McKenzie Sports Report - March 23

McKenzie Varsity Sports Schedule This Week

The McKenzie Varsity Track and Field teams travel to Oakridge on Thursday, March 23, to participate in the Oakridge 2A-D3 league meet. The event, held on Deharpport Field in Oakridge, will start with field events at 3:30 pm and track events beginning at 4:00 pm. The Eagle teams will join Class 2A Oakridge, Monroe, and Gold Beach and Class 1A Triangle Lake in the competition.

Track Season Off To A Hot Start At Ice Breaker

Spring sprung early on the McKenzie last Thursday, March 16 and the warm, sunny weather was heartily welcomed by the nine Track and Field teams, fans, and volunteer crew, that landed at the Aaron and Marie Jones Community Track. The event was billed as the McKenzie HS Ice Breaker and while it wasn't warm enough to warrant dropping ice in one's cold soda, the season's opening track meet was by all accounts very nice indeed. The lone east-side competitor, La Pine, liked the weather and green grass so well, the team abandoned all the snow it packed over the Hump on the parking lot, hoping to make room on the bus to pack back home some of the warm weather.

The Ice Breaker also lived up to its billing in that as the first Track and Field event of the 2023 Spring season, it allowed the McKenzie Community Track and Field folks an opportunity to shake off the rust and embrace hosting a memorable event at the iconic Aaron and Marie Jones Community Track. Manned by an incredible and dedicated team of volunteers, the day at the Track was another success. That's not to say that there weren't a few wrinkles and anxiety to spice the production efforts, but overall the athletes were able to compete and the fans were there to yell loud and proud and all was good. The wrinkles will continue to smooth out moving forward and the anxiety will fade, this the MCTF crew has proven in the past.

Many thanks go out to those folks who willingly gave up a Thursday afternoon and evening to provide an incredible experience for all the young athletes. Specifically, thanks to the following folks. Molly Jackson, Joe and Sharon Zook, Vinni Fulton, Heidi Dyson, Bob Wilson, Elaine Bryson, Wade Scofield, Steve Schaefers, Melanie Brite, Neil Barrett, Monty Wilson, John Carlisle, Shelly Pruitt, Marilyn Cross, Spencer Wallace, Lane Tompkins, Fred Heins, Jamee Savidge, Gerry Aster, Kiger Plews, Pete Petty, Tim Hooten, Veronique Loggins, Brent and Megan Weiss, Laurel and Brent Meister, and others. Thanks too for the visiting coaches and fans that stepped in to help manage events.

McKenzie's Lockart Wins Ice Breaker Shot Put

McKenzie junior Levi Lockart topped a field of 26 shot putters, winning the season opener McKenzie Ice Breaker with a toss of 37 ft. 6.5 in. Lockart's mark was nearly 2 ft. longer than the second place toss, 35 ft. 10 in, a personal record for Creswell's Tayson Honer. Lockart's personal record for the shot put is 38 ft. 10 in. recorded last season on May 4 at the SD4 meet held at Pleasant Hill. Lockart added a couple of 6th place finishes, throwing the discus 79 ft. 11 in. and the javelin 111 ft. 9 in.

Eagle teammate, senior Trent Peek Van Sickle, edged Lockart in the javelin, taking 5th place with a strong throw of 117 ft. 2 in. McKenzie senior Cody Moralas finished 20th in the javelin with a throw of 78 ft. 0.5 in. The javelin event was won by Triangle Lake's Dakota McConnell, who established a personal record 134 ft. 11.5 in. mark. Back to the shot put, Moralas finished 13th with a toss of 28 ft. 7 in. and Eagle freshman Jacob Peek took home 24th in his first high school T & F meet, throwing a 22 ft. 1.5 in mark. Peek also finished 11th in the discus with a 64 ft. 10 in. throw and Moralas followed right behind in 12th place with a 62 ft. 11 in throw.

La Pine junior Bowen Johnson, who tossed the plate 95 ft. 9 in, won the discus competition. The only other Eagle participating in the field events, freshman Allen Acevedo, placed 18th in the long jump with a 13 ft. 11.5 in leap. Jackson Weller of Pleasant Hill, who jumped 18 ft. 11 in, won the long jump. Weller also took home top honors in the triple jump while hitting a new personal record mark of 36 ft, 7.75 in. Devon Kerr of La Pine won the pole vault, clearing the bar at 11 ft. 6 in. and Mitch Dumford of Triangle Lake nailed a personal record 1st place mark of 6 ft. 0 in in the high jump.

In the Boys Ice Breaker track events, Eagle junior Solomon Acevedo finished 2nd in the 400 m. race with a personal record 58.7 sec time. Viggo Beck of Triangle Lake won the 400 m. event with a time of 57.0 sec. Acevedo also finished 4th in the 200 m. race with a 25.9 sec time. Teammate brother Allen Acevedo followed with a 10th place time of 27.2 sec. The 200 m. race was won by Rowan Files in 24.9 sec. Files was a double-winner as he also took home top honors in the 100 m. with a time of 11.44 sec. McKenzie's Peek Van Sickle finished 6th in the 100 m., timed at 12.3 sec and Allen Acevedo finished 16th with a time of 12.7 sec.

La Pine's Wyatt Montgomery was a dual winner, taking top honors in the 800 m. race, time of 2:13.1 min. and in the 1500 m. with a time of 4:33.7 min. Steven Gunn of Pleasant Hill won the 3000 m. race with a time of 10:31.6 min. In the boy's hurdle events, the 110 m. hurdles was won by Curtis Talmadge of Triangle Lake in 20.1 sec and the 300 m. hurdles top time came from Ryan Smith of Harrisburg in 46.5 sec. McKenzie placed 3rd in the 4x100 m. relay, running the event in 53.88 sec. The Eagle foursome in that event was Allen Acevedo, Solomon Acevedo, Devon Lawson, and Trent Peek Van Sickle. Harrisburg won the event in 47.26 sec with Jordan Baker, Shawn Hall, Jack Lidbeck, and Malachi Larson. Yosiah Baker, Porter Overvaugh, Viggo Beck, and Mitch Dumford won the 4x400 m. relay race in 4:08.34 min.

Beckah Short and Hailey Prater Set Personal Records

Eagle sophomore Beckah Short and senior Hailey Prater established new personal records last Thursday at the season opening McKenzie HS Ice Breaker meet. Short's PR came in the triple jump event, where she leaped 22 ft. 7.25 in., a foot and a half improvement over her previous PR last season. Short mark placed her 4th in the triple jump, which was won by Vika Gabrio of Creswell, who jumped 31 ft. 2.25 in., also a PR. Short placed 10th in the long jump, marked at 10 ft. 4 in. and Kiele Riggs of Triangle Lake won with a PR mark of 14 ft. 10 in. Prater established two personal records in the meet, a 22 ft. 3 in. mark in the shot put, good for 8th place and a 57 ft. 9 in. mark in the discus, good for 12th place.

Prater also finished 6th in the javelin event, tossing the spear 63 ft. 9.5 in. Eagle senior teammate Taylor Wickizer, competing in her first Track and Field competition, finished 9th in the shot put with a toss of 19 ft. 10.5 in. and 16th in the javelin with a throw of 39 ft. 4 in.

Creswell’s Gabrio, with a personal record 84 ft. 11.5 in throw, won the javelin. The shot put event top honors went to Harrisburg's Emmalee Smathers, with a personal record mark of 32 ft. 9.5 in. And the discus winning mark was 90 ft. 11 in. and was thrown by Kaitlyn Machado of Creswell. The high jump was won by Creswell freshman Kylie Leonard who cleared 4 ft. 7 in. In the girls track events, McKenzie's Short finished 17th in the 100 m. race, covering the sprint distance in 16.63 sec. Wickizer followed in 19th place with a first-ever time of 21.80 sec. The 100 m. race was won by freshman Samara Baker of Triangle Lake in a time of 13.21 sec. The speedy Baker also won the 200 m. race in 27.9 sec and the 100 m. hurdles in 16.8 sec. The 400 m. relay split top honors went to Pleasant Hill's Dakota Hyland, timed in 1:04.3 min., a personal record. Ellie Epperson, also of Pleasant Hill, won the 800 m. race in 2:44.1 min. The 1500 m. race was won by Harrisburg's Cadence Smith in 5:49.0 min. and the 3000 m. race was won by Camille Hicks of Pleasant Hill with a time of 15:22.1 min. Isabel Hammond-Mendez from Pleasant Hill finished 1st in the 300 m. hurdles clearing the obstacles and distance in 58.77 sec.

The Triangle Lake foursome of Samara Baker, Kiele Riggs, Madeline Brewster, and Ella Mather won the girl’s 4x100 m. relay in 54.14 sec.. La Pine won the 4x400 m. race in 5:10.7 min. with Lucy Fisher, Ashley Jentzsch, Savannah Johnston, and Maddisen Russell.

McKenzie HS Ice Breaker Team Scores (Unofficial)

Harrisburg ran away with the top boys team score in the McKenzie HS Ice Breaker meet last Thursday, March 16. The Eagles of Harrisburg rolled up 159.5 points to easily out distance second place La Pine with 97.5 points. Pleasant Hill finished third with 87.5 pts and Triangle Lake scored 77 pts, good for fourth. Creswell finished fifth with 45 points, host McKenzie sixth at 39 pts, Oakridge seventh with 29.5 pts, Lowell eighth at 28 pts and Mapleton ninth at 16 pts.

The Pleasant Hill girl’s team won the day with 148 pts and Triangle Lake followed in second with 136.5 pts. Creswell finished third at 102 pts and La Pine followed in fourth with 60.5 pts. Harrisburg took fifth at 36 pts, Lowell sixth with 22 pts., Mapleton seventh with 18 pts., Oakridge finished eighth with 16 pts., and host McKenzie was ninth with 9 pts.