School records fall to highlight action at 86th Medford Rotary Relays
Published 1:23 pm Sunday, May 4, 2025
Athletes from Crater, Eagle Point and Cascade Christian set new program standards in tradition-rich meet
They say records are made to be broken, and that certainly was the mantra Saturday as school records were challenged — and a few surpassed — to highlight the track and field action during the 86th annual Medford Rotary Relays at Bowerman Field.
Conditions weren’t entirely conducive to the big day, with cooler temperatures than had been enjoyed in recent weeks, but that didn’t stop the stars from shining on Day 2 of the unique event steeped in tradition here locally.
Athletes from Crater, Eagle Point and Cascade Christian were able to rewrite their history books, while another from North Medford pushed that limit before settling back a little.
Crater’s girls 4×200-meter relay team makes the final exchange en route to a school-record effort Saturday at the 86th annual Medford Rotary Relays. (Andy Atkinson / for the Rogue Valley Times)
Crater junior Nathan Lindbloom, who shocked the state with his Class 5A championship effort in the boys javelin last spring, raised his season-best mark by 7 ½ feet to set a school record with a heave of 177 feet, 10 inches.
Lindbloom won last year’s state title at 171-4 — roughly 24 feet shorter than he’d thrown a week earlier at the Midwestern League qualifier — and had hovered around 170 feet this spring before his breakthrough throw Saturday.
His mark proved to be 4 ½ feet better than the prior school standard set in 2008 by Marcus Havniear (173-4).
The Comets also saw Josiah Tostenson move into first place all-time in the boys 800 meters at the school at 1 minute, 51.62 seconds, with Max Miracle turning in a No. 3 all-time mark (1:52.73) and Tayvon Kitchen (1:55.25) pushing into the seventh spot.
Crater’s boys contingent in the 4×110 hurdle shuttle also put up a school-best time of 50.31 seconds despite placing third overall, and the winning 4×800 relay finished with a No. 2 mark (8:06.91) for a Crater quartet.
The Comet girls were especially strong during the relays, with the 4×200 relay crew (1:46.24) and 4×100 shuttle relay (53.35) each setting school records and the 4×800 relay squad posting a No. 2 all-time mark (9:53.46).
Crater junior Claire Davenport also made a run at the school record in the girls high jump, finishing just shy in the No. 2 spot at 5-5 — just one inch shy of the standard set by Erin Kinney of 5-6 in 2003.
Reese Garnica’s winning time of 2:14.39 in the 800 now stands third overall in the Crater record books.
Eagle Point’s short boys relays also enjoyed an exceptional day, with the Eagles winning the 4×100 relay in 42.40 seconds to set a school record and placing second in the 4×200 relay (1:31.84) for another EP record.
Eagle Point senior Easton Raber clears 14 feet, 9 inches to win the boys pole vault Saturday at the 86th annual Medford Rotary Relays. (Andy Atkinson / for the Rogue Valley Times)
Eagle Point senior Easton Raber, who was part of the 4×100 crew, soared to the second-best mark in school history in the boys pole vault with his winning mark of 14-9. Robbie Johnston’s record mark of 16-0 was set in 2004.
With a little pacing help from Tostenson before he exited the track, North Medford senior Elijah Zavala was able to turn in the No. 3 all-time mark in winning the boys 1,500 meters Saturday, finishing in 4:01.23 to edge Crater’s Garrett Faught (4:01.47).
Cascade Christian’s boys 4×200 relay team was able to establish a new school record of 1:33.92 after placing fifth overall, while senior Raena Crisp turned in the Challengers’ second-best time of 11:32.10 in the girls 1,500 after placing third behind St. Mary’s senior Bella Fortino (11:15.50) and South Medford senior Cyerra Mejia (11:27.03).
The first day of Medford Rotary Relays action was held Friday at Spiegelberg Stadium with non-scoring exhibition races in the high hurdles, 400 meters, 800 meters and 3,000 meters.
86TH MEDFORD ROTARY RELAYS
BOYS
TEAM SCORES: Henley 91.25, Grants Pass 90, Crater 73.75, North Medford 68.5, Eagle Point 62.25, South Medford 42.25, Cascade Christian 27.25, Mazama 24.5, Hidden Valley 19, Ashland 14.5, Lakeview 7, New Hope Christian 1.
100 — 1, Logan Moreno, Eagle Point, 11.10; 2, Benjamin Antley, Grants Pass, 11.32; 3, Benjamin Leveque, Eagle Point, 11.42.
400 — 1, Jacob Casale, North Medford, 51.52; 2, Vernon Lomedico, North Medford, 52.05; 3, Connell Hood, Henley, 52.44.
800 — 1, Josiah Tostenson, Crater, 1:51.62; 2, Maxwell Miracle, Crater, 1:52.73; 3, Tayvon Kitchen, Crater, 1:55.25.
1,500 — 1, Elijah Zavala, North Medford, 4:01.23; 2, Garrett Faught, Crater, 4:01.47; 3, Bjorn Austbo, Ashland, 4:15.04.
3,000 — 1, Elijah Zavala, North Medford, 9:00.16; 2, Gage Hart, Crater, 9:02.23; 3, Nathan Goode, Crater, 9:14.05.
North Medford senior Elijah Zavala, right, holds off Crater’s Garrett Faught to win the boys 1,500-meter race at the 86th annual Medford Rotary Relays Saturday. (Andy Atkinson / for the Rogue Valley Times)
110 HURDLES — 1, Bryson Montag, Henley, 15.46; 2, Samuel Bennett, Henley, 15.86; 3, Kyle Petty, Crater, 15.96.
300 HURDLES — 1, Bronx Ely, Grants Pass, 40.41; 2, Samuel Bennett, Henley, 40.93; 3, Kai Mathewson, Crater, 42.13.
4×100 RELAY — 1, Eagle Point (Logan Moreno, Kaden Webb, Easton Raber, Benjamin Leveque), 42.40; 2, Henley, 43.41; 3, Grants Pass, 43.64.
4×200 RELAY — 1, Grants Pass (Tyler McIntosh, Kingston Connelly, Daunte Fenn, Benjamin Antley), 1:31.62; 2, Eagle Point, 1:31.84; 3, North Medford, 1:32.60.
4×400 RELAY — 1, North Medford (Jacob Casale, Elijah Zavala, Vernon Lomedico, Owen Neely), 3:29.66; 2, Henley, 3:32.57; 3, South Medford, 3:37.98.
4×800 RELAY — 1, Crater (Preston Schmidt, William Shore, Nathan Goode, Maxwell Miracle), 8:06.91; 2, Grants Pass, 8:41.67; 3, North Medford, 8:41.77.
DISTANCE MEDLEY RELAY — 1, Crater (Ivar Hokanson, Hudson Barsalou, Gage Hart, Reece Hvall), 11:08.91; 2, Grants Pass, 11:28.28; 3, South Medford, 11:29.34.
4×110 SHUTTLE HURDLES — 1, Grants Pass (Bronx Ely, Terance Blair, Andrew Jenson, Matthew Bayard), 49.65; 2, Henley, 49.76; 3, Crater, 50.31.
SHOT PUT — 1, Grady Johnson, Hidden Valley, 48-5.75; 2, Kadin Anthony, Eagle Point, 47-9.5; 3, Everett Cam, North Medford, 45-10.5.
DISCUS — 1, Antonio DelaRosa, Henley, 143-10; 2, Joel Kiene, North Medford, 138-10; 3, Brycen McIntosh, Grants Pass, 134-7.
South Medford’s Joey Clevenger clears 6 feet, 4 inches to win the boys high jump Saturday at the 86th annual Medford Rotary Relays. (Andy Atkinson / for the Rogue Valley Times)
JAVELIN — 1, Nathan Lindbloom, Crater, 177-10; 2, Nolan Sieben, Henley, 177-9; 3, Jordan Rossetta, Grants Pass, 166-3.
HIGH JUMP — 1, Joey Clevenger, South Medford, 6-4; 2, Benjamin Leveque, Eagle Point, 6-2; 3, Dirk Ely, Grants Pass, 6-0.
POLE VAULT — 1, Easton Raber, Eagle Point, 14-9; 2, Heston Likens, North Medford, 13-0; 3, Adam Keller, Crater, 13-0; 4, Jesse Smith, Henley, 13-0.
LONG JUMP — 1, Joseph Janney, Henley, 20-9.5; 2, Cade Siewert, South Medford, 20-5.5; 3, Kai Mathewson, Crater, 20-3.
TRIPLE JUMP — 1, Dakota Lynch, Crater, 43-8; 2, Jeremiah Brunick, Henley, 42-7; 3, Kim Sabayton, Henley, 42-3.
GIRLS
TEAM SCORES: Grants Pass 119.75, Crater 71.5, Henley 58.56, North Medford 58.06, Mazama 41.5, South Medford 33, Hidden Valley 29.5, Eagle Point 29, Cascade Christian 27.25, Ashland 23, Lakeview 19.25, New Hope Christian 2.75.
100 — 1, Callie Brandes, Grants Pass, 12.48; 2, Zanai Vainuku-Johnson, Grants Pass, 12.93; 3, Naia Hagemann, Ashland, 13.19.
400 — 1, Kamdyn Johnson, Crater, 1:01.62; 2, Morgan Samhammer, Cascade Christian, 1:03.30; 3, Grace Havniear, Crater, 1:04.00.
800 — 1, Reese Garnica, Crater, 2:14.39; 2, Brynn Davenport, Crater, 2:20.15; 3, Emma West, Crater, 2:22.69.
1,500 — 1, Natalie Kupka, Ashland, 4:51.99; 2, Nettle Grey, Grants Pass, 4:52.81; 3, Gwendolyn VanWart, Crater, 5:01.85.
3,000 — 1, Bella Fortino, St. Mary’s, 11:15.50; 2, Cyerra Mejia, South Medford, 11:27.03; 3, Raena Crisp, Cascade Christian, 11:32.10.
Ashland’s Natalie Kupka, far right, leads Nettle Grey of Grants Pass, center, and Crater’s Gwendolyn VanWart during the girls 1,500-meter run at the 86th annual Medford Rotary Relays Saturday. (Andy Atkinson / for the Rogue Valley Times)
100 HURDLES — 1, Riley Hensley, Henley, 16.79; Randi Benson, Henley, 16.85; 3, Paige Schiffer, South Medford, 17.39.
300 HURDLES — 1, Sydney Baker, Mazama, 45.66; 2, Claire Davenport, Crater, 49.01; 3, Kaia-Marie Price, North Medford, 49.78.
4×100 RELAY — 1, Grants Pass (Eden Bolen, Callie Brandes, Angela Hobson, Zanai Vainuku-Johnson), 49.28; 2, Crater, 50.01; 3, North Medford, 51.55.
4×200 RELAY — 1, Crater (Kamdyn Johnson, Cadence Doddington, Sarah Doddington, Rylin Norwood), 1:46.24; 2, Grants Pass, 1:47.96; 3, Henley, 1:52.73.
4×400 RELAY — 1, Grants Pass (Eden Bolen, Mia Thompson, Hannah McGovern, Callie Brandes), 4:09.16; 2, Mazama, 4:23.20; 3, South Medford, 4:23.52.
4×800 RELAY — 1, Crater (Emma West, Mari Dunlap, Brynn Davenport, Reese Garnica), 9:53.46; 2, Grants Pass, 11:17.79; 3, Henley, 11:23.30.
DISTANCE MEDLEY RELAY — 1, Ashland (Claire Kiekhaefer, Wynn Pistole, Mackenzie Schmidt, Lyla Rose), 12:52.52; 2, Crater, 13:22.21; 3, North Medford, 13:45.76.
4×100 SHUTTLE HURDLES — 1, Grants Pass (Kaitlynn Bayard, Britney Fisher, Emme Randall, Lauren Pratt), 52.98; 2, Crater, 53.35; 3, Lakeview, 56.49.
SHOT PUT — 1, Thianna Deng-Gomez, Eagle Point, 38-3; 2, Kinlee Davis, Cascade Christian, 33-4.25; 3, Josephine Wewerka, Cascade Christian, 30-8.75.
4×100-meter relay teams from Crater and Grants Pass make the final exchange during the 86th annual Medford Rotary Relays at Bowerman Field Saturday. (Andy Atkinson / for the Rogue Valley Times)
DISCUS — 1, Kinlee Davis, Cascade Christian, 109-11.5; 2, Alexis Bakke, Ashland, 94-6; 3, Alanna Kliewer, Henley, 92-6.
JAVELIN — 1, Devan Foster, Grants Pass, 120-1; 2, Johanna Heil, Lakeview, 114-6; 3, Paije Carpenter, North Medford, 114-0.
HIGH JUMP — 1, Claire Davenport, Crater, 5-5; 2, Paige Schiffer, South Medford, 5-2; 3, Callie Brandes, Grants Pass, 5-1; 4, Angela Hobson, Grants Pass, 5-1.
POLE VAULT — 1, Kaitlynn Bayard, Grants Pass, 9-6; 2, Mada Lee, Mazama, 8-6; 3, Bailey Swanson, Grants Pass, 8-6.
LONG JUMP — 1, Sydney Baker, Mazama, 17-5; 2, Ava Barnett, New Hope Christian, 17-1.25; 3, Mada Lee, Mazama, 17-0.5.
TRIPLE JUMP — 1, Mada Lee, Mazama, 35-2; 2, Paige Owens, Lakeview, 34-1.5; 3, Paije Carpenter, North Medford, 33-8.
Reach sports editor Kris Henry at kris.henry@rv-times.com or 458-488-2035
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