PREP ROUNDUP: Maiorano, Carpenter shine on Day 1

Danny Penza, Mail Tribune, Medford, Ore.
·8 min read

May 13—EUGENE — Each side of Medford took home an individual title on the first day of the Southwest Conference district track and field meet Thursday, as South Medford's Michael Maiorano and North Medford's Paije Carpenter claimed victories at South Eugene High.

Maiorano, a senior, rolled to a district title in his first competitive run in the 3,000 in over three weeks. The Gonzaga-bound Maiorano won by nearly six seconds over Sheldon's Jonah Donde, recording a time of 8 minutes, 29.99 seconds.

"Michael ran extremely well and strategic, knowing his other teammates were in the heat with him," South Medford coach David Kirkpatrick said. "Michael was seeded first by about 15 seconds, and he just went out and ran his race and is looking forward to running at Hayward Field next week at state."

Maiorano's teammates Connor Singer (9:01.43) and Adam Cannon (9:07.08) gave the Panthers three of the top six finishers in the boys 3,000, crossing the finish line in fifth and sixth, respectively.

"That's an amazing thing," Kirkpatrick said of South's trio finishing so high. "They've trained together for years now, so to see them in their senior year have great races, they're all doing so well and scoring big points for us."

Like the rest of the field event participants, Carpenter had to fight through the rain and wind — which was so bad the pole vault finals had to be postponed to the weekend — to get to the top spot in the girls javelin.

Carpenter, a freshman, won ahead of a pair of South Medford throwers, fellow freshman Amara Collins and junior Macy McCoy. Carpenter won with a throw of 95 feet, 3 inches, while Collins finished second with a personal-best mark of 94-4 to become an automatic qualifier to state. McCoy's throw of 91-6 was good enough for third.

"For a kid who's just learning the event, you put her volleyball background with that and it seems to carry into the javelin," North coach Piet Voskes said. "She's still playing volleyball this spring, so she's had limited reps and is still figuring out the event. All things considered, she was throwing in pouring rain and handled it like a veteran. It was about handling adversity, and she persevered through it."

North Medford sophomore Terrell Kim wrapped up a spot at next week's state meet in Eugene after he took second in the boys shot put with a throw of 46 feet, 1.5 inches. Grants Pass' Parker Jarvis won the shot put at 51-4.

"It was nice to see a young sophomore who obviously has notoriety for his football skills now have a second premier sport," Voskes said of Kim, a first-team all-SWC pick at offensive tackle last fall.

Black Tornado senior Jackie Aukusitino finished third in the tightly contested girls shot put behind Grants Pass' Grace Osborne (35-1.5) and Anna Tobey (35-0) with a throw of 34-10.5.

Sheldon sits atop the boys standings after Day 1 with 36 points, just ahead of Grants Pass (35) and Roseburg (30). South Medford (24) and North Medford (16) stand fourth and fifth, respectively.

Grants Pass is in front on the girls side with 45 points, with South Eugene (37) second and North Medford (34) not far behind in third. The South girls sit in fifth place with 14 points.

The SWC district meet will continue Saturday, with field events starting at 12:30 p.m. and track events beginning at 2.

BOYS

TEAM SCORES: Sheldon 36, Grants Pass 35, Roseburg 30, South Medford 24, North Medford 16, South Eugene 15.

3,000 — 1, Michael Maiorano, South Medford, 8:29.99; 2, Jonah Donde, Sheldon, 8:35.66; 3, Ben Collins, Sheldon, 8:39.43.

SHOT PUT — 1, Parker Jarvis, Grants Pass, 51-4; 2, Terrell Kim, North Medford, 46-1.5; 3, Keegan Ingram, Grants Pass, 44-1.25.

JAVELIN — 1, Jacob Nash, Sheldon, 175-9; 2, Eamon Gustafson, South Eugene, 148-3; 3, Jacob Moss, Grants Pass, 147-2.

LONG JUMP — 1, Colton Marsters, Roseburg, 20-10.25; 2, Brock Thomas, Sheldon, 19-11.5; 3, Grant Gober, Roseburg, 19-3.5.

GIRLS

TEAM SCORES: Grants Pass 45, South Eugene 37, North Medford 34, Roseburg 15, South Medford 14, Sheldon 11.

3,000 — 1, Elizabeth Eckman, Roseburg, 10:36.95; 2, Ansley Johnston, South Eugene, 10:37.96; 3, Hannah Seubert, South Eugene, 10:39.85.

SHOT PUT — 1, Grace Osborne, Grants Pass, 35-1.5; 2, Anna Tobey, Grants Pass, 35-0; 3, Jackie Aukusitino, North Medford, 34-10.5.

JAVELIN — 1, Paije Carpenter, North Medford, 95-3; 2, Amara Collins, South Medford, 94-4; 3, Macy McCoy, South Medford, 91-6.

LONG JUMP — 1, Catherine Touchette, South Eugene, 17-1; 2, Sophie Mock, Grants Pass, 16-4.5; 3, Noelle Sherle, Sheldon, 15-1.25.

MWL DISTRICT MEET: At Eagle Point, the Crater boys picked up a trio of individual titles and Ashland senior Grace Yaconelli was the lone local winner on the girls side during the first day of competition at Eagle Point High.

Crater junior Tyrone Gorze and freshman Josiah Tostenson finished first and second in the boys 3,000, with Gorze winning in 8:18.42 and Tostenson coming in at 8:34.70. Ashland's Nathan Stein (8:57.85) was third, while Crater's Shaun Garnica (9:07.04) was fourth.

The Comets also picked up wins in a pair of field events, with Gabriel Williams winning the boys shotput with a throw of 43-2.75 and Carson Le Bel winning the pole vault with a leap of 14-6.

Yaconelli came in at 10:31.52, over 13 seconds ahead of North Eugene's Artana Nice in second.

Crater's Erin Bechtold secured a spot at next week's state meet with a second-place finish in the girls pole vault with a mark of 9-7.

Crater leads the boys standings with 53 points, ahead of North Bend (46) and Churchill (29).

Thurston leads the girls standings with 44 points, with North Bend second (32) and Churchill (22) in third.

BOYS

TEAM SCORES: Crater 53, North Bend 46, Churchill 29, Thurston 24, Willamette 13, North Eugene 12, Springfield 8, Ashland 7, Eagle Point 3.

3,000 — 1, Tyrone Gorze, Crater, 8:18.42; 2, Josiah Tostenson, Crater, 8:34.70; 3, Nathan Stein, Ashland, 8:57.85..

SHOT PUT — 1, Gabriel Williams, Crater, 43-2.75; 2, Roman Fritz, North Bend, 42-11.75; 3, Alex Willoughby, Willamette, 42-1.5.

JAVELIN — 1, Roman Fritz, North Bend, 170-2; 2, Keegan Young, North Bend, 164-8; 3, Henry Hood, North Bend, 152-8.

POLE VAULT — 1, Carson Le Bel, Crater, 14-6; 2, Brody Justice, North Bend, 13-0; 3, Trenton Parrott, North Bend, 12-0.

LONG JUMP — 1, Nathan Fields, Churchill, 21-10; 2, Ammon Gallup, Thurston, 21-0; 3, Gabriel Grant, Crater, 20-10.

GIRLS

TEAM SCORES: Thurston 44, North Bend 32, Churchill 22, Crater 20, Ashland 19, Willamette 18, Springfield 16, Eagle Point 14, North Eugene 10.

3,000 — 1, Grace Yaconelli, Ashland, 10:31.52; 2, Artana Nice, North Eugene, 10:44.66; 3, Taylor Heer, Churchill, 11:04.54.

SHOT PUT — 1, Bailey Tovey, Thurston, 35-2; 2, Kylie Rankins, Springfield, 33-5.75; 3, Stella Hall, Thurston, 31-6.

JAVELIN — 1, Kaylianna Mazzucchi, North Bend, 101-4; 2, Kielie Green, Churchill, 99-6; Bailey Tovey, Thurston, 98-10.

POLE VAULT — 1, Rhys Allen, Willamette, 10-1; 2, Erin Bechtold, Crater, 9-7; 3, Abby Woodruff, North Bend, 9-7.

LONG JUMP — 1, Breanna Raven, Thurston, 18-0.5; 2, Morgan Casley, Thurston, 16-6; 3, Iman Burks, Churchill, 16-1.5.

Baseball

SHELDON 8-14, NORTH MEDFORD 3-4: At Eugene, North Medford's Frankie Rutigliano and Trey Newmann both homered but the Black Tornado fell short in both ends of a Southwest Conference doubleheader.

Sheldon (12-10, 8-5 SWC) scored 10 runs in the first inning of Game 2, six coming on a pair of home runs by Taylor Langworthy, including a grand slam to deep center.

Newmann's home run came in nightcap, as he recorded two of the Tornado's three hits and had three RBIs.

Rutigliano finished 3-for-4 with a double and a solo home run in the top of the seventh inning in Game 1 against Sheldon starter Cade Welch, who struck out eight in a complete-game effort.

Also for North (10-14, 4-9) in Game 1, Newmann — who also struck out 10 on the mound — and Joey Newberg both went 2-for-3 with an RBI and Colton Morgan finished 2-for-4.

FIRST GAME

North Medford0010002—3113

Sheldon212021x—870

Newmann, Hayens (6) and Newberg; Welch and Spurlock. W — Welch. L — Newmann (4-4). 2B — NM: Rutigliano; S: Langworthy, Miller, Mueller. HR — NM: Rutigliano; S: Spurlock.

SECOND GAME

North Medford011020—431

Sheldon(10)00004—14102

Rutigliano, Daffron (1) and Newberg; Mueller and Spurlock, Coleman (3). W — Mueller. L — Rutigliano (1-3). 2B — S: Buck, Mueller. HR — NM: Newmann; S: Langworthy 2.