By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

STAYTON, Ore.–  Alissa Humphreys has found herself on a tear to open her senior year with Stayton High School.

In the 100-meter dash, she has collected three wins in five attempts and has two wins in the 200-meter dash.  All while running the 4×400 meter relay, an event that she has ran in since her freshman year and has helped her become a stronger athlete on the track.

In Saturday’s Stayton Invitational, Humphreys second and final time competing in it, the senior sprinter picked up wins in the 100 and 200-meter dashes.  In the 100-meter dash, a fast start was met by a strong finish in the final heat of the event. 

Humphreys 13.13 time in the heat would go on to win the heat as the senior opened a length or two lead on her next nearest sprinter Saturday afternoon.

“Strong start in the beginning…my start was just strong.  I think what has made me so much better this year is doing so many more 4×4’s and our team being pretty successful.  The 4×4 has made me a lot stronger as an athlete,” Humphreys starts. “I’m going to keep working on being a strong finisher because that’s one of my weaknesses that I’m working on.  So, I’m just going to try that with the little bit of time I have left.

“Just keep pushing so they won’t catch you because that’s been one of my things.  I’ve been caught being a little bit cocky.  That is something I’ve definitely worked on a lot; it’s just pushing through the fatigue.”

Humphreys finished the 200-meters with a time of 26.44 seconds and helped the 4×400 relay team to finish second.

Scio’s Carson Geneser had himself a day in the PR department Saturday in the pits.  PR-in both Triple Jump (37-feet-8-inches) and Long Jump (20-feet) PR to go with his 12.07 time in the 100-meters.  A time good enough for seventh as he finished fifth in the Long and tenth in the Triple Jump.

And to crack that 20-foot-mark was a long time coming as the senior Logger jumper hopes to polish off his mechanics going into the Amity Invitational on May 7 with districts looming on May 10 and 11.

“It feels amazing because I’ve been jumping 19(Feet)-and-three-quarters, so it was finally great to break that 20-feet.  It just felt really good to get that,” Geneser said.  “It’ll be pretty good to be 100-percent confident in my footsteps.  Once I’m there, I won’t have to worry about what I’m doing and go as far as I can be.”

Santiam’s Ellie Lindemann came close in PR’ing herself in the Pole Vault, having tied her PR in the event at eight-feet and came from a heel-tap here and there from possibly landing the eight-foot-six-inch mark she was attempting. 

But nonetheless the junior finished second based on attempts as she was in a three-way tie with Isabel Zamora from 6A’s McKay and Emery Boutilier from 4A’s Philomath Saturday.

“I got a week to practice with Coach Adam so I hope to get past eight-foot.  It should be no problem after practicing this week,” Lindemann said.

Lindemann PR’d by a foot in her Long Jump with a 13-foot-4.5-inch jump.

Other notables include McKay’s Stephanie Urenda taking first in the 400-meter race.  The Scots 4×100 meter girls and boys relays finished second to Philomath and Siuslaw respectively.  The Scots 4×400 meter Boys relay won the event with Buba Jallow finishing third in the 200-meter dash.  Zamora was third in the 200-meter dash as Sydney Haines took the 3,000-meter race.

Stayton’s Haley Butenschoen and Maddy Mitzel went one-two in the 800-meter race.  The Eagles Emmett Riedman PR’d in the shot put with a throw of 43-feet-3-inches to finish second. Travis King was third in the 100-meter dash.

Amity’s Lilly Achterling was second in the 300-meter hurdles with Regis’ Daisy Hernandez third in the event.  Whitley Stapp won the High Jump at five-feet and Triple Jump. 

Gervais’ Izzy Boyd was second in the shot put, finishing six-inches ahead of Amity’s Haley Vanderzanden.  Vanderzanden finished third in the javelin as the Warriors Bryce Stearns finished fourth with a 44.85 PR in the 300-meter hurdles.

North Marion’s Tony Lewis was fourth in the Long Jump with a jump of 20-feet-1.5-inch PR and fourth in the Triple Jump with a jump of 39-feet-11-inches.

Photos By Jeremy McDonald