Oregon high school girls track and field: Breakthrough stars at midway point of season

We highlight 20 breakthrough campaigns in Oregon (OSAA) high school girls track and field this season

North Eugene’s Cricket Phipps should contend in the 800 and 1,500 meters this spring at the 5A track and field state championships. / Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

We previously highlighted the top returning seniors on the Oregon high school girls track and field scene.

Now, as we reach the midway point of the spring season, we look at some breakthrough stars to watch for next month at Hayward Field in Eugene at the OSAA state championships.

Abella Leder, Canby, junior

Leder started coming on at the end of last season, when she finished fourth in the 300-meter hurdles at the 5A state meet, and she shaved another second off her personal best at the Arcadia Invitational (44.88 seconds) after finishing sixth at the Oregon Relays.

Amina Redfield, Wilsonville, senior

Redfield qualified for the 5A state meet in the javelin for the first time last spring but didn’t advance to the finals. She entered this season never having thrown 130 feet, then went past that mark at the season opener in Silverton and has done so three other times, including her personal-best 139 feet, 8 inches, at a Northwest Oregon Conference meet. She placed fifth at the Oregon Relays and second at her home invitational.

Arie Thomas, Lake Oswego, sophomore

The Lakers have had several standout hurdlers over the past few seasons, and Thomas is the latest to join the group after transferring over the summer from Lake Travis in Austin, Texas. She lowered her personal bests to 14.73 in the 100 highs and 44.30 in the 300 lows at Sherwood’s Need for Speed Invitational.

Bailey Shields, Beaverton, senior

Shields won the Metro League district shot put title a year ago and placed fourth at 6A state, but she’s moved to a different level this spring, throwing past 40 feet for the first time at the Beavers’ season-opening dual (she’s since improved her PR to 41-4), placing third at the Oregon Relays and winning the Chehalem Classic.

Cailyn Hill, Lake Oswego, senior

Hill returned to the Portland area for her senior year and has fit into the Lakers relay mix. She also ran a wind-aided 12.30 personal best in the 100. 

Campbell Brintnall, Tualatin, senior

Brintnall made the 6A state finals in both hurdles races for the Timberwolves last season (seventh in the 100 highs, eighth in the 300s), and she has blazed up the all-time Oregon lists this spring, cutting a second off her time in the high hurdles to 14.47 (No. 17 in state history) and two seconds in the 300s to 43.28, good for No. 7 all-time.

Clara Sameck, Lincoln, junior

Sameck competes in the jumps and hurdles for the Cardinals, with her breakthrough coming in the high hurdles late last spring with a sixth-place finish at the 6A state meet, then going under 15 seconds for the first time at the Oregon Relays, where she took fifth. She later went 14.90 at the Need for Speed.

Cricket Phipps, North Eugene, junior

Phipps has built on a strong end to her sophomore season, when she won two medals at the 5A state meet (eighth in the 800, seventh in the 1,500), lowering her PR in the 800 by two seconds to 2:18.49 and winning the 1,500 at the Need for Speed with a personal-best 4:41.58.

Elissa Schaeffer, Sunset, junior

Schaeffer qualified for the 6A state meet in the 1,500 and 3,000 last spring, narrowly missing the medals podium in each, and she marked herself as a contender in the 800 by cutting six seconds off her PR at the Sunset Team Challenge by winning in 2:13.98 — third-fastest in the state this year. She notched a sub-10 in the 3K in early April (9:57.46).

Greyson Glivinski, Silverton, senior

Glivinski threw a personal best in the javelin last spring to finish fifth at the 5A state meet, then bested that mark in her season-opening meet this year and kept building off that start, improving to 145-2 with her victory at the Laker Classic on April 18.

Hannah Huyler, Lakeridge, senior

The twin sister of reigning 6A 3,000 champion Chloe Huyler started her career in Nevada as a middle distance runner, winning a 1A state title in the 800 as a sophomore. After transitioning to longer distances last year, Hannah placed fourth behind her sister at the cross country championships in November, signed with Vanderbilt and broke a 5-minute mile at the Oregon Relays (4:55.75).

Jadyn Crawford, Beaverton, junior

Crawford qualified for the 6A state meet in the 200 each of her first two seasons but has yet to reach the final. She’s shown early this year she’ll be a contender in the 100 and 200, lowering her personal bests to 12.33 in the 100 and 25.31 in the 200.

Jadyn Kipe, Wilsonville, senior

Kipe’s breakthrough senior season started in the fall, when she held off Caldera’s Maddie Carney to finish second at the 5A cross country state meet behind four-time champion Emily Wisniewski of Crescent Valley. She’s cut 12 seconds off her personal best in the 800 (2:26.68), 10 seconds in the 1,500 (4:46.82) and 34 in the 3K (10:06.41).

Keira Davis, Corvallis, senior

Davis proved herself in the discus last year by placing fourth at the 5A state meet, but she’s becoming a contender in the javelin as well this spring, adding 20 feet to her PR by throwing 130-0 at a Mid-Willamette Conference meet. She also went over 130 feet for the first time in the discus this year.

Khloe Huscic, David Douglas, senior

Huscic went to the 6A state meet in three events during her first two seasons (not making the finals in any), but after missing out last spring, she has broken through this year with personal bests in three events — the 100 hurdles (14.81), long jump (17-0) and triple jump (36-11).

Kiana Johnson, Jesuit, junior

Johnson missed the first half of her sophomore season, returning in time to finish sixth at the 6A state meet in the 100. She ran a personal-best 12.33 in finishing sixth at Eugene's Hayward Field again at the Oregon Relays in early April, and she ran 25.28 in the 200 at a Metro League meet.

Mae Roth, Sisters, senior

Roth had cleared 10 feet in the pole vault once before this season, but she’s done so at all four meets this year, breaking the school record with an 11-9 clearance in winning the Sisters Invitational.

Naomi Cesar, Sunset, sophomore

Cesar won the Metro League district title in the 400 last spring and just missed qualifying for the 6A state final. She moved up to the 800 this season and ran 2:14.42 to finish fifth at the Oregon Relays.

Reese Jensen, West Linn, junior

Jensen came up just short of qualifying for the 6A state meet in the 200 last season, but that shouldn’t be an issue this spring. She’s shaved nearly a full second off her personal best, running 25.68 at a Three Rivers League meet, and she went 56.94 in the 400 in winning the Wilsonville Invitational.

Tilda Hathaway, Wells, sophomore

Hathaway finished a solid freshman season by reaching the finals of the PIL district meet in the 100 and 200, and she returned this spring by running a 12.14 in the 100 in her first race and shaved almost a second off her PR in the 200 with a 25.05 at the Need for Speed Invitational.

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