After missing the finals of the 300-meter hurdles at last year's state championships, Newberg junior Dax Duggan returned this year with a force, finishing second in the discipline in a personal best of 38.85 seconds at the OSAA track and field state championships at Hayward Field in Eugene on Saturday, May 18.
“I feel amazing. I feel great. It's an amazing time to be here," Duggan said. "It's amazing just to get that time. I'm going for school records so hopefully we can get there next year.”
Duggan added: "I feel like I can take on the world."
Duggan, who competes in soccer and swimming, was slated near the top of the 6A rankings for a majority of the season. He said there was a bit of added pressure standing as a favorite, with reasonable concerns about whether he'd clip a hurdle or even tumble altogether.
"Just got to go in confident," Duggan said. "You got to go in strong. Just got to be ready for whatever comes and just take it head on.”
Gabriel Bondurant and Benjamin Bondurant finished sixth and eighth, respectively, in the high jump. Gabriel Bondurant cleared 6 feet, 2 inches, while Benjamin Bondurant soared to a personal best of 6-0.75.
In the javelin, junior Gracen Sandoz threw 167-7 to finish seventh. Sophomore Sophia Castaneda added to her ever-growing resume, finishing third in the 400 and 200 meters, clocking in at 54.22 and a personal best of 24.41.
“I just love running,” Castaneda said. “If I could run to my school classes and drop my backpack I kind of would, but I don’t want to get in trouble for running in the hall.”
Castaneda's podium finish in the 200 comes just under a year removed from missing the finals at last year's state championships. With her talents in the 400 and 200 solidified, she's considering diversifying her body of work moving forward.
“I kind of want to do a little more 800 stuff, and I would love to learn how to do hurdles and just try the 300 hurdles a few times — just at least give it a go," Castaneda said. "I know this year I didn't do any field events, but I'd love to do high jump and long jump again next year.”
Sophomore Sophia Carpenter cleared 4-11.75 in the high jump, finishing seventh. It's not a bad place to be for someone who questioned their drive for the sport a year ago.
"Last year, I seriously thought about quitting. I had horrible meets, and just nothing was going well. I wanted to give up really badly," Carpenter said. "This year, I came in and said, ‘Well, we'll see what happens.’ And, I mean, I ended up on the podium at state. I didn't imagine this would happen coming into the season. I thought I'd be lucky to jump at districts. … Just keep pushing through even when you can't see the light at the end of the tunnel, because all the work will pay off eventually.”
And yet, she wasn't quite satisfied with the result.
“I was seeded like ninth or eighth, I think, and I was not close to jumping my (personal best)," Carpenter said. "If I jumped my (personal best), I think I could have gotten top five. I had all the height. The form wasn't there, but it's OK — it's my sophomore year.”
Carpenter's right — urgency isn't necessarily required as she still has two more years of competing to quench her thirst for improvement, and with a firm foundation in place, it's almost inevitable even more personal bests await her in the future.
“I think I can jump 5-4 next year. I'm not very tall for a high jumpers, so I'm going to max out at some point,” Carpenter said. “I think the end goal is to jump my height because that'd be that'd be really cool. Hardly any girls ever do that. … I definitely feel much more confident going into next year and ending this season on such a high note.”
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