West Salem’s Ahmed Muhumed competes in the 1500 meters during the final day of the OSAA Track and Field State Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.
Silverton’s Brock Rogers competes in the 110 meter hurdles during the final day of the OSAA Track and Field State Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.
McNary’s Danielle Duran competes in the 300 meter hurdles during the final day of the OSAA Track and Field State Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.
Cascade’s Amanda Wiebanga competes in the 4 x 400 meter relay during the final day of the OSAA Track and Field State Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.
Cascade’s Kalulu Ngaida competes in the triple jump during the final day of the OSAA Track and Field State Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.
Cascade’s Halle Wright competes in the shot put during the final day of the OSAA Track and Field State Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.
West Salem’s Angela Mumford compest in the discus throw during the final day of the OSAA Track and Field State Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.
North Salem’s Rebekah Miller wins the 200 meters during the final day of the OSAA Track and Field State Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.
North Salem’s Rebekah Miller wins the 200 meters during the final day of the OSAA Track and Field State Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.
EUGENE — What Rebekah Miller did this season doesn’t happen.
Until now.
Appearing on the track and field scene in Oregon like an apparition, she went from a freshman at North Salem High School to a state champion in a ridiculously fast span.
Saturday afternoon at Hayward Field, Miller closed the 200-meter dash strong to win the OSAA Class 6A state championship in a personal record 24.85 seconds.
While most athletes spend their entire high school careers chasing a state championship in vain, Miller produced one before more people knew her name.
“Going in I knew that I made it to state and I was thinking, well, I’m here and so to just go for it and test my limits,” said Miller, who also placed sixth in the triple jump and fifth in the 100. “It’s been a great experience.”
She made a statement in Friday’s preliminaries of the 200 by running a personal record of 25.05 to take the No. 1 seed for the finals.
In the finals of the 200, she got out of the blocks slow and Barlow’s Sara Turner and Tigard’s Lauren Paven led her as they came to the straightaway.
“I felt like my start could have been a little bit better, but I knew I had time to make up for my sort of good start, not so good start so I just focused in and just went for it,” Miller said.
As soon as Miller hit the front stretch, she took charge.
She eased past Tuner and Paven into the lead and went past to win in front of Turner (25.06) and Paven (25.08).
“She does have a gift, a God-given speed, and then it goes beyond that,” North Salem coach Don Berger said. “She’s so coachable. She listens in and learns constantly so she’ll actually get better and better as it goes on. This is a dream come true. It was a fabulous finish. The last two weeks were just brilliant.”
West Salem’s boys placed fifth in the team race with 37 points.
The Titans’ boys 1,600 relay team of Logan Morrison, Brennen Le Bel, Ahmed Muhumed and Jacob Miller placed second in 3:20.50, their 400 relay team of Chase Lakin, Valeriy Yurchak, Morrison and Simon Thompson placed seventh in 6A in 42.92, Muhumed placed third in the 1,500 (3:52.44) and Miller was seventh in the 400.
West Salem’s girls placed eighth in the team standings with 30 points.
Senior Angela Mumford made a gigantic improvement in her final high school track and field meet to place second in the shot put.
Mumford’s throw of 42-2 was a personal record of exactly four feet to place second behind Lakeridge senior Maddie Rabing’s 46-5.75.
Her throw was almost 10 feet better than her throw at the state a year ago that didn’t get her past the prelims.
“It definitely fueled my fire,” Mumford said. I knew I had a lot more in me and just to end on that bad of . I knew this year that I was going to come out stronger and prove myself.”
Also for West Salem, the 400 relay team of Lucy Jolivette, Cari McCrae, Elisabeth Goodrich and Keira McCarrell placed sixth (48.92) and Taylor McCarrell was seventh in the triple jump (36-6.75).
McNary senior Danielle Duran was second in the 300 meter hurdles in 44.37.
McKay sophomore Israel Garza placed sixth in the 100 (10.94) and eighth in the 200 (23.62).
In the 4A meet, Amanda Wiebenga learned the hard way to be cognizant about the competition when she is competing in pole vault, and it helped her win a state championship.
A year ago at the Oregon West Conference district meet, she tied for second in the pole vault, but because she had more misses Wiebenga didn’t qualify for the state meet.
She made huge improvements and broke Cascade’s school record this season, she knew in order to become a state champion she needed to clear heights on her first attempts.
On Saturday she cleared each height on her first attempt up to 10-6. Klamath Union’s Nishi Chase cleared 10-6 on her second try and Newport’s Isabel Solano cleared it on her third try, but when they all missed at 10-9, Wiebenga became a champion.
“Then everybody started missing and I’m like oh my gosh, everybody’s missing,” the junior said. “And I knew that once we got to 10-6, I was like I need to make this on my first try because it’s going to probably come down to makes or misses just by how everybody else is competing, too. My goal was just to jump high.”
Wiebenga’s finish helped Cascade to a fifth place finish with 46 points.
Junior Elisa Kanoff was third in the 200 (26.17) and fourth in the 100 (12.72), Christy Seaton was third in the 100 hurdles (15.75), Halle Wright was fourth in the shot put (39-5.25), Maliah Russell was seventh in the 800 (2:30.29), Kalulu Ngaida was third in the triple jump (35-2.75) and freshman Molly Rose was eighth (33-6.5).
Cascade’s team of Garrett Yunker, Lucas Bjorklund, Austin Martin and Brandon Martin placed third in the 400 relay (43.55) and its team of Yunker, Bjorklund, John Schirmer and Austin Martin placed sixth in the 1,600 relay (3:30.15).
Schirmer also placed eighth in the 110 hurdles (15.54) and Bandon Martin was sixth in the 200 (23.04).
In the 5A meet, Silverton junior Coleton Myers was a surprising state champion in the high jump.
An athlete who placed third in his district meet a week ago, he had the same height as four other jumpers at 6-2 in the state competition.
But because he cleared the height on his first try and all other jumpers missed the height at least once, Myers won the state championship and Luke Elliott of Lebanon was second.
Also for Silverton, junior Brock Rogers was second in the 110 hurdles (15.23), Ian Rush was seventh in the pole vault (12-6), Maddie Fuhrman was fourth in the 800 (2:16.98) and sixth in the 1,500 (4:41.94), Baylie Cameron was seventh in the 300 hurdles (47.43) and the Foxes’ girls 1,600 relay team of Cameron, Jori Paradis, Desiree Sinn and Fuhrman placed fourth (4:05.80).
Central’s 400 relay team of Casey Brown, Isiah Abraham, Jaxson Hutchinson and Nick Burgett placed seventh (43.55), its 1,600 relay team of Isaac Burgett, Joshua Peterson, Juan Rivera and Nick Burgett was fifth (3:27.83), Bethanie Altamirano placed third in the 400 (59.59) and Reba Hoffman placed fifth in the triple jump in 34-3.
For Dallas, Jennifer Webb was third in the 100 hurdles (16.19), Naomi Howe was sixth in the 300 hurdles (47.18) and Jacob Deming was eighth in the pole vault (12-6).
bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com, 503-399-6701 or Twitter.com/bpoehler