off his career best in the 800 last spring and placing eighth at the OSAA 6A state meet. He moved up four spots on the podium at the state cross country meet in November, finishing fourth after winning the Metro League district title.
Caleb Doddington, Crater, senior
Doddington is the middle-distance standout in the Comets’ deep corps of distance runners, winning the Midwestern district title and placing third in the 800 at the OSAA 5A state meet last spring. He ran the 800 leg for Crater’s national champion distance medley relay at the Nike Outdoor Nationals in June and its indoor DMR national champion this month at Nike Indoor Nationals.
Carter Bengtson, Cottage Grove, junior
Bengtson built off a sixth-place finish at the OSAA 4A cross country state meet in 2022 to place third in the 3,000 at the state track meet last spring. In the fall, he continued his rapid development, going undefeated during the Lions’ cross country season and beating Newport’s Finn Collson by 41 seconds to win the school’s first title since Dyrol Burleson won in 1957.
Grady Greenwood, Condon, senior
Greenwood finished second as a junior at the OSAA 2A/1A cross country state meet and won the title last fall — adding to his 1A state title in the 1,500 last May, coming a day after losing by one-hundredth of a second to Joseph’s Jett Leavitt in the 3,000 final.
Jack Meier, West Salem, senior
In the fall, Meier joined Ahmed Muhumed as the only Titans to win OSAA 6A cross country state championships, beating Wells’ Asher Danielson by more than 16 seconds. Now, he’ll look to one-up Muhumed by becoming the first West Salem distance runner to win a title on the track after finishing second to Jesuit’s Jacob Nenow (now an all-SEC freshman cross country runner at Tennessee) in the 3,000 last year. He also medaled at Nike Outdoor Nationals with a sixth-place finish in the 5K.
Josiah Tostenson, Crater, junior
Tostenson followed a banner freshman season, when he won the OSAA 5A state title in the 1,500 and took second in the 3,000, with a mixed bag of a sophomore year — becoming the first sophomore to run sub-14 minutes over 3 miles at the Woodbridge XC Classic, finishing sixth at state in cross country, placing fourth at state in the 800, then finishing by anchoring the national champion distance medley team at Nike Outdoor Nationals. This school year has been a complete return to form — second at state in cross country, eighth in the mile at Nike Indoor Nationals and the anchor leg on a second national champion DMR at Nike Indoors.
Morgan Amano, Valley Catholic, senior
Amano became more of a middle-distance specialist last season for the Valiants, dropping the 3K (where he was ninth at the OSAA 4A state meet as a sophomore) and adding the 800 to the 1,500. The result — he won the 3A state title in the 1,500 and took second by less than a second to Siuslaw’s Samuel Ulrich in the 800.
Noah Laughlin-Hall, Summit, senior
A late bloomer for the Storm’s distance crew, Laughlin-Hall didn’t run varsity consistently until last year, when he cut 25 seconds from his personal best in the 1,500 and a minute off his 3,000 PR and placed fourth in the 1,500 and seventh in the 3K at the OSAA 5A state meet. In the fall, he posted his first podium finish at the cross country state meet, winning the Intermountain district title and placing third at state.
Tayvon Kitchen, Crater, junior
Kitchen is just coming into his own in the Comets’ stable of distance runners. He qualified for the OSAA 5A state meet for the first time last spring, finishing 12th in the 1,500, and won the cross country state title in the fall. At the Nike Indoor Nationals this month, he finished fifth in the 5,000 and led off Crater’s national champion distance medley relay.
Throwers
Devin Brooks, Clackamas, senior
Brooks will continue his athletic career playing football at Autzen Stadium for the University of Oregon, but he’ll look to finish his high school sports career at Hayward Field, where last year he finished second in the shot put at the OSAA 6A state meet — throwing a 5-foot personal best.
Drew McCarty, Mountainside, senior
McCarty shined as a sophomore — USATF Junior Olympic 15-16 national champion in the discus, two medals from the OSAA 6A state meet (third in the discus, sixth in the shot) — but he’ll look to bounce back from an up-and-down junior season that ended with him missing state in the discus and failing to advance to the shot put finals.
Drew Smith, Sherwood, senior
Smith had never picked up a javelin before last year, when he turned out for track for the first time looking to improve his speed on the basketball court. By season’s end, he was throwing almost 180 feet, placing fourth at the OSAA 6A state meet. Over the summer, his rapid rise continued, concluding with a fourth-place finish at the USATF Junior Olympic 17-18 national championships with a throw of 185-10. Now, he’s signed with Duke University to throw in the ACC.
Ethan Aman, Franklin, senior
Aman finally completed a full season last spring for the Lightning, and it showed as he improved from a 38-foot shot putter to a 50-footer who placed fifth at the OSAA 6A state meet. He also qualified (but did not advance to the finals) in the discus.
Ethan Grimm, Tualatin, senior
Grimm was a big surprise as a sophomore, improving by more than 60 feet in the javelin from the start of the season to the finish, when he placed eighth at the OSAA 6A state meet. Last year, he threw only three times during the high school season because of nagging injuries but still managed to win the Three Rivers League district title and take third at state. The summer, though, is when he showed his true potential — he won the Emerging Elite division at Nike Outdoor Nationals and finished fifth at the USATF Junior Olympic 17-18 national championships.
Kiyan Vrell, Amity, junior
Vrell qualified for the OSAA 3A state meet in three events (discus, javelin and long jump) last spring, but it’s in the javelin that he had his most success, winning a district title and placing fourth at state. He then won USATF Junior Olympic 15-16 regional titles in the javelin and hammer, making the national podium in the javelin with a fourth-place finish.
Lander Marak, Sandy, senior
Marak won a second consecutive Mt. Hood Conference district title in the discus and finished second at the OSAA 6A state meet last year, but his future likely lies in the hammer throw. He won the event at the Oregon Relays last April, then returned to Hayward Field in late July to win the USATF Junior Olympic 17-18 national title. He also made the finals at Nike Outdoor Nationals (seventh) and the U.S. U-20 national championships (eighth), and this month, he was fifth at Nike Indoor Nationals in the weight throw.
Mason Detzler, Myrtle Point, senior
Detzler completed an undefeated season in the shot put last year by winning the OSAA 1A state title. He also went unbeaten in the discus until the state meet, when he finished second to North Douglas’ Ray Gerrard. Detzler closed the summer by making the Emerging Elite finals in both events at Nike Outdoor Nationals and winning USATF Junior Olympic 17-18 regional titles in each.
Nathan Neveau, Pendleton, senior
Neveau has swept the shot put and discus district titles each of the past two seasons — the 5A Intermountain as a sophomore and the 4A Greater Oregon League last year — and medaled in both events at state each year. Last spring, he was runner-up at the OSAA 4A meet in both throws — his only losses to Oregon throwers all season.
Nelson Wilstead, Gold Beach, senior
Wilstead’s only loss in the javelin last season was to North Bend’s Keegan Young at the Prefontaine Rotary Invitational. He won his next eight meets, finishing the season by throwing a career-best 183 feet at the OSAA 2A state meet — less than 2 feet off the 2A junior record and No. 9 all-time among 2A throwers.
Jumpers
Anthony Nix, Weston-McEwen, senior
When Nix isn’t jumping over barriers (fourth at the OSAA 2A state meet in the 110 high hurdles last season, sixth in the 300s), you’ll find him on the triple jump runway, where last year he earned a rare small-school invitation to the Jesuit Twilight Relays (placing fifth) and finished second at state to East Linn Christian’s Kaleo Wellman — his only loss to a 2A rival all season.
Benati Louvouezo, Grant, senior
Louvouezo went from barely reaching 20 feet in the long jump as a sophomore to winning the PIL district title with a 22-foot leap last spring. It was the triple jump — an event he’d never tried until May of last year — where he showed his true potential, winning his first three meets (including the PIL district championship) before coming up 4 inches short of the OSAA 6A title to PIL rival Grant Nyhus of Lincoln.
Collin Moore, Summit, senior
Moore won a jumpoff at the OSAA 6A state meet his sophomore season to win the high jump championship. Last year, the Storm dropped to 5A, where Moore won the Intermountain district title but fell short of repeating as a state champion, finishing second. He’ll enter his final track season off the high of delivering the winning pass to Mac Bledsoe as Summit won its first basketball state championship.
Griffin Haider, South Salem, senior
Haider made great leaps in the pole vault toward the end of his junior season, winning the Central Valley Conference district title and clearing 14 feet for the first time at the OSAA 6A state meet while placing sixth at Hayward Field. He won Junior Olympic 17-18 regional titles in the pole vault and long jump in July. He matched his personal best of 14-11¼ with a fourth-place finish at the University of Washington High School Invitational indoor meet in February.
Houston Klug, North Medford, senior
Klug focused on basketball his first two years at North Medford but turned out for track and field for the first time last spring. He cleared 6 feet in the high jump at his first meet and never finished lower than 6-2 the rest of the season, winning the Southwest Conference district title before placing second at the OSAA 6A state meet.
John Parks, Marshfield, senior
Marshfield has been a vaulting hotbed for a long time, with Parks the latest state champion to come through the Pirates program. He has won the past two OSAA 4A titles at Hayward Field, going over 15 feet for the third time in his career — his personal best is 15-3 — and made the podium at the USATF Junior Olympic 17-18 national meet with an eighth-place finish.
Kyler McCleary, Seaside, senior
McCleary is a three-sport standout for the Seagulls, starring for the football team that reached the OSAA 4A semifinals and the Cowapa League champion basketball team. He added track and field to his slate last spring and found his stride on the high jump apron in May, winning the Cowapa district and 4A state titles. He also won the district long jump championship and placed third at state.
Noah Goodrich, Summit, senior
Goodrich finally turned potential into results in the final month of his junior season, winning the Jesuit Twilight Relays triple jump competition, the Intermountain district title and the OSAA 5A state championship within a one-month period.
Owen Phillips, Sheldon, senior
Phillips rebounded from a disappointing end to his sophomore season by moving into the state’s top 50 all-time in the long jump as a junior, winning the Southwest Conference district title and placing second at the OSAA 6A state meet. He finished fifth in the triple jump and ran the second leg on the Irish’s state champion 4x100 relay.
Tyas Selby, Ridgeview, senior
Selby dabbles in other events, but the pole vault is his bread and butter. He placed sixth at the OSAA 5A state meet as a sophomore, then came back last spring to win the state title at Hayward Field, clearing a personal-best 14-9¼.
