The Pacers pick up three points in the 1,600 relay to overtake Barlow for the 6A girls track crown.
EUGENE The Barlow girls track team moved into first place after winning the opening race of the day and stayed at the top of the leader board most of the day at the 6A state meet Saturday.
The Bruins tag team of Macie Allen, Danelle Woodcock, Meera Niles-Paul and Margaret Paul turned in a school-record 47.61 clocking to win the 400-meter relay. Barlow would stretch its lead with Woodcock picking up a win in the 100 (12.30) by .03 hundredths. She finished with a meet-high 28.5 points.
Barlow carried its lead until only three events remained to be scored, but the 300 hurdles sank the Bruins into fourth place late in the day.
But the Bruins dug out of the hole in a matter of minutes when Cassandra Ingram got a personal-best by three inches in the high jump, to claim third place in the event and pick up six team points. That was enough to spring Barlow back to the top 1/2-point ahead of Lakeridge heading into the 1,600 relay to close the meet.
Barlow didnt qualify its long relay for state, so its score was frozen.
The Pacers tag-team came in as the No. 7 seed. If it found its way onto the podium (top-8), Lakeridge would overtake the Bruins for the team trophy.
Barlow had hope early in the relay when Lakeridge finished the first lap as the last team to hand-off the baton. But even a last-place finish would be enough for the Pacers.
The Bruins had two chances.
One, Lakeridge drops the baton and suffers a disqualification, or two, one of the teams from the slower first heat clocks in faster than the Pacers.
Those possibilities quickly faded when Lakeridge worked its way solidly into sixth place over the final two laps, scoring the three points that lifted it to the 6A crown. The top four teams finished less than five points apart.
Gresham senior Haley Crouser became the leading scorer in big-meet history with a win in the shot put Saturday, leading throughout the competition, but getting her biggest mark (45-feet-10 1/2-inches) on her final throw.
She finished her prep career with 97 points at the state meet and seven first-place finishes.
Look for extended state meet coverage in our Friday, May 31, print edition.
View an online photo gallery of the meet at
http://daveball.exposuremanager.com/g/class_6a_state_track