Menton wins two district titles to lead Eagles

Published 4:48 pm Monday, May 16, 2022

BAKER CITY — Kale Ferguson and Reece Nelson have garnered much of the attention this season for the Joseph boys track and field team.

But on Friday, May 13, it was Bayden Menton leading the charge for the Eagles in terms of district titles.

Menton won two district championships to help power Joseph to a third-place finish with 92.33 points during the 1A Special District 4 championship in Baker City.

The senior distance runner took the top spot in both the 1,500 meters in a time of 4:13.84, and topped the podium in the 3,000 as he finished in 9:29.48. Both times were personal bests for Menton.

Ferguson and Nelson did both turn in strong days, even if it didn’t garner multiple district titles. Ferguson did take the top spot in the discus with a throw of 138-feet-7, and was third in both the javelin (151-feet-1) and the shot put (37-feet-10).

Nelson, meanwhile, had three runner-up efforts, taking second in the high jump (6-feet-1), the long jump (20 feet) and the triple jump (42-feet-5).

Ferguson and Nelson were also part of a third-place 4×100 relay team, joining Gavin Russell and Dylan Rogers as the group finished in 47.38 seconds.

Additionally, Jett Leavitt was fourth in the 1,500 in 4:30.14, and seventh in the 800 in 2:19.36. Ian Goodrich was fifth in the 800 (2:16.39), Rogers was sixth in the 110 hurdles (20.37), and Russell was seventh in both the 200 (24.34), and the shot put (33-feet-7). And in eighth were Lucas Goodrich in the 800 (2:19.66), Kane Johnson in the javelin (119-feet-1) and James Burney in a tie for eighth in the high jump (5-feet-2).

The girls team, which took seventh with 23.5 points, got a strong day from Basey Dawson, who tied for third in the high jump (4-feet-6) and placed fifth in the javelin (89-feet-3), and was part of the fifth-place 4×100 relay team (1:00.15) with Flora McDonald, Casen Cunningham and Sarah Orr.

Iona McDonald was fifth in both the 1,500 (5:49.05), and the 3,000 (13:09.42), and Flora McDonald was tied for sixth in the high jump (4 feet).

Adrian won the boys championship with 112 points, while Crane was the girls district champion, scoring 141 points to edge Adrian (137).

The Eagles next compete at the 1A state championship May 19-20 at Hayward Field in Eugene. Joseph will have athletes in eight events on the boys side, and Dawson will be the lone girls representative in the high jump.