At the first invitational meet of the season, Beaverton Track and Field made a big impression in Newberg. There were many personal and season records made during this event and all of the competitors are ready to continue to improve as the season progresses. The weather conditions during the meet were far from perfect. All of the athletes were fighting off strong winds and heavy rain from the moment the first event began, but many persevered.

During the throwing events, the weather conditions put a strain on some the competitors, but, others rose above those obstacles and had excellent throws. Some of the standout throwers were senior Jackson Platt who placed seventh in discus, junior Jahlett Tofi who placed third in shot put and eighth in discus, senior Josh Poppleton who placed fourth in javelin, junior Sarah Cochran who placed sixth in discus, and junior Sydney Namdar who placed fourth in shot put and made it into the finals in javelin.

The jumping events of the meet made everyone stop and stare, amazed that anyone could jump as high or as long as these athletes. Perhaps one of the most exciting moments of these events though, was watching senior Beau Sheeran clear a height of 6 feet 8 inches in the high jump, which made him place first in the meet and gave him a new personal best. The school record for high jump is 6 feet 9 ½ inches so everyone will be anxiously anticipating the upcoming meets to see if he will break the record.

Also in the jumping events, senior Carson Crawford jumped 20 feet 10 inches placing him second in metro in the long jump. He was beat by one foot by senior Chris Blanchard who jumped 21 feet 9 inches in the long jump which places him first in metro at the moment and made him out as a top competitor for the rest of the season. Blanchard received second in the meet in the triple jump too. On the girl’s side, sophomore Katarina Bosworth placed fourth with a jump of 16 feet 2 inches and junior Makenna Blix placed second with a jump of 16 feet 6 ½ inches in the long jump.

In the pole vault, the star was senior Braden Masanga who reached a height of 14 feet and placed first in the meet. Masanga also placed fourth in the hurdles with a time of 16.37 seconds. Junior Nick McBride did very well also. In the pole vault he placed seventh with a height of 11 feet. For the girls, senior Kylee Rench cleared 7 feet which was a personal best for her.

For the sprinters at the meet, the odds were not in their favor. It was raining and the winds made if feel as though you were running into a wall, but they all did very well despite these conditions. Junior Makenna Blix had a great run and took second in the 100 meter. In the relay events, all of the teams stepped up and placed. In the distance runs,  ten students were brought out and out of them eight either tied or beat their personal best in either/both of the 1500 meter and the 3000 meter.

Despite all of the hard conditions, the team persevered and did extremely well. Overall, the girls placed fourth place in the meet with 62.33 points, barely missing third place by 0.17 of a point. The boys took second place with a total of 80 points out of 12 teams. After the unexpected win for Beaverton, all of the track and field athletes are ready for the next meet when they can once more to show they are not to be underestimated.

Beau Sheeran clears an impressive height of 6 feet 8 inches in the high jump making him place first in the Newberg Invitational. Photo Courtesy of Jean MacTarnahan.