Medaling for the Bulldogs at the state track championships were (from left, front) Cali Allen, Gauge Smith and Nick Bronson. Also competing for Creswell at state were (from left, top) Shelby Lamm, Hannah Bettis and Addison Werner. GINI DAVIS/ THE CRESWELL CHRONICLE
Three of the six Bulldogs who represented Creswell during the OSAA 3A State Track and Field Championships medaled by placing in the top eight in at least one event, and others narrowly missed qualifying for finals in their events while bettering the state-qualifying finishes they’d recorded during the Mountain Valley Conference/Special District 4 District Track and Field Championships on May 12.
The State Championships were held May 17 and 18 at Hayward Field in Eugene.
Creswell’s highest place finisher at state was Cali Allen, a senior who placed third in the javelin with a personal-best throw of 38.13 meters (125-01). That bettered by nearly five feet her second-place throw at districts.
Gauge Smith, a sophomore, medaled in all three of his events at state, recording personal records in two of them.
Smith placed fourth in the 200 meters in a PR of 23.07a, bettering his then-PR second-place district finish by .51/second.
Shaving off 1.65 off his district champion time in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles, Smith finished sixth in that event in a PR of 42.93a.
Smith also placed sixth in the 100 meters with a time of 11.51a, .09/second off his district PR.
Nick Bronson, a junior, placed eighth in the 300-meter hurdles in 43.92a, bettering his second-place district finish by 1.03.
The district champion in the 110-meter high hurdles, Bronson did not make Friday’s finals in that event at state after placing ninth in Thursday’s preliminaries in 16.75a, .26/second off his district time.
Shelby Lamm, a sophomore, bettered her co-district champion time in the 200 meters by .36/second but did not make finals after placing ninth in the preliminaries in 27.23a.
Hannah Bettis, a junior, placed second in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles at districts but did not qualify for finals at state after placing 11th in the preliminaries in 52.37a, just .15/second off her district time.
In the 100-meter high hurdles, Bettis finished 12th in the preliminaries in 18.52a at state, .90 off her second-place district mark, and also did not make finals in that event.
Addison Werner, a senior who was district champion in the 100-meter high hurdles, was 2.63 off her district mark and did not make finals, finishing 13th in the preliminaries in 19.88a.
”Overall, our team did better than projected; we made finals in five of nine events we were entered in, with Nick missing finals by .05 seconds in the 110 hurdles and Shelby missing finals by .13 seconds in the 200,” said Coach Jonathan Ferguson.
”We are losing two seniors from our state squad this year in Addison and Cali,” Ferguson added, ”but with Hannah, Shelby, Gauge and Nick all returning, plus lots of talented individuals on the brink of qualifying for state, next year looks very promising.”
