Document text
Photo by Andy Atkinson Framed by the blue sky, Grants Pass sophomore Kyle Haynes attempts to clear 13-0. South's Martin, Russell sizzle By DON HUNT One week after a veritable snowstorm blew through Spiegelberg Stadium and halted a track meet for the first time in South Medford High School history, perfect weather conditions led to fast times and impressive marks. Kristin Russell set a school record and state-best mark of 10-feet, 7-inches in the pole vault and Janette Martin sped to a stadium record and state-best time of 12.3 seconds in the 100-meter dash on Thursday to lead the South Medford girls to a 95-49 romp over Grants Pass. The powerful Grants Pass boys were equally dominant as they surged to an 86 11/2-58 1/2 victory over the Panthers. Russell, a state placer each of the past two years in the pole vault, shattered her old school record of 10-2 and then nearly cleared 11 feet on her first attempt. "Kristin has cleared 11 feet in practice and it's only a matter of time before she does it in a meet," South Medford coach Bill Rowan said. "She's a good athlete and she's very coachable. She's become very knowledgeable in this event." Martin was no less impressive. The senior sprinter ran a lifetime best in the 100 for the second straight week and also won the 200 Thursday in 26.3. "I thought I might be able to run the 100 a little faster today but I'm happy with my time," Martin said. "As long as I keep setting PRs (personal records) I can't complain." Martin's specialty is the 400 -- she was the state runner-up in that event last year with a lifetime best of 56.42 -- but didn't mind skipping it Thursday. She was scheduled to run the anchor leg of the 4 x 400 meter relay but was pulled out when it became apparent that the South girls would win the meet. "I'm having a lot of fun running the 100 -- I didn't get to run it much last year with Amois (Gonzales) around," said Martin, who is being recruited by Oregon, Washington State and Portland State. "I didn't get a good start today and so I know I can run it faster." Martin has been battling a slight tendon pull near her left ankle, and that's the reason Rowan has yet to enter his sprinting sensation in four events. That will change Saturday at the Crater Classic, however, when Martin tackles the 100, 200, 400 and 1,600-meter relay. "Those will probably be the events Janette does at the state meet -- Saturday will be a dry run of sorts," Rowan said. "I think she's ready for the challenge." Thursday's meet featured several other outstanding marks, including: South Medford's Jon Micah Sumrall catapulting to a lifetime best of 14.8 in the 110-meter high hurdles. Sumrall shattered his previous best by a whopping 6/10s of a second. He credited former South Medford and current George Fox College hurdler Karrie Kiester with correcting a flaw in his form. "I was overextending my lead leg," Sumrall said. "I was straightening it out too much and that was causing me to come down on my heel instead of my toe. I got that corrected today and as a result I had a more powerful stride. That's the best race I've ever run." Sumrall also won the long jump with a mark of 19-5 1/2. South Medford's Perry Custance registering a season's best 1:59.8 in the 800. He later added a 51.8 split in the 4 x 400 relay, charging from behind on the anchor leg to give South the victory. Custance's time in the 800 is the sixth-best in the state. "This meet was a good tune-up for Saturday," said Custance, referring to the Crater Classic. Grants Pass' Jake Zeliff uncorking a throw of 151-8 in the discus. The powerfully-built junior also ran a respectable time of 16.1 in the high hurdles, taking second, and was third in the shot put with a mark of 46-3. "He wants to be a decathlete in college and he's going to be a dandy," Grants Pass coach Roger Stewart said of Zeliff. "That's the first time he's ever run the highs. He's an exciting kid to watch because he's got some speed to go with his size and strength.'' The Grants Pass boys also got fine efforts from sophomore sprinters Parker Lane and Armando Lara, who combined to win the 100, 200 and 400, and from sophomore pole-vaulter Kyle Hayes, who cleared 13 feet. All told, the Cavemen won 11 of the 17 events as they improved their dual meet record to 4-0. "It has all come together this spring," Stewart said. "We've got a lot of talented young kids, we've got some kids back that were hurt last year and we've got about 70 boys in uniform. We're having a lot of fun." While Russell and Martin stole the show for the South girls, Panther freshman Whitney Grant made quite a splash of her own. Grant won the 400 (1:04.0), the triple jump (32-4 1/2) and ran a leg on the Panthers' winning 1,600-meter relay. BOYS TEAM SCORES -- Grants Pass 86 1/2, South Medford 58 1/2. SHOT PUT -- 1, Travis Flowers, GP, 48-2; 2, Paul Kralik, SM, 47-11; 3, Jake Zeliff, GP, 46-3. DISCUS -- 1, Jake Zeliff, GP, 151-8; 2, Paul Kralik, SM, 138-1; 3, Casey McIntosh, GP, 131-6. JAVELIN -- 1, Travis Flowers, GP, 151-2; 2, Evan Goulette, GP, 141-2; 3, Dan Arnold, SM, 128-8. HIGH JUMP -- 1, Colin Grant, SM, 5-11; 2, Britton St.Onge, 5-8; 3, (tie) Joel Sullivan, SM, and Luke Lathen, GP, 5-6. LONG JUMP -- 1, Jon Micah Sumrall, SM, 19-5 1/2; 2, Pat Lower, SM 18-10; 3, Camron Watts, GP, 18-3 1/2. TRIPLE JUMP -- 1, Grant Slagle, 40-2 1/2; 2, Camron Watts, GP, 40 1/2; 3, Pat Lower, SM, 39-4 1/2. POLE VAULT -- 1, Kyle Hayes, GP, 13-0; 2, Lucas Rathburn, GP, 11-0; 3, Billy Fish, GP, 10-0. 110 HIGH HURDLES -- 1, Jon Micah Sumrall, SM, 14.8; 2. Jake Zeliff, GP, 16.1; 3, Bjorn Johnson, SM, 16.8. 300 INTERMEDIATE HURDLES -- 1, Jon Micah Sumrall, SM, 44.2; 2, Bjorn Johnson, SM, 45.5; 3, Josh Kempfer, GP, 46.2. 100 -- 1, Parker Lane, GP, 11.1; 2, Brian Stout, GP, 11.3; 3, Justin Baldoni, SM, 11.5. 200 -- 1, Armando Lara, GP, 23.6; 2, Briant Stout, GP, 23.9; 3. John Grimes, SM, 24.6. 400 -- 1, Armando Lara, GP, 52.3; 2, Brian Parmer, GP, 53.9; 3, John Grimes, SM, 54.2. 800 -- 1, Perry Custance, SM, 1:59.8; 2, Shaun Olson, SM, 2:05.8; 3, Grant Slagle, GP, 2:06.6. 1,500 -- 1, Jon Opelt, GP, 4:24.9; 2, Jeremy McLean, GP, 4:29.8; 3, Joel Sullivan, SM, 4:38.4. 3,000 -- 1, Jeremy McLean, GP, 9:42.6; 2, Kyle Lindnall, SM, 10:11.7; 3, Brian Sniffen, GP, 10:36.2.. 400 RELAY -- 1, Grants Pass (Brian Stout, Eddie Blay, Armando Lara, Parker Lane) 44.7; 2, South Medford 45.6. 1,600 RELAY -- 1, South Medford (Pat Lower, Joel Sullivan, Britton St.Onge, Perry Custance), 3:38.2; 2, Grants Pass 3:39.7. GIRLS TEAM SCORES -- South Medford 95, Grants Pass 49. SHOT PUT -- 1, Kaci Williams, GP, 39-2; 2, Kylie Healy, SM, 37-5; 3, Hope Berkey, SM, 30-1 1/2. DISCUS -- 1, Kylie Healy, SM, 119-2; 2, Kaci Williams, GP, 106-3; 3, Heather Fossen, GP, 89-3. JAVELIN -- 1, Noelle Reed, SM, 116-7; 2, Heather Fossen, SM, 110-6; 3, Kaci Williams, GP, 95-3. HIGH JUMP -- 1, Stacey Lambert, SM, 5-2; 2, Heather Frigaard, SM, 4-8; 3, Kaci Williams, GP, 4-8. LONG JUMP -- 1, Jamie Stricker, GP, 15-1; 2, Janie Carlton, SM, 14-9; 3, Becky Wolfe, GP, 14-5 1/2 TRIPLE JUMP -- 1, Whitney Grant, SM, 32-4 1/2; 2, Jamie Stricker, GP, 31-8 1/2 3, Janie Carlton, SM, 31-8 1/2. POLE VAULT -- 1, Kristin Russell, SM, 10-7 (School record, old mark of 10-2 by Russell, 1998); 2, Darcy Maukonen, SM, 8-8; no third. 100 HURDLES -- 1, Sarah Duarte, SM, 16.9; 2, Heather Wallace, GP, 17.1; 3, Stacey Lambert, SM, 17.8. 300 HURDLES -- 1, Heather Frigaard, SM, 50.0; 2, Natalie Kailey, GP, 51.9; 3, Stacey Lambert, SM, 52.3. 100 -- 1, Janette Martin, GP, 12.3; Heather Frigaard, SM, 12.9; 3, Jessica King, GP, 13.1. 200 -- 1, Janette Martin, SM, 26.3; 2, Kim Tiffany, GP, 28.3; 3, Noelle Reed, SM, 28.5. 400 -- 1, Whitney Grant, SM, 1:04.0; 2, Linnelle Johnson, GP, 1:04.3; 3, Jessica King, GP, 1:04.4. 800 -- 1, Sarah Eyman, SM, 2:31.4; 2, Ashley Smith, GP, 2:35.2; 3, Esther Cole, SM, 2:45.3. 1,500 -- 1, Emily Perttu SM, 5:24.9; 2, Elena Flood, SM, 5:26.9; 3, Jessica Stowell, GP, 5:43.5. 3,000 -- 1, Megan Cushing, GP, 11:18.9; 2, Tonya Anderson, SM, 12:14.7; 3, Kelley Sullivan, SM, 12:18.9. 400 RELAY -- 1, Grants Pass (Jessica King, Natalie Kayley, Jamie Stricker, Kim Tiffany) 52.2; 2, South Medford, nt. 1,600 RELAY -- 1, South Medford (Whitney Grant, Sarah Eyman, Emily Perttu, Elena Flood) 4:23.4; 2, Grants Pass nt. Today's Sports Index Mail Tribune Copyright� The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, OR U.S.A.