Crook County qualifies 18 for state - Central Oregonian

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Lon Austin

On to state.

Crook County earned four individual and two relay titles at the Greater Oregon League Championships, which were held in La Grande this past weekend, and will be taking 18 athletes to state.

The state championships will be held this Friday and Saturday at Hayward Field in Eugene.

The La Grande Tigers edged Crook County 91-82 for the boys team title. The Cowgirls were also second to the Tigers, who dominated the girls meet, compiling 150 points to just 76 for the second-place Cowgirls.

“It was a great meet,” said head coach Ernie Brooks. “Everyone did their part.”

 The Cowboys were led by Chance Sutfin, who took first in the shot put and second in the discus. Sutfin heaved the shot put 46-08 to win the event by more than two feet.

“He threw 46 from a stand,” said Brooks. “He has a 50-foot throw in him if he can put it all together.”

Sutfin was only in fourth place in the discus after the three preliminary rounds. However, he improved by more than 10 feet in the finals, with a throw of 137-08. Baker’s Jorden Osborn won the event with a throw of 149-08.

The Cowboys Tevin Cooper also had a solid meet in the throwing events. After finishing eighth in the discus and ninth in the shot put on Friday, Cooper came back to set a school record in the javelin on Saturday. Cooper launched a throw of 171-00 on his first throw of the competition to break the old school mark. Cooper improved to 172-06 on his second throw of the competition. The throw earned Cooper a second-place finish and a return trip to the state championships. Pedro Saldana of McLoughlin won the event with a throw of 193-03. Saldana will enter the state meet with the No. 1 seed in the competition while Cooper is seeded third.

On the track, Luis Rivera surprised everyone with a first-place finish in the 800-meter run. Rivera ran a personal record time of 2:06, to narrowly edge Christian Zaragosa (2:06.50) of McLoughlin for the victory.

“He ran a gutsy race,” Brooks said. “At the end he just started trucking and willed it through.”

The Cowboy 4x100-meter relay team of Alex Greaves, Tyler Hulick, Alonzo Lopez, and Hunter Bourland also earned a first-place finish with a time of 44.02.

Also earning trips to state for the Cowboys were Grayson Munn and Tyler Rockwood. Munn returns to the state meet after taking second place in both the 1,500-meter and 3,000-meter runs. Munn finished with times of 4:25.24 in the 1,500 and 9:35.28 in the 3,000. Nic Maszk of Baker won both events. Meanwhile, Rockwood surprised everyone with a second-place finish in the 110-meter high hurdles.

“We talked going in and said that he would have to run a perfect race and the La Grande hurdler would have to have trouble to have any chance,” Brooks said. “The La Grande kid did something to his hamstring in the 100 finals and Rockwood ran a perfect race to make it.”

Rockwood finished with a career-best time of 16.22 while state-leader Joe Delgado of Ontario blazed to first-place with a time of 14.95.

The Cowgirls were paced by first-place finishes by McKenzie Zirbel and Danielle Michael. Zirbel cruised to first in the 200-meter dash with a time of 27.23, nearly half a second ahead of second place Alora Brown of La Grande. Michael earned her first-place in the pole vault with a leap of 8-06.

Zirbel also anchored the Crook County 4x100-meter relay team which took first with a time of 51.47. Other members of the relay team are Laken Berlin, Maddie Bernard, and Makinsi Gregory.

Also earning trips to the state meet for the Cowgirls are Kelly Thurman, Kathryn Kaonis, Marci Johnston, and Molly Viles.

Thurman finished second to La Grande’s Amanda Welch in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 5:20.36. Welch finished with a time of 5:13.18. Kaonis earned her trip to the state meet with a second-place effort in the long jump. Mica Epifanio of McLoughlin won the event with a leap of 15-04.75. Kaonis edgided Baker’s Celina Fuzi for second with a leap of 15-01.75 compared to Fuzi’s jump of 15-01.

Johnston was leading the shot put after the preliminary rounds with a heave of 33-02. However, Baker’s Allie Ferdig popped a throw of 33-02.50 in the finals to edge her for first-place. Viles threw 90-10 inches to take second-place in the discus. She was edged by La Grande’s Kate Tooke who won the event with a toss of 92-07.

Crook County also had several individuals who just missed trips to the state meet.

Perhaps the closest was Bourland. Although he will run on the relay team he just missed qualifying for state in two individual events. Bourland wound up third in the long jump with a leap of 20-10.75. Noah Sofe of La Grande earned second in the event with a leap of 20-10.50. Ontario’s Delgado dominated the event with a leap of 22-09.50. Bourland also narrowly missed a trip to state in the 100 where he finished fourth in a time of 11.30. That time was just .06 of a second out of second place. Bourland also finished eighth in the 200 with a time of 23.85.

Lopez, who is also on the relay team also just missed qualifying in two individual events, finishing third in the 400 (54.01) and fourth in the 200 (23.38). The final Cowboy to earn a third-place finish was Marcus Greaves, who cleared 5-08 in the high jump.

The Cowgirls also had three individuals finish in third place. Zirbel wound up third in the 100 with a time of 13.42, while Gregory was third in the 200 with a time of 27.79. Gregory was also fourth in the 100 with a time of 13.52. Hannah Troutman earned her third-place finish with a leap of 4-08 in the high jump. Troutman was also fifth in the triple jump with a leap of 31-03.

Earning fourth place finishes for the Cowboys were Kole Brewer (110 hurdles), Rockwood (300 hurdles), and Hulick (triple jump). The Cowboy 4x400-meter relay team composed of Rivera, Munn, Brant McCloughan, and Lopez also took fourth with a time of 3:39.58.

Earning fourth place finishes for the Cowgirls were Baily Tarabochia (800), Bree Porfily (javelin), and Laken Berlin (long jump and high jump). The Cowgirl 4x400 relay team of Kaonis, Danielle Tuttle, Tarabochia, and Gregory were also fourth with a time of 4:36.79.

The state meet begins Friday at 10:30 a.m. with preliminary rounds in the girls 4x100 relay. The meet continues through Saturday with the boys 4x400 meter relay scheduled to finish just after 6:10 p.m.

“We get our state qualifiers for another week to sharpen and home them for state,” Brooks said. “Hopefully we will get to state and get some more personal records.”