Strong competition and attempts at meet records were the themes on Day 2 of the 85th annual Medford Rotary Relays on Saturday afternoon.

Throughout the entire day, the Medford Relays saw close battles till the end to highlight the six relays on the track at Bowerman Field at North Medford High School.

Among the strongest showings, Grants Pass led the way — powered by eight individual titles and five wins in the relays — to victories in the boys and girls meets with 93.5 and 125.5 points, respectively.

Grants Pass senior Jayden Jessee took the boys 300-meter hurdles race with a meet-record time of 39.40 seconds to beat the old one held since 2012 by Kodie Artner of South Medford by a mere .05 seconds.

Jessee also joined Andrew Jenson, Matthew Jenson and Terance Blair to take down the boys 4×110 shuttle hurdles meet record with a time of 47.29.

Sophia Small also set a meet record in the girls long jump for the Cavers with a distance of 16 feet, 6.75 inches. The previous record was set by North Medford’s Emily Carlson, who jumped 16-6.5 in 2013.

“The Relays meet primes the pump to bring the most out of the kids,” said North Medford track and field coach Piet Voskes. “There’s a different type of pressure here, because you’re now running for someone beyond yourself.”

With a combined five individual and four relay wins, Crater finished second in both divisions, with the boys team earning 84.23 points and the girls at 74.75.

Individually, the Crater boys saw Gabriel Grant continue his strong showings in the long jump with a winning distance of 22-1.75, and Maxwell Miracle won the 1,500 with a time of 4:16.05.

Grant later helped Kyle Petty, Nicholas Kube and Reese Tiffee take the 4×100 relay with a time of 43.58. The Comets also won the 4×800 relay thanks to strong efforts by Caleb Doddington, Jeffrey Hellmann, Jack Sandlin and Shaun Garnica.

North Medford and South Medford tied for third place at 74.25 points in the boys meet.

The Black Tornado had three relay wins and two individual wins, while the Panthers showed off their depth after posting only one event winner.

Houston Klug won the boys high jump at a height of 6-6 and Antonio Martinez took the 100 (11.10) for North Medford.

Martinez joined Jonah Goergen, Matthew Donovan and Jacob Casale to take the 4×200 relay (1:31.85), and Donovan and Casale teamed with Owen Neely and Alec Winters to take the 4×400 (3:29.51).

The Black Tornado capped that off with a wire-to-wire win in the distance medley thanks to Elijah Zavala, Logan Huffman, Neely and Winters at 11.01.79.

“I thought our boys elevated with a goal and attitude in place,” said Voskes. “I think we’re rounding a corner. It’s obviously early from a calendar standpoint, but it’s not early as far as the season goes.”

“We’ve got five weeks until the district meet and so our primary responsibilities are to make sure these kids are calloused and understand how to compete at big meets,” he added.

Connor Trinca also took the shot put with a throw of 47-9 for the Black Tornado.

South Medford saw Cade Siewert win the triple jump by clearing a personal best by a foot with a distance of 43-0 for its only top finisher.

Alexander Fiannaca had a first-place effort in the javelin at 165-10 for Cascade Christian.

On the girls side, Claire Davenport clocked a 12.74 to seize the 100 and won the three-way tiebreaker in the high jump at a height of 5-0 for Crater.

Davenport also won the 4×800 with Reese Garnica, Emma West and Lindsay Siebert (10:00.32), while Addison Dippel, Kamdyn Johnson, Sarah Doddington and Cadence Doddington combined for a time of 1:48.71 to be victorious in the 4×200 relay.

West also ran a 4:46.63 to take the 1,500 for the Comets.

North Medford sophomore Kristina Atonio went 31-10.50 to win the shot put.