By James Day
The Kennedy High School girls track and field team is the best Class 2A squad in the state.
The Trojans won their first OSAA track title since 1985 by scoring 83 points May 22-23 at Hayward Field in Eugene. Union finished second with 78.
“Winning the first girls state championship at Kennedy in 29 years feels great,” said veteran Trojans coach Steve Ritchie. “The girls had winning state as a goal since finishing second last year, and they did everything the coaches asked of them throughout the year. They were all about putting the team first.”
Loghan Sprauer won three events for Kennedy, taking the 100, 200 and 400 while also finishing third in the high jump. Her sister Madison Sprauer won the pole vault and took second in both hurdles races.
“As great as the Sprauer sisters were, though, we would not have won without the contributions from the other girls,” Ritchie said, citing Mia Grosjacques (fourth in the 100 hurdles despite a bad hip), Lauren Stokley (third in the 3,000) and Taylor Brown (sixth in the triple jump, eighth in the long jump). Brown, Grosjacques and Sarah Therkelsen also teamed up with Madison Sprauer to give Kennedy a big boost with a third-place finish in the 4×100 relay.
Loghan Sprauer set three school records, 12.67 for the 100, 26.25 in the 200 and 58.20 for the 400. Her 100 time also was a Class 2A state meet record. Madison Sprauer set school marks in the 100 hurdles (16.68) and 300 hurdles (48.41).
The state title was the third in Kennedy history, with the 2012 baseball team recording the other state championship.
“I feel I have the best track coach in the state in coach Ritchie,” said Kennedy athletic director Kevin Moffatt, who coached the baseball team to that 2012 title. “His passion and efforts with our kids and our school have been second to none.”
The Kennedy boys took 11th at the state meet, led by John Savage, who took fifth in the 800 (2:06.08) and sixth in the 1500 (4:29.03). Freshman Bishop Mitchell had an eight-inch PR in the long jump (20-6.25) to take fifth, and sophomore Adrian Parra took fifth in the 3000 meters (9:36.02). Parra set a school record of 9:20.70 in finishing second at the district meet.
Silverton, meanwhile, produced one state champion and one runner-up in the Class 5A meet. Matthew Willis won the shot put (50-3.75) and Cheyenne Partlow took second in the girls shot put (39-5.75) to lead the Foxes. Maddie Fuhrman took fifth in the 3,000 and eighth in the 1,500.
Softball: Silverton finished 17-4 in the Mid-Willamette Conference, second behind 19-2 West Albany. The Foxes won their Class 5A play-in game May 23, an 8-7 win against The Dalles/ Dufur, and are the 11th seed in the state tournament. The Foxes visited sixth-seeded Liberty of Hillsboro May 28 after Our Town’s presstime. Kennedy, meanwhile, finished 12-4 in Special District 3 and visited North Douglas/ Elkton May 28 in the Class 2A-1A tournament.
Baseball: Kennedy won Special District 2 with a 19-1 overall record and is ranked No. 3 by OSAA in Class 2A-1A heading into the state playoffs. The Trojans hosted Reedsport Charter on May 27, after Our Town’s deadline. Kennedy, 24-3 overall, enters the postseason on a 17-game winning streak. Silverton, meanwhile, rallied strongly from an 0-12 start. The Foxes closed the season with a three-game sweep of Lebanon which moved them into a tie for fifth in the Mid-Willamette with the Warriors (both teams finished 6-12 in league).
Max Wilson: The Silverton running back, who helped lead the Foxes to the Class 5A semifinals for a second consecutive year, is planning to play college football at College of the Siskiyous in Weed, Calif. Wilson rushed for 1,436 yards and 25 touchdowns for Silverton, which finished 10-2, with both losses to eventual state champion West Albany.
Morgan Anderson: The former Silverton High athlete, now competing for Oregon State, finished one spot out of qualifying for the finals in the Pac-12 1,500 on May 17 at Pullman, Wash. Anderson, a redshirt freshman, ran 4:28.37, .05 behind the 12th and final qualifying sport. Anderson’s best mark this season, a 4:25.82 on May 9 at the Oregon Twilight meet at Hayward Field in Eugene, ranks third all-time at OSU.
Silverton Hospital Run: Juan Martinez ran 5-kilometers in 17:45 on May 10 to win the 31st Silverton Hospital run. Michael Traeger of Silverton finished second in 18:00. Deanna O’Neil of Canby finished ninth overall in 20:11 and was the first woman finisher. Jackson Pfeifer won the kids’ 1-mile run in 9:13. Lauren Ortega of Silverton took 10th overall in 10:37 and was the first girl to finish. A total of 462 runners and walkers participated.
Tennis: Silverton senior Morgan Whaley and sophomore Ali Schmidt advanced to the Class 5A doubles quarterfinals before losing to the eventual champions, Hanna Greenberg and Vika O’Brien of Ashland. Whaley and Schmidt defeated teams from Marist and Wilson on the way to the quarterfinals.
Golf: Kennedy senior Kyle Manning finished in a tie for 11th at the Class 3A-2A-1A golf championships May 19-20 at Trysting Tree Golf Club in Corvallis. Manning shot 73-80 for a two-day total of 9-over-par 153.
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