Full recap from day two of the 2023 Oregon Relays at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.
EUGENE, ORE. - If there's any place where records are meant to be broken, nowhere is better than Hayward Field.
The final day of competition at the Oregon Relays saw two records fall within less than an hour of each other from a pair of relay teams to cap off an exciting two-day meet down in Eugene.
The first came in one of the rarer events run in high school track and field as a group from Mead established a new national record in the mixed 4x800-meter relay. The second was in the boys 4x100 relay, with Curtis taking down a 37-year-old state record.
The team of Jonathan Lieb, Olivia Ferraro, Jacob Marchesseault and Charlotte Cullen produced a time of 8 minutes, 44.74 seconds for Mead to set a believed-to-be national record in the mixed relay contest.
Between the four athletes, they averaged 2:11 per 800, with Lieb running the fastest split at 1:59.86 to lead off the team.
"Starting it out first, it felt like a normal 800," Lieb said. "I split a 56 first 400, which was a little too fast in my opinion, but I still got a PR in the 800. So, it went really well."
Lieb handed off to Ferraro for the second leg, sustaining the early lead going through her 800 split at 2:24, followed by another exchange to Marchesseault on the third leg, who split 2:04 to keep the Panthers out front.
On the final hand off, Cullen had a big enough lead to cruise through a 2:15 on the last 800 leg to give Mead the eventual win.
"I got some great runners that I needed to run for," Cullen said. "They got me a great lead and so I maintained it for them."
The previous best time in this unique event was set back in 1978 from a group at William Penn of New Castle, Delaware that ran 8:56.8 for a 4x880 yard race.
Shorewood finished second to Mead, running 8:54.22 to also dip under the national record mark, with Bellarmine Prep earning fourth in 9:01.63 and Garfield placing ninth in 9:32.01.
Moments later, LeRoy Horton, Andrew Shirley, Cinque Maxwell and Titus Morris produced the greatest 4x100 relay race in state history for Curtis, running a time of 41.29 to take the invitational win and best Garfield's 1986 record time of 41.34.
"We put high expectations on ourselves," Williams said. "Coming into this, we knew this was probably going to be the best weather we might see."
Morris led off with a great start out of the blocks, setting up Williams to open up on the back stretch and increase the lead for Shirley on the third leg. Shirley received the baton with a bit of an edge over Jordan CA, charging hard on the final curve before handing off to Morris on the anchor leg as he glided down the homestretch for the win.
"I was just really grateful for my team," Horton said. "They always give me a good start...This time, I just got to finish and that's what we did."
Mead and Federal Way put together top five finishes to follow Curtis in the field, with the Panthers finishing third in 42.60 and the Eagles placing fourth in 42.68. Richland (42.87, 6th) and Gig Harbor (43.13, 9th) also competed in the final.
Shirley picked up an individual win for himself to complete a full day, winning the boys pole vault with a new personal best clearance of 15-11. Jordan Lasher of Yelm cleared 14-11 to move up to second in the state.
Captial's Hana Moll was within a centimeter of her outdoor national record in the girls pole vault but settled with a clearance of 14-07.25 to finish first. Shorewood's Ava Enriquez cleared a personal best 11-11.75 to finish fifth and Bishop Blanchet's Lucy Markow was eighth at 11-05.75.
Cassandra Atkins of Federal Way bounced back in the win column after finishing second in the girls long jump on Friday with a first-place jump of 40-01.25 in the triple jump.
Trevontay Smith from Yelm jumped a two-foot, four-inch personal best mark of 48-05.5 to finish second in the boys triple jump, staying a top the state's rankings. Federal Way's Julian Fortin finished third at 45-05 and Chiawana's Kade Smith was fifth at 43-09.25.
Walla Walla's Jake Hisaw lowered his personal best in the 300 hurdles for the second consecutive week, running a state-leading time of 38.34 to win the boys race. Tayden Blue and Finn Albright of Garfield finished fifth and sixth, respectively, with Blue in 39.57 and Albright in 39.79.
Mikayala Gardley of Emerald Ridge finished eighth in the girls race, running a personal best time of 46.08.
Hisaw's teammate Brody Hartley earned a runner-up finish in the boys mile, running a lifetime best time of 4:10.97. Gig Harbor's Jonathan Miles finished sixth in 4:14.11 and Yelm's Zachary Walsh finished 16th in 4:19.80.
Gig Harbor's Reese Morket and Taylor Sletner dipped under 5:10 in the girls mile, with Morket running 5:09.28 to finish 16th and Sletner running 5:09.78 to finish 18th.
Emerald Ridge's JaiCieonna Gero-Holt finished behind Wilson Long Beach CA's Kaylin Edward for second place, running 14.59 in the girls 100 hurdle final. Mercer Island's Arianna Nguyen finished ninth in 15.73.
Richland's Seth Shook placed sixth in the boys 110 hurdle final, running 15.20, and Yelm's Jordan Lasher was ninth in 15.42.
DeSales' Morgan Thomas earned a fourth-place finish in the girls discus, throwing a mark of 129-10, and Emerald Ridge's Addison Ogden was fifth with a mark of 122-06.
Walla Walla's Christopher Norris threw 154-01 in the boys discus, placing sixth overall, with Yelm's Brayden Platt finishing ninth with a throw of 153-01.
Emerald Ridge's Emme Bates ran a personal best 2:14.37 to finish third in the girls 800, with Cullen trailing in fourth in 2:14.84.
Rogers-Puyallup's Isaac Briggs finished ninth in the boys 800, running 1:54.87.