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Cropper takes second in hurdles at state EUGENE -- Two weeks ago, Ashland's Taylor Cropper feared that his high school track career might have come to a painful stop. Sidelined with a severe hamstring pull, the star hurdler was so limited in his training that about all he could do was get in the pool at Southern Oregon University and swim a few laps. Other than one meet when he tried to come back too soon, Cropper had been a spectator since April 9, the day of his injury. But Cropper surprised everyone by winning the 110-meter high hurdles at the Southern Oregon Conference district meet last week, and he sent out a few more shock waves at the Class 4A state track and field meet Saturday by taking second for the second year in a row. After overcoming such long odds to even make it to the state meet, Cropper was happy as a lottery winner, right? Not quite. "I know I should be satisfied, but second place isn't what I had in mind," said Cropper, who was clocked in 14.88 and finished behind Gladstone's Jereme Richardson (14.60). "The other thing is, I don't feel like I ran a clean race. I've never hit so many hurdles in my life." In a rare occurrence, two high hurdles finals were held Saturday when a ninth competitor was allowed into the field following an appeal. Barlow's Nathan Anderson fell in the third heat of preliminaries Friday after hitting a shoe that had come off a runner in an adjacent lane. Anderson was allowed into the finals, making for nine competitors and only eight lanes. Thus, the two races. Cropper was in the faster race, however, and benefitted from the scenario. The winner of the other race was none other than Anderson, but his time of 14.99 was only good enough for third place. "It was a weird situation," Cropper said. "I guess I came out ahead in the deal, but you want your eight fastest guys in one race at the state meet." If Cropper wasn't turning cartwheels over his runner-up showing, Ashland coach Bob Julian was. Figuratively speaking, of course. "Until the Thursday before district, Taylor hadn't been over a hurdle in a month," Julian said. "He really had no business being here, given the circumstances, but he's such a good athlete and competitor that he not only got here, he almost went home a champion. "This was his third straight year here so he knows what it's all about. But to overcome all that missed training is pretty incredible." Barlow of Gresham won the Class 4A boys team title with 48 points, followed by Sheldon of Eugene (48), Tigard (35) and Thurston (35). Ashland finished 11th with 18 points and Klamath Union was 12th with 17. The Grizzlies' Nick Bakke was the favorite in the javelin but had to settle for third with a throw of 192 feet, 4 inches. Barlow's Brandon Shaver won the event with a toss of 205-11 and Lakeridge's Scott Benowicz was second at 196-1. Bakke also competed in the triple jump and shot put Saturday but walked away empty-handed in both. He just missed advancing to the finals in the shot, finishing ninth at 50-6. "I know I could have done better in the shot but they didn't let me have any warmup throws," said Bakke, who went to a spin technique two weeks ago and has had throws approaching 54 feet in practice. "I had just come over from the triple jump and they said there wasn't enough time. "In the javelin, we had to fight a bad crosswind and I felt pretty good about getting a throw over 190. The guy that won it (Shaver) must have caught the wind just right because he PR'd by 15 feet." South Medford's Perry Custance had a respectable day, finishing third in the 800 and fourth in the 1,500. Ditto for North Medford's Nick Dunn, who was fourth in the 300 intermediate hurdles and ran the anchor leg of the Black Tornado's 1,600 relay team that finished third. Dunn was also seventh in the 400. Custance charged out to an early lead in the 800 but couldn't hold off the blazing kick of Sheldon's Mike Pluth, who triumphed in 1:55.93. Ben McGinty surged passed an exhausted Custance over the final 10 meters to take second in 1:57.99. Custance was clocked in 1:58.16. "I really had nothing left at the end (of the 800)," Custance said. "I probably could have taken at least second in the 800 had I not run the 1,500, but it was my choice to do both." The junior middle distance runner clocked a school record time of 4:00.79 in the 1,500, but finished behind Jesuit's Steve Loughlin (3:57.41), Klamath Union's Ian Dobson (3:59.38) and Marshall's Chris Clancy (3:59.50). "Perry was Perry -- he got after it," South Medford coach Bill Rowan said. "I love his style. In another year he's going to be where he wants to be." North Medford's Simon Driskell ran a 50.7 split and Dunn finished with a 50.5 split as the Tornado took third in the 1,600 relay in 3:26.69. North actually finished fourth on the track but was bumped up a spot when Benson was disqualified. "We'll take it," Dunn said. Today's Sports Index Mail Tribune Copyright� The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, OR U.S.A.