April 25, 2022
EUGENE, OR. - In an invitational dubbed as a true "program champion" invite, the Oregon Relays run a unique format of an overall co-ed program score, meaning they want to find out who has the best overall team, boys and girls combined, from freshman to seniors. After it was originally announced that Long Beach Wilson (Long Beach, CA.) were the 2022 champions, it was discovered that an event where Boise scored was never added to the final point score, thus giving them the Brave the edge over the Bruins, 122-120.
"Win or lose, we put ourselves in position to have success in a meet like this. Our kids stepped up when needed the most, on arguably the largest stage in the country. We are extremely proud of their efforts over the two-day meet. They beat a tremendous Wilson program who we have a lot of respect for." - Boise Head Coach Aaron Olswanger
This two-day meet was jammed pack with athletes performing in prelims and relays on Friday and qualifying for championship action on Saturday. On the boys' side for the Braves, Liam Murray bested the field of 39 athletes in the 400m with his 48.60 to be crowned invitational champion. The 4x200 team of Mason Lawyer, Murray, Porter Coffield and Cooper Smith took home top honors with a time of 1:29.69. Mason Lawyer grabbed silver in the 200m with a time of 21.72 and also qualified for the finals in the 100m (11.01) after his 10.93 prelim. Porter Coffield was a finals qualifier in the 110HH, having run 14.88 in the prelim and came back with a 14.84 in the final to finish sixth. He also placed in the 300IH, where he went 39.98 to finish fourth. The quartet of Lawyer, Joseph Curtis, Tucker Briggs and Murray finished second to Long Beach Wilson in the 4x400 with a time of 3:25.09 (3:24.63 in the prelim). The boys 4x800 had a fine showing, finishing third were Noe Kemper, Kaden Helder, freshman Jack Sheesley, and Mark McIntyre, finishing in a time of 8:06.41. The Braves placed second in the SMR, with Cooper Smith, Tucker Leigh, Murray and Jack McIntyre crossing the line in a time of 3:38.16. In the field events, the Braves garnered points in the pole vault, with Seth Nelson clearing 14-11.25 for third place.
On the girls' side, Jamie Hamlin kicked off the action Friday morning with a win in the 2K steeplechase, the first event of the meet by more than 10 seconds, crossing the line in 7:16.33. Later that night, the girls 4x800 team of Allie Bruce, Lydia Nance, Jamie Hamlin and Logan Smith won the 4x800 with a time of 9:20.41. Logan Smith finished third in the 800m with a time of 2:12.34. Sophomore Samanth Smith also placed third in the 3K, dipping under the 10-minute barrier with her time of 9:59.81. The girls' 4x200 team of Sophia Clark, Kunie Hirai, Adele Davis and Lydia Nance were able to tack on some team points, finishing fifth in a time of 1:46.27. Clark and Hirai teamed up with the Smith sisters to claim third overall in the 4x400 with their time of 4:00.35. That same quartet finished as the top qualifiers from the prelims with their state leading 3:57.96 on fresher legs. In the DMR, Bruce, Hamlin, Nance and Smith (Samantha) teamed up to claim sixth place with a time of 12:07.05 for three more team points. In the field events, Suzi Woodall took third in the pole vault with her clearance of 11-11.75.
The Oregon Relay will be scored like a normal championship-style meet. The top eight finishers in each event will be scored in the point format of 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. The separate point totals for both women and men will be combined to determine the co-ed team champion.