Morgan Walker and Mallory Lusco logged three top-four finishes between them at last week’s Oregon high school track and field championships, leading the contingent of Grant County athletes that traveled to Hayward Field in Eugene to compete in the state meet Friday and Saturday, May 17 and 18.

Walker, a junior at Grant Union, left Eugene as the highest-finishing track and field athlete from Grant County, placing third in the discus with a throw of 34.40 meters in the Class 2A competition.

Fellow Prospector junior Lusco secured a pair of fourth-place finishes with throws of 10.34 meters in the shot put and 32.40 meters in the discus.

Grant Union senior Landon Boyd placed fourth in his preliminary heat to qualify for the 400 meter final, ultimately placing seventh in the event. The Grant Union 4×400 relay team of Landon and Skylor Boyd, Taylor Gosnell and Alex Finley placed 11th in the final with a time of 3:43.64.

Finley was the only Grant Union boys field competitor after qualifying for state in the shot put as a wild card. Finley’s best throw was 11.75 meters, good enough for 11th place in the shot put.

Juniors Maddie Bailey and Heidi Jackson finished seventh and eighth in the pole vault for Grant Union, with vaults of 2.38 and 2.23 meters, respectively. Freshman Allyson Moore competed in the high jump but did not log a jump height.

Prairie City would send two individuals and a 4×100 relay team to Eugene in the 1A classification.

The Panther 4×100 relay team of Maison Teel, Tucker Wright, David Sharpe and Sawyer Quinton would wind up with a fifth-place finish, finishing just .09 second shy of fourth-place Damascus Christian.

Teel, a sophomore, finished ninth in his preliminary heat in the 100 meter dash, just missing out on the final, which took the top eight preliminary finishers. Prairie City freshman Jaylan Duke competed in the pole vault but did not log a vault height.

In all, 14 track and field athletes from Grant Union and Prairie City competed in the state championships. Dayville, Monument and Long Creek did not have qualifiers for the state meet.

Grant Union head track and field coach Sonna Smith said Grant Union took nine athletes to state, with five of them placing.

“We had a good season this year. Girls were strong in field events, but our freshman class is loaded with runners,” Smith said. “We had multiple athletes one place away from receiving a wild card for a position to compete at state.”

Smith said her goal for the girls team is to take runners and jumpers to state along with an already strong cast of throwers and vaulters.

The boys team had a mix of both field athletes and runners at state. Smith said her goal for the boys next year is to simply get more competitors qualified for the state competition.