ASHLAND — Ashland broke a school record to highlight numerous state bids reeled in by some of the Rogue Valley’s top athletes during the Midwestern League track and field championships Saturday at Southern Oregon University.

In the 4×100-meter relay, a trio of seniors — Gavin White, Caden Negra and Cole Beneventi — joined junior Theodore Williams to beak a 26-year record with a combined time of 42.80 seconds in triumph.

The previous record was set in 1998 by the quartet of Brian Luman, Christopher Phillips, Gabe Ekwall and Cy Aleman.

Just two weeks ago, the chance to break that school record seemed within reach after the Grizzlies ran a 43.27 during a MWL tri-meet.

The speed was there, but the handoffs needed the work to make the dream into a reality.

“They have been working all season to kind of put their handoffs together, every single meet,” said Ashland track and field coach Rosie Converse. “All week long they’ve just been working on those handoffs and trying to figure out how to break that — that’s their only goal to bring them that school record.”

To make Day 2 of the MWL championships even better, Negra completed a season goal of going sub-50 seconds in the 400, recording a mark of 49.59 seconds for the district title.

The Ashland senior was excited to win both those events at Raider Stadium, which will soon be his home when he plays wide receiver for the SOU football team this fall.

“I needed to get used to it,” Negra said about winning on the track. “It was cool to run out on this track and get to 49 seconds. It’s a big confidence boost before state.”

Finishing right behind Negra in the 400 was Beneventi, who also broke the 50-second barrier for the first time.

Beneventi earned another individual state bid after finishing second in the 200 with a personal-best 22.41.

The senior has never made it to Hayward Field before as an individual and is excited to see his hard work pay off after taking his final season more seriously.

“This entire year, I’ve been weight training, focusing on specific little things like arm drive,” he said. “I’ve just been starting to put it all together and that has brought down my times to where I want to be in, where I can compete.”

Logan Moreno was Eagle Point’s lone state qualifier Saturday with a second-place finish in the 100 at 11.12.

Crater engulfed the results with orange showing up all around the top finishers, sweeping the team awards. The Comets won the boys team title with 169 points and the girls team title with 180 points.

“We did what we had to do to come out here and compete well,” said Crater coach Justin Loftus. “The kids ran amazing, they jumped amazing and they competed amazingly.”

Claire Davenport might have encapsulated that best by qualifying in three events for the Comets, teaming up with Kamdyn Jonson, Reese Garnica, Emma West to take the girls 4×400 relay with a time of 4:05.57.

Davenport and Johnson were joined by Sarah Doddington and Addi Dippel to also place second in the 4×100 at 49.86.

The sophomore Davenport reached a personal-best 5 feet, 4.25 inches in the high jump, moving into third in the 5A ranks.

West took second in the 1,500 (4:54.68) and Johnson also was second in the 400 (1:01.52).

On the boys side, Reese Tiffee swept the sprints by running a pair of personal bests in the 100 (10.99) and 200 (22.38).

Josiah Tostenson and Tayvon Kitchen took the two qualifying spots in the 1,500, with Tostenson winning with a time of 3:54.28 and Kitchen on his heels at 3:57.55.

Caleb Doddington and Jeffrey Hellmann also kept alive the streak of the Comets sweeping the distance races when Doddington placed first in the 800 at 1:56.08 and Hellmann was just behind at 1:56.57.

Tostenson, Doddington and Hellmann cranked out the 4×400 relay victory with Nicholas Kube with a season-best of 3:24.71.

Parker Allen placed second in the triple jump (43-9.25) and high jump (5-10.75), while Kube also got a clutch personal-best 50.71 in the 400 for third place — qualifying for state by beating the 50.82 standard.

SKYLINE CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS: At Phoenix, Kael Feeley won the boys 1,500-meter title for Phoenix with a time of 4 minutes, 14.38 seconds to claim his second district title at the Skyline Conference track and field championships.

Cody Martin clocked an 11.10 to take the 100 and ran 22.82 for third place in the 200 but beat the qualifying standard. The sophomore also joined Robin Trenbeath, Nathan Faulkner and River Delco to win the 4×100 relay (43.92).

Martin and Delco, along with Ethan Dobbins and Jacob Moody, placed second in the 4×400 relay (3:32.94) to qualify for the Class 4A state championships.

Cash Stallsworth unwinded a personal-best throw of 140 feet, 10.5 inches to place second and qualify for state for the Pirates.

For the girls, Laurelin Jansen reached 8-9.75 in the pole vault to place second and return to state after missing it last year.

3A DISTRICT 5 CHAMPIONSHIPS: At Sutherlin, Indiana Olson powered the St. Mary’s boys to a second-place finish at the District 5 track and field championships. The Crusaders finished with 119 points in the team standing behind Douglas’ 144 with Olson — the male track athlete of the meet — running down a pair of personal records with a 22.73 in the 200-meter race and a 50.53 in the 400.

The senior was also a part of a victorious quartet with Aiden DeBoer, Andrew Lockwood and Oliver Ford in both boys relays. Ford also qualified in the 400 (52.59) in second place, and Lockwood placed second in the 200 at 22.85.

Joel Kiene earned the district title in the boys discus with a throw of 130 feet, 2 inches for St. Mary’s, and also placed second in the javelin (146-0). The freshman was named the male field athlete of the championships. Crusaders junior Eli Angulo was runner-up in the triple jump (37-10) to qualify for state.

Cascade Christian’s boys team finished with 70 points, with Alexander Fiannaca cranking out a distance of 157-11 to take the javelin title. Isaac Young secured second place in the 1,500 with a PR of 4:21.29 and in the 800 (2:06.91).

On the girls side, Emma Johnston went 35-2.25 for a triple jump victory to lead St. Mary’s to a second place-finish with 118 points. Johnston was joined by Gabriella Cooper, Meno Kubo and Sophia Bendaw to win the 4×100 relay (51.64), while Marren Tignini ran a 2:33.46 to win the 800 and Bendaw was second in the 100 with a PR (13.30).

Morgan Samhammer used a personal-best 27.74 in the 200 to be Cascade Christian’s lone state qualifier for the girls on Day 2. The Challengers finished with 44 points.