PORTSMOUTH — A few track athletes from Portsmouth High School made it to the big time when they competed in the Outdoor Nationals held at Hayward Field on the University of Oregon campus starting last week.
On Saturday, Colby Fahrney, Sam Bielawa, John Maedke, and Kaden Kluth — in that order — competed in the championship 1,600-meter sprint medley relay, which is divvied up into stretches of 200, 200, 400 and 800 meters.
The team placed ninth overall, clocking a time of 3:35.52.
“Kaden ran particularly well, running an 800 split of 1:54.9,” said Shaun Horgan, head coach of the boys’ team. “That does dip under the current school record of 1:55.6 set by Jim Burton in 1980, but does not officially count as it is a relay split.”
Kaden is only a junior, however, so he will have more chances to break the record next year, he said. “It was an amazing experience, we had an awesome trip. Hopefully, we will be back next year as well,” said Mr. Horgan.
A member of the girls’ team, Morgan Casey, qualified for the Nationals meet in the high jump event.
“Although she had a couple of misses at opening height, when the pressure was on she had her best jumps,” said Jeff Rose, coach of the girls’ team.
Morgan came back from nearly leaving the competition with no height, to placing 10th with a new school record jump off 5 feet, 6.5 inches.
“This was an incredible experience for her and she is looking forward to coming back as a junior with her eyes on earning an All-American title,” Mr. Rose said.