Nevaeh James of Enterprise races to victory in the 2A 100-meter hurdles on May 17, 2024 at the state track and field meet in Eugene. James also finished second in the 300-meter hurdles.      

EUGENE — Dan Moody’s favorite event at track and field events is the 4×400-meter relay, in which four runners each log one lap around the track, passing a baton to each other, trying to post the fastest time possible.

Friday night at the state 2A track and field championship meet, Moody, the longtime track and field coach for the Enterprise/Wallowa team, saw another memorable relay performance — one that propelled the Outlaw girls team to a second-place finish at the state 2A championships.

Going into the final event of the girls 2A meet, the 4×400 girls relay, the Enterprise/Wallowa team was tied for second place with East Linn Christian. Both teams had runners in the relay race; if the Outlaws crossed the finish line before the East Linn Christian team, they would claim second place for the meet. (By this point, the powerful team from Bandon had clinched the state championship.)

The Outlaws relay team — McKenzie Harguess, Nevaeh James, Zoe Hermens and Owyhee Harguess — left little doubt in the relay race, coming in second with a time of 4 minutes, 8.3 seconds, eight seconds better than East Linn. (The relay team from Salem Academy won the relay race, edging out the Outlaws by 0.12 seconds.)

The Outlaws won eight points for the relay race — and claimed the meet’s second-place trophy with 68 points, four better than East Linn.

As the Outlaws lifted up the second-place trophy during an awards ceremony late Friday night, Moody said he hadn’t told his four runners that the final race would spell the difference between second and third place. “I don’t even know if they knew the score,” he said — but, regardless, his girls ran what he called “a great race. … The mile relay has always been my favorite race and will continue to be that, and that’s why.”

The race capped a remarkable two days for Wallowa County’s track and field athletes at Eugene’s Hayward Field on Thursday and Friday, May 16 and 17.

In the state 1A meet, the Joseph Charter School’s track and field teams left Eugene with hardware of their own. The Eagle boys team, powered by a state title from Jett Leavitt in the 3,000-meter run and a javelin championship from Gavin Russell, finished third, with 42 points. (Imbler won the title, with 77 points.)

And the Eagle girls, led by second-place finishes from Annie Rose Miller and their 4×100 relay team, finished fourth, with 40 points. (Adrian won the title, with 68 points.)

Outlaw highlights

Junior Nevaeh James collected the Outlaws’ first championship on Friday, May 17 with a dominant victory in the 100-meter hurdles in 15.89 seconds. James then finished second in the finals of the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 46.95 seconds. Outlaw senior Zoe Hermens finished fifth in the 300-meter race, with a time of 49.33 seconds. (The top eight finishers score points for their teams.)

Later on Friday, James joined three teammates — Mercy Peters and sisters McKenzie and Owyhee Harguess, all sophomores — to win the title in the 2A 4×100 relay. Owyhee Harguess, running the anchor leg of the relay, held off a hard-charging Lexy Kauffman from East Linn Christian at the finish. The Outlaws won the race with a time of 50.97, 0.05 seconds better than the East Linn team.

Owyhee Harguess collected two other medals in the meet, finishing third in the finals of the 400-meter dash, with a time of 59.15 seconds. Harguess also finished fourth in the 200-meter dash, with a time of 26.61 seconds. Her sister McKenzie finished eighth, with a time of 27.70 seconds.

In the finals of the 2A girls 800-meter run, Outlaws Kyra Brown and Abigail Hurley finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Brown, a freshman, finished with a time of 2 minutes, 27 seconds. Hurley, a sophomore, finished in 2:27.63.

In the 3,000-meter girls final, Outlaw sophomore Zion Boyd finished fifth, with a time of 11 minutes, 12.15 seconds.

Senior Alex Rowley was the only Outlaw girl to collect points in the field events, finishing sixth in the javelin with a throw of 113 feet, 1 inch.

Outlaw senior Daisy Dickenson won three first-place medals in the meet’s para-athlete events — the shot put, the 100-meter dash and the 400-meter run. (See the related story.)

The Enterprise boys’ 4×4 400-meter relay team (senior Ransom Peters, junior Andrew Nordtvedt and freshmen Malakai Powers and Emrys Hobbs) finished third, with a time of 3 minutes, 34.61 seconds. The same Outlaw team — Peters, Nordtvedt, Powers and Hobbs — collected seventh-place medals in the 4×100 relay, with a time of 45.2 seconds.

Peters finished eighth in the 200-meter dash, with a time of 23.61 seconds.

Hobbs finished 10th in the long jump, with a best jump of 18 feet, 5.75 inches.

And sophomore Ezra Storlie finished 11th in the triple jump, with a leap of 38 feet, 3.25 inches.

The Outlaw boys finished with nine points for 20th place. (Delphian won the title.)

Joseph highlights

The meet got off to a spectacular start for the Eagles on Thursday, May 16, as junior Jett Leavitt and sophomore Jonah Lyman finished one-two in the 3,000-meter race. Leavitt led from the start and posted a dominating time of 8 minutes, 55.76 seconds to win. Lyman finished in 9:12.09.

Joseph junior Gavin Russell collected the Eagles’ second state championship on Friday, May 17, when he uncorked a javelin throw of 181 feet, 4 inches, more than 20 feet better than the runner-up.

But Condon’s Grady Greenwood denied Joseph’s Leavitt his second state title of the meet when he edged Leavitt over the last lap to win a dramatic final in the 1,500-meter race. Leavitt finished in 4:03.18. Joseph’s Lyman finished fifth in the race with a 4:18.71 time.

Junior Jenning Schiefelbein added to the Eagles’ point total with a seventh-place finish in the 400-meter dash; his time was 52.77 seconds.

Lyman, Leavitt, Schiefelbein and junior Jayden McNall just missed a spot on the podium in the 4×400 relay with a ninth-place finish in 3 minutes, 43.36 seconds.

Junior Lucas Goodrich finished 10th in the discus with a toss of 121 feet, 2 inches.

For the Joseph girls, sophomore Annie Rose Miller finished second in the pole vault, with a leap of 10 feet, 2 inches.

Miller had a busy meet: She finished fourth in the 1A girls 300-meter hurdles, with a time of 47.69 seconds.

Miller teamed up with three other sophomores (Harley Wanner, Opal McDonald and Caleigh Johnson) to place third in the 4×400 relay, with a time of 4:15.34.

And Miller was part of the Eagles’ 4×100 relay team, along with junior Addy Page, sophomore Caleigh Johnson and freshman Hayden Kissinger, which placed second in the 4×100 relay with a time of 52.7 seconds.

McDonald finished sixth in the 800-meter run with a time of 2 minutes, 28.74 seconds.

Johnson finished sixth in the girls’ javelin event with a toss of 109 feet, 10 inches.

Junior Basey Dawson collected two medals in the field events, finishing fifth in the high jump with a leap of 4 feet, 9.75 inches and sixth in the triple jump, with a jump of 32 feet, 11.25 inches.

Page finished ninth in the 200 meter dash with a time of 27.84 seconds and did not qualify for the finals.

Senior Lakotah Steel finished 12th in the discus, with a throw of 85 feet, 2 inches.

State track photos

Check out the Chieftain’s web page at wallowa.com for a photo gallery from the state track and field championships.