Hannah Whitehead leads a women's team that has high hopes

By Matt Crownover, Lebanon Express writer

In a tune-up before the district meet later this week, the East Linn men's and women's track and field teams fared well at the Twilight Meet at Kennedy High School on April 30.

The women placed third out of eight teams, finishing behind Salem Academy and St. Paul. The men took fourth.

The district meet is scheduled for May 8-9 at Western Oregon University.

The top two finishers in each event will compete at the state meet, which is May 15-16, also at Western Oregon University.

Athletes who do not finish in the top two also may qualify for state by meeting qualifying times and distances, which may be found at osaa.org.

At the Twilight Meet, the women were led by junior Hannah Whitehead, who won three individual events.

She took first in the 100, 200 and 400 and is hitting her stride heading into districts.

"She's a heavy favorite in our league and she's got a shot at winning all three events at state," first-year head coach J.D. Hill said.

Whitehead finished the 400-meter run with a personal best and school-record time of 57.54 seconds. The previous school-record of 59.66 was also run by Whitehead.

She took the 100 in 12.63 seconds and the 200 in 25.86.

"She's been working really hard and really getting serious about it," Hill said. "A lot of it is confidence."

Also finishing well at the Twilight Meet was freshman Ariel Koos, who was first in the 300-meter hurdles and second in the 100-meter hurdles.

Hill expects Koos to be a factor at the district and state meets.

"She has been really impressive for a freshman," Hill said.

The women's 1,600-meter relay team which consists of Katelin Renfro, Kristen Lawyer, Koos and Whitehead, finished first at the Twilight meet with a time of 4 minutes, 21.03 seconds and is also expected to do well at districts.

Jonathan Whitehead was the individual champion in the 1,500 - and 800-meter runs to lead the men.

The Eagles' Seth Slater also finished well in the 800, taking third place with a time of 2:12.49.

Whitehead took the 1,500 in 4:36.24 and finished the 800 in 2:10.63.

Austin Koos was second in the 400 (52.92) and third in the 200 (23.71). Austin Warren took third in both the shot put and discus.

Warren reached a distance of 42 feet, 8 inches in the shots put and 135- in the discus.

Hill said he thinks Koos and Warren have a good shot at making it to the state meet.

The men's 1,600-meter relay team of Whitehead, Koos, Slater and Elijah Engwall should also fare well at districts.

The relay team finished third at the Twilight Meet with a time of 3:39.60.

"It should be a good race - it'll come down to the wire," Hill said.

Results:

Men

(East Linn finishers in top five)

100: 5, Austin Koos, 11.87.

200: 3, Austin Koos, 23.71.

400: 2, Austin Koos, 52.92.

800: 1, Jonathan Whitehead, 2:10.63. 3, Seth Slater, 2:12.49.

1,500: 1, Jonathan Whitehead, 4:36.24.

400 relay: 5, East Linn (Malte Brink, Calvin Peterson, Chance Johnson, Kurtis Clark), 48.49.

1,600 relay: 3, East Linn (Seth Slater, Jonathan Whitehead, Elijah Engwall, Austin Koos), 3:39.60.

Shot put: 3, Austin Warren, 42-8.

Discus: 3, Austin Warren, 135-5. 5, Calvin Peterson, 109-3.50.

Women

(East Linn finishers in top five)

100: 1, Hannah Whitehead, 12.63. 4, Ariel Koos, 13.52.

200: 1, Hannah Whitehead, 25.86.

400: 1, Hannah Whitehead, 57.54.

800: 4, Katelin Renfro, 2:41.19. 5, Kristen Lawyer, 2:41.40.

1,500: 3, Zoe Engwall, 5:38.28. 4, Kristen Lawyer, 5:38.76.

3,000: 3, Zoe Engwall, 12:46.28. 5, Katie McAlister, 14:25.95.

100 hurdles: 2, Ariel Koos, 17.88.

300 hurdles: 1, Ariel Koos, 51.13.

1,600 relay: 1, East Linn (Katelin Renfro, Kristen Lawyer, Ariel Koos, Hannah Whitehead), 4:21.03.