Glencoe’s Jayda Lee claims girls discus crown as part of busy day at 6A Track and Field Showcase

“I’ve been working so hard for this moment, and it finally happened, and it’s kind of surreal.”

By Dan Brood | Photo by Taylor Balkom

Jayda Lee had little time to waste.

The Glencoe senior ran over to the high jump pit, cleared a personal-best 5 feet, 4 inches, and ended up taking fifth place. She was pretty happy about that.

But the bigger, and better, news for Lee happened just a few minutes earlier.

Right before running over to the high jump pit, Lee claimed the championship in the discus event at the Oregon 6A Track and Field Showcase, held Friday at Pioneer Memorial Stadium in Oregon City.

“Oh, it means so much,” Lee said of her victory in the discus. “I’ve been working so hard for this moment, and it finally happened, and it’s kind of surreal.”

Lee triumphed in the discus with a throw of 152-0, which came on her third attempt in preliminaries.

“It’s good. It’s my second-farthest throw of the season,” said Lee, whose best is 156-6. “My first two were good, but at the release they didn’t feel that good. This one did. It was a little low, but it felt better.”

Winning the title as a senior also seemed to have a bit of extra meaning for Lee.

“It makes it more special, especially with the way this whole season went,” she said. “We weren’t sure we were even going to get a season.”

After winning the discus, Lee didn’t have much time to celebrate, as she had to head across the turf field to make her first appearance in the high jump competition, which was already well underway.

“I knew beforehand, because I’ve done this for a few years, having to go back-and-forth is tough, so I said, ‘This year, I’m going to focus on discus and not go back-and-forth, having to change my shoes over and over again,’” Lee said. “So, I finished there, at the discus, and came here, and had to start here six inches higher than normal (at 5-4), but I made it, which was crazy.”

Benson sophomore Kyeese Hollands was second in the discus with a throw of 133-11, and Sandy sophomore Sydney Brewster was third at 133-6.

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Earlier:

Meet the state’s best throwers

Meet the state’s best jumpers

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Meet the state’s best distance runners