EUGENE — Alex Garcia-Silver beat the clock on Friday at the Class 4A state track meet at Hayward Field, running by himself the entire way in the 3,000 meters and breaking the meet record with a time of 8 minutes, 31.08 seconds.
In a theme for South Coast champions in the Class 4A meet, Garcia-Silver overcame an injury and other hardships to win his title. It has been a difficult spring for the Marshfield senior who will run for Brigham Young University starting this fall.
“I had a lot of challenges,” he said of the track season. “I was injured, my grandma died and four days later my dog died. I was in a terrible spot.”
His training suffered while he was depressed and not able to kick his funk.
“At some point, I realized nothing was going to get me out of it — it was on me,” he said. “I just can’t sit here and feel bad about myself.”
He said he still wasn’t in peak shape entering the state meet, but that wasn’t going to stop him.
“The goal was to go for that record,” he said. “It was going to be me out there running against myself. It was me versus the clock.
“The biggest thing today was just believing in myself. I’m pushing against myself. I want to see how good I can do.”
Garcia-Silver was part of a record-setting spree in the 3,000, the first running event of the meet.
In the Class 5A girls race, Crescent Valley’s Emily Wisniewski set a new record with her winning time of 9:28.52 and both Summit’s Ella Thorsett (9:42.00) and Canby’s Kenzie Bigej (9:42.42) also were under the old record.
And in the Class 5A boys race, Crater’s Tyrone Gorze set a new meet record and just missed the all-time state record with his time of 8:04.60.
North Bend got its first points of the meet in the girls 3,000, when freshman Ellie Massey worked her way through the pack throughout the race, finishing sixth in a new best 10:59.95.
Marshfield’s boys, meanwhile, built a lead in the team race with the effort by Garcia-Silver and a strong showing in the Pirates’ signature event.
Jonathon Parks and Trent Summers, also both recovering from injuries, finished first and second and teammate Jack Waddington tied for fourth, giving the Pirates 22.5 points in just that event.
Parks repeated as champion, ultimately clearing 15 feet after earlier missing his first two attempts at 14-9. Summers missed his first attempt of the day and didn’t miss again until failing on all three attempts at 15. Waddington went out after clearing 13-5 ¾.
A scar on Parks’ right shoulder brought questions from media and he explained how he shattered his collarbone in a motorcycle accident and how tough it was to get back into the event.
Then he talked about how helpful it was having his two teammates along the way, especially Summers.
“I wouldn’t have gone that high if he didn’t push me,” Parks said. “He helped me get this far.”
Summers was pleased to get second, especially since a teammate beat him.
“I would have preferred to go higher, but I was basically in the same situation as Jon.”
Summers had a painful bout with tendinitis in his patellar tendon that left him out for most of the season as well.
“District was coming up and I couldn’t sit around anymore,” he said.
With Parks, Summers and teammate Danner Wilson all injured, Waddington filled the slack in the regular season, after moving on to other events the past two seasons.
“Seeing him come back and do amazing definitely helped push me,” Summers said.
Parks agreed.
“When I came back, I came back hard (because of Jack),” he said.
North Bend also had a state champion who overcame an injury.
Drew Hood started with a solid throw and improved on four of her next five attempts in the javelin, with her final throw of 118-2 enough to overcome Pendleton’s Nessa Neveau and earn the state title.
“That was amazing,” said Hood, adding her goal was to assure herself a spot in the finals with the first throw and go from there.
“I just went harder and harder every throw.”
Hood was unable to compete most of the season after breaking her foot in three places. But even with the injury, she focused on the event.
“I kept throwing in the boot,” she said. “That gave me form that I didn’t have last year.”
Hood later placed sixth in the triple jump, her favorite event, moving up two spots in the finals with her best mark of 32-10 ¼. Teammate Lennon Riddle also made the finals but finished ninth with a best of 32-2.
Entering the final day of the meet, the other teams are chasing Marshfield’s boys, who will be looking for more points with top seed Garcia-Silver in the 1,500 and Bodey Lutes in the 400. Lutes also is among the favorites in the 800 and the Pirates are ranked high in the 4x400 relay.
Marshfield scored 32.5 points Friday while Sky-Em League rival Cottage Grove and Pendleton both had 26. Cottage Grove had a strong day in qualifying for the running events and will have many chances for points in the race with the Pirates.
North Bend’s Jason Padgett had the top qualifying time in the 100 meters and the second-best time in the 200. The Bulldogs have the top time in the 4x100 relay and also will chase the title in the 4x400.
North Bend’s girls are in third place with 16 points, trailing Philomath (33) and Klamath Union (20). Marshfield did not have any girls in competition Friday, but will have defending discus champion Daphne Scriven and Tori Cox in the shot put and discus Saturday.
In the Class 6A meet, Lake Oswego’s Mia Bradhe-Pedersen and Oregon City’s Sophia Beckmon put on a show in the sprint prelims. Running in separate heats both broke the meet record in the 100, with Bradhe-Pedersen finishing in 11.11 and Beckmon in 11.33. Bradhe-Pedersen set another record in the 200 (22.72) with Beckmon also again below the previous mark with her time of 23.12.
