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Area athletes grab the headlines Mail Tribune / Drew Fleming photo South Medford's Teri Silva, shown in the triple jump, broke meet and school high jump records. Local performers set the standard against state's best By TIM TROWER CENTRAL POINT - The great ones were just that at the 39th annual Crater Rotary Classic track and field meet Saturday at Dutch Meyer Stadium. North Medford's Scott Myers flew the discus and shot put so far there should have been flight attendants aboard. Ashland distance runner Paris Edwards spent so much time by herself, it looked like she'd been confined to solitary. Sun spanked the Rogue Valley and it, along with top-flight athletes, served as a carrot on a stick to coerce some of the state's best marks out of its top performers. Yet, it was the performance of South Medford high jumper Teri Silva that stood alongside the greats without so much as a blush. Hers was an appropriately great performance - a school- and meet-record 5 feet, 6 inches - because it was influenced in part by a trip to Great America, the Northern California theme park. On Friday, Silva and many of her sophomore classmates drove to the park south of San Francisco, spent the day enjoying themselves, then returned. She arrived home about 2:30 a.m. Saturday, roughly seven hours shy of the start of the high jump and long jump. "I was so exhausted," she said, "but I think that helped. I didn't put too much pressure on myself; I think it helped take my mind off it." With Silva eclipsing by one inch the school and meet records, the South girls placed fifth in the 22-team field. Klamath Union won with 94 points, followed by Henley with 85, North and South Medford each with 70 and Marshfield 671/2. North Medford, on the strength of Myers, middle-distance runner Matt Parish and its relay teams, won the 23-team boys competition with 76 points. Bend was second with 74, followed by Klamath Union at 641/2, Oregon City at 62 and Lakeview 59. Silva, who went a personal-best 5-3 at the start of the season, had slumped since, struggling to clear 5-0 in recent weeks. But she needed two jumps or fewer to clear 5-4, 5-5 and 5-6. When she saw the bar raised to 5-7, which she would go out on, she said, "Wow, that's too high, that's not fair. "I was happy just to go 5-4. This was totally unexpected to me. People say you should be doing this and that, but I've been in the biggest slump." Her coach, Bill Rowan, wasn't completely surprised. "This is the first big meet of the season and it comes about the time when you should see some improvement," he said. "It gets exciting, and there's nothing like a little adrenaline to get you going." Edwards, the 1999 state cross country champion, could have used something or someone to push her. She was paired in the 1,500 and 3,000 meters - the first time she's doubled at those distances in a one-day meet - against the 2000 cross country state champ, Klamath Union's Liz Lindgren. But not for long. Edwards established state bests in each event, winning the 1,500 in 4:45.47 and the 3,000 in 10:19.20. She won the shorter race by 10 seconds, the longer one by 40. Edwards held back at the start of the 1,500 to see if anyone wanted to take the lead and challenge her. No one did, "so I had to take it out at my own pace," she said. For the 3,000, she knew her best time was 20 seconds ahead of the competition and "just wanted to start with a good, steady pace and keep it." She ran alone for two laps. It was only when she started lapping other runners that she had people ahead to push for. "I'm definitely stronger than I've ever been," said Edwards. "It's my senior year, so it goes without saying. I've been training for four years. I'm looking forward to a really strong season." For North Medford's girls, Brittany Hodges false-started in the 400 relay, which caused the favored team to be disqualified. But she put that behind her and ran brilliantly the rest of the day. The freshman won the 200 in 25.77, the 400 in 58.29 and anchored the winning 1,600 relay with a 57.3 final leg. "It was her first big high school meet," said North coach Mark Hodges, Brittany's father. "There's a lot of pressure on a freshman girl. She bounced back from the false start, and I was proud of her for that." North's long relay team that won actually was missing two regulars, but Hodges and Jennifer Abbott teamed with newcomers Jenna Siebenlist and Sarah Rountree to run one second faster (4:08.36) than the No. 1 unit's best time. In one of the best girls' races, Megan Cotton of Ashland out-leaned Rountree at the finish of the 100 hurdles, winning with a state-best 15.77 to Rountree's 15.80. Two other girls won two titles each: Klamath Union's Sam Gilbert in the 100 (12.57) and 300 hurdles (47.52) and Siuslaw's Haley Hunt in the discus (137-4) and the shot put (39-11/2). Leah Sawyer of St. Mary's set school records in the 1,500 with a 5:09.83 and in the 3,000 with a 11:17.88. Myers was the star of the boys meet, winning the discus with a state-best 180-11/2 heave, then following up in the shot put with a 60-3 shove. His discus series was particularly impressive: Three of his six throws eclipsed his previous personal best of 177-0. In fact, his first throw of 178-2 made subsequent attempts less taxing. "I was shocked," said Myers. "Usually on the first one, I just want to make sure I get one in (bounds). I didn't even grunt and threw it 178. I thought, 'This is kind of cool.'" He then focused on not pressing and just having fun, and it paid off. His discus meet record is nearly seven feet better than the previous mark, set by Sprague's Brent Patera, who also owns the all-time state mark of 197-11. That's another record Myers would like to get his hands on. "There were a lot of things I didn't do today," he said. "I felt like I could have thrown 10 feet farther. But 180 is good for me right now." His teammate, Parish, also had a good day, given he barely got on the track last season because of calf injuries. Parish, a senior, won the 400 in 49.90, was third in the 200 in 22.71 and anchored the long relay victory (3:27.81) that ensured North's team victory. "I've been looking forward to this year," he said. "I really want to compete and do what I wanted to do last year and maybe make a name for myself." South Medford got a win from Andres Reed in the 100 (11.36) and a runner-up finish in the 200 (22.70). He also helped the victorious Panthers to a school-record 43.52 in the 400 relay. Trevor Coolidge ran the fifth-fastest Class 2A ever in the 3,000, clocking 8:51.37 for a school record. He was second to Klamath Union's Jacob Gomez, who established a state best with a 8:41.98. Cameron Voget of Ashland breezed to a triumph in the javelin with a throw of 193-0. In addition to Gomez's state-best time, Klamath got one from Lauren Jesperson, who ran the 800 in 1:53.74. Derek Strubel of Lakeview won the long and triple jumps with leaps of 21-8 and 44-3, respectively. Reach sports editor Tim Trower at 776-4479, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.