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North takes a run at title Tornado girls seek to break long drought By DON HUNT -- North Medford High track coach Mark Hodges is a bit guarded when discussing the possibility of his girls winning the Southern Oregon Conference district championship. After all, the Black Tornado girls haven't won a district track title since 1977, a full decade before the split of Medford High. The district meet kicks off at 11:30 a.m. today at Crater High and picks up at 11 a.m. Saturday. Hodges, in his first season as the North coach, has turned around the girls program in just a few months. He nearly doubled the turnout from a year ago, from roughly 25 to 45, and has got them thinking they can beat just about anyone. And they did run the table in SOC dual meets this spring, posting a 6-0 record. SOC meet When: Today (11:30 a.m.) and Saturday (11 a.m.). Where: Crater High School. Today's finals: Boys Long jump, high jump, discus, pole vault and 3,000 meters. Girls long jump, discus, javelin and 3,000 meters. Defending champs: Grants Pass (boys) and South Medford (girls). "It's pretty amazing how far we've come in the past couple of months," Hodges says. "I knew early on that with our talent we could score a lot of points (at district), and as the season wore on we kept improving more than I ever imagined." But Hodges is hesitant to label girls as the favorite. For one thing, several freshman fuel the team's hopes, and he doesn't want to put them in the pressure cooker any more than they already are. Hodges does concede, however, that his form chart has North Medford "easily in the top three." Much of North's fate could be decided today, when the Tornado aims to pile up big points in the long jump and discus. Freshmen Emily Dunn (16-7) and Rosanna Medina (15-11) own the No. 2 and No. 4 marks in the long jump and Kendra Mitchell (15-9) is seventh. Sophomore Kerby Boschee, meanwhile, has the top mark (113-2) in the discus. But both of those events are highly unprecitable because no more than a few inches separate the marks of the top competitors. "Both are crap shoots," Hodges says. "There's probably a half-dozen girls who could win either event. It's a matter of who's hot and who's not." If the North girls can register between 20 and 25 points today then its superb sprint and relay corps could catapult them to their district crown in 23 years on Saturday. Jennifer Abbott is a threat to win the 100- and 200-meter dashes _ she was second in both events last year _ and anchors a 400-meter relay team that owns the best time in the state (49.04). Dunn should score heavily in the 100 and triple jump as well as the long jump; Denali Tice is expected to score big in the 200 and triple jump; Keri Cain should excel in the 100 and 200; and Medina owns the second-best time in the 400 (59.64) and anchors a 4 x 400 squad that posseses the No. 1 time (4:07.86). But as any track coach will tell you, production in the sprints and relays can vanish as quickly as the nearest naysayer can say false start or dropped baton. Throw in the youth factor, and it's easy to understand why Hodges is taking a cautious approach. "It's exciting just to be in the hunt," he says. "With 17 events and eight kids scoring in each one the variables are almost limitless, but overall we're healthy and I think we're peaking at the right time." The South Medford girls enter the meet as the three-time defending champion but the Panthers lack power in the sprints and will be hard-pressed to finish in the top three. Middle distance star Sarah Eyman, who is entered in the 800 and 1,500, hurdler Heather Frigaard and long jumper Whitney Grant are the Panthers' top hopes for individual titles. In the boys meet, Grants Pass is a heavy favorite to win district for the second straight year. The Cavemen are led by Jake Zeliff, who has the top marks in the long jump (21-3) and triple jump (43-8) and is ranked No. 2 in the discus (166-6), and Mike Thompson, who has the fastest time in the 110 hurdles (14.6) and is ranked second in the pole vault (13-0). Grants Pass returns most of its firepower from a year ago when the Cavemen edged Ashland by two points. This year, they've got their sights set on not only the district title but also the state meet the following week. "Last year our kids thought they were going to waltz through the (district) meet and that didn't happen," Stewart says. "I think they learned a lesson in that you've got to compete hard for every single point and that strange things can happen if you're not completely prepared." An eagerly anticipated event is the boys 800, where Klamath Union's Evan Garich (1:54.5) owns the state's best time and six other runners, including South Medford's Perry Custance and Sean Olson, have broken 1:58. The state qualifying time is 1:58.3. "That race is worth the price of admission all by itself," Stewart says of the 800. "Someone is going to go out and run a 54-second first lap and say, `Hang on if you can."' Custance and Klamath Union's Ian Dobson will also renew their spirited rivalry in the 1,500, where Dobson's owns the state's best time (3:53.52) and Custance is No. 2 (3:55.86). Another event to watch is the boys shot put. Crater's Scott Toney won the event last year with a toss of 51 feet, but that mark likely won't be in the top six this season. North Medford's Scott Myers has the top mark in the state (57-4), and six others have topped 50 feet, including Toney (51-5) and Crater teammates Chris Dearmon (53-5) and Dave Vevoda (50-10). Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA