After competing at Wilsonville for the chance to go to the state meet earlier this month, seven members of the La Salle track and field teams managed to move on to compete against other schools and do the best they could. On May 19 and 20, they — along with their coaches — went to Hayward Field at the University of Oregon to put their skills to the test.

The group of seven students qualified for various events. Juniors Emma Gall, Madeline Obuchowski, and Katherine Sunderland competed in pole vaulting. Seniors Seth Wobig, Tobias Schenk, and Erin McGinnis competed in high hurdles, javelin throwing, and 800-meters run respectively, and sophomore Jasmine McIntosh competed in both the 100-meters and 200-meters run. 

Mr. Mikel Rathman, who graduated from La Salle in 2005, is one of the coaches for the team and spoke about their performance.

“I’m proud of the season that [the pole vaulters] had,” said Mr. Mikel Rathman, who is the head track coach for La Salle. “I’m sure they all wished they at least equaled their PR or bettered their PRs at state … [but] I hope that they see how well they still did this year as a whole.”

Although they made it into the state competition, it did not come without its challenges. During the hurdle run, Wobig was hit by a stray hurdle that was sent flying by a fellow competitor and came down to the ground, hard. Despite this, he managed to get back up and continue the run.

“Even though it’s a 25-second race, which is 9 seconds slower than his best, he was courageous enough to get up and finish the race,” Rathman said. “He knew that he had to get up and finish the race, and he did.”

Officials tried to reprimand Wobig for touching a hurdle with his hand, but an appeal was reached.

Gall felt good about her overall performance during the competition and is more assured of her future in track and field. “I could have done worse, and so I’m happy that I didn’t know [the] height. I made a height, but I was supposed to do better and I didn’t,” she said. “I feel like now that I’ve competed at a state, I have the confidence to just go into next year prepared to win.”

McGinnis, who has completed her third year of track and field, started the event in the lane designated for the slowest runner and ended up pulling tenth in her competition. 

“I’m really, really happy with how I’ve done throughout high school… I’m really proud of how I’ve done and I’m excited to continue running in the future,” McGinnis said. “I’m not sure if it will be a college or for a specific team, but definitely, I’ll still run.”

McGinnis had more to say about her experience with track and field.

“I really enjoy track because, especially at a meet, everyone is in a different activity, doing a different race or field event,” she said. “So it’s really cool to be able to go watch and cheer people on before your own event.”