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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels May 7, 2004 Grizz Finish off regular season with loss By Jennifer Squires Ashland Daily Tidings The Ashland High track teams understand this isn't the season the Grizzlies are going to knock off the likes of Roseburg in dual meet action - or even at the conference championships. Still, on Thursday afternoon a handful of Ashland athletes recorded season-and lifetime-bests, collected a smattering of individual wins and senior Erika Boehnke threw down the best triple jump mark in the Southern Oregon Conference so far this season. "Everyone competed pretty well because everyone was outnumbered," said sophomore double-winner Cameron Barleen. "Everyone fought out there and gave it their all." Satsuki Doi | Ashland Daily Tidings Ashland high sophomore ryan pittman takes a handoff from a Grizzly teammate during the 4x100 meter relay Thursday at Ashland High School. Pittman won the high jump and was third in the long jump in the dual meet against Roseburg. The personal achievements proved to be enough for the Grizzlies, even though the three Ashland seniors - Boehnke, Adleka Stipkova and Adam Trautman - didn't exit their final home meet with team wins. Roseburg dominated both sides of the meet, winning 118-28 on the boys' and 113-31 on the girls'. "I think it's going to have to become individual at this point," Boehnke said. "We definitely don't have enough girls to compete with Roseburg." Not much to work with The Grizzly girls received points from just four athletes, an occurrence that underlined that underlined the team's continued woes - there just isn't enough girls out there. "The jumpers did all right," Boehnke said. "I think some of our distance runners did, too." Sophomore Hannah Clark won the long jump and took second in the triple, in addition to running a 63-second split on the losing Ashland mile relay team. Sophomore Natalie Hemphill showed off her skill in the 800-meter run, cruising to a 2 minute, 27.9-second first-place effort after taking third in the 400 meters. Hemphill is currently the second-fastest half-miler in the SOC. "Natalie did a tough double today," said second-year Grizz head coach Bob Julian Jr. "She's just really, really strong." But it was Boehnke who stole the show for Ashland. The senior set the SOC standard in the triple jump with here jump second-to-last jump, which she believed was her final attempt. She leaped 35 feet and three-quarters of an inch. "I wasn't jumping that well for awhile," she said. "Then I pulled that one out." She also put together a win in the 100-meter hurdles and placed second in both the long jump and the high jump. "It was a really good day for Erika," Julian said. "She just keeps improving. It's a good way for her to end her career on the Ashland High track." And, setting the stage for years to come, Boehnke's younger sister, Chelsey, tallied a point for Ashland when she took third place in the 1,500 meters. Better than they look Though the scores read like a coach's worst nightmare, the Grizzly boys' took on the Indians minus several key contributors. Junior distance specialist Andy Wright continues to nurse a foot injury, hoping to return to the oval in time for the conference championships in two weeks. Junior pole vaulter Matt Gilmore - Ashland's best hope in the event - has been inconsistent due to injuries and the top Grizz hurdler, Sterling Cooley, was held out of the Roseburg dual because of a team suspension. Ashland still saw seven different boys score points against Roseburg's suffocating numbers. Barleen outkicked Darwin Durchanek in the 1,500 meters, then came back to run the 400-meter dash minutes later for the workout before he led a field of eight distance runners through the 3,000-meter run. "He [Barleen] took his opportunity to win some races and took advantage of it," Julian said. Although Barleen didn't post the times he would have liked to see, he enjoyed the chance to pull in some victories. "They turned out to be pretty good races," Barleen said. "When it came down to the final kick, they turned out to be pretty exciting." Other strong Grizzly performers included sophomore Ryan Pittman, who won the high jump at 5-8 and sophomore Jaxon Williams, who took the discus competition with a throw of 121-8. Pittman was also third in the long jump with a personal-record 18-7 1/2. Beyond that, Adam Trautman got a huge PR in the javelin and didn't place," Julian said. "Roseburg is very strong in the javelin." Trautman launched the javelin 154-2, a 12-foot improvement from his previous best. He also recorded his best 400-meter mark ever, 53.6 seconds. DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams