THURSTON – The conditions for the Colts’ meet against Churchill on Wednesday, April 1, were as far from ideal as it gets for track athletes. Wet surfaces made everything difficult, and a direct headwind on the home stretch made it nearly impossible for short distance runners to have a chance at setting a personal best.
Track and field is a sport where mentality plays as much of a role as anything, and regardless of conditions, the Colts showed they have what is needed to be great, according to their coach, KC Gillespie.
The long jump pit was where competition was fiercest in Wednesday’s meet. Defending state champion Addison Kleinke of Churchill won the event, but Colts standouts Brooklyn Anderson and Addison Nelson finished second and third, respectively.
Nelson also won the high jump and javelin.
Anderson and Kleinke fierce competitors – and great friends. Gillespie remembers seeing the two jump up and hug each other when they did well at state last year, which is unusual to say the least.
“She’s one of my best friends. We actually did gymnastics together at NAAG (National Academy of Artistic Gymnastics),” Anderson said. “I’m so glad that she’s here and we get to have this dual meet together. I look forward to it a lot.”
Thurston took the top three spots in the boys long jump. First of those three was sophomore Quinn Piquette, who set an early season-best of 19-7.5. Piquette has been with the track team for only a couple of weeks, because he was part of the Colts basketball team that placed fourth in state. Piquette has significant room to grow, both as this season goes on and as his high school career progresses over the next three years.
“He loves to learn. He puts everything into track and field,” Gillespie said
”He’s got a lot more in the tank. He’s gotten a whole lot stronger this past year, and that strength is really going to be seen later on this year. He checks all of the boxes of being an athlete, an extremely hard worker, and a great teammate to others.”
Gavin Wagner in the 800m, Taylor Suiter in the 400m, Andrew Galloway in the 3000m (3rd), and basketball standout Treyson Hill in multiple events, were among the Colts who set personal bests.
Along with Anderson, the Colts’ other top athlete is Carson Buergey. He did not compete in Wednesday’s meet due to illness, but did participate in the 3000m, 3200m, 2-mile and distance medley relay at Oregon Relays on Friday and Saturday. Anderson was initially unsure if she would join Buergey, but she was able to compete and was ecstatic about the opportunity.
“It would mean everything in the world, because I’ve never competed at Oregon Relays before, and I’ve always seen it through my phone. Actually being there in real life would be absolutely everything,” Anderson said.
Oregon Relays is one of the biggest meets of the year, bringing in athletes from across the country, and qualifying is difficult. The Colts having two athletes qualify individually, which is more competitive than qualifying as a team, is quite the feat. They were the first two in school history to compete individually in the event.
Anderson did the 100m hurdles. Last year, she won the state championship in that event in dramatic fashion, somersaulting across the finish line. This time around, in the same venue, she rose to occasion again. In the preliminaries, eight athletes of 53 would qualify for the final. Anderson had the sixth-fastest time, setting a personal best of 14.37 seconds and becoming Oregon’s lone qualifier in the event. In the final, she finished fourth with a time of 14.38. Her goal for the season is to run sub-14 seconds, accomplished by only two Oregon high school athletes in the past eight years.
Buergey set personal bests in the 3200m and 2-mile events, and helped the Colts DMR team to an 18th-place finish out of 65 teams. His best event is the mile, but Buergey’s coaches wanted him to do the 3200m and 2-mile to switch things up and because the fastest runners generally enter the 2-mile.
This week was important for Thurston athletes in multiple ways. On Wednesday, they displayed their mental toughness to compete well despite the conditions. On Friday and Saturday, Anderson and Buergey showed that Colts athletes are capable of competing with the best in the country.
