Special things happening for Tigard boys sprinters

The Tigers are putting up impressive marks on the track and building a positive culture off it

Tigard’s (from left) Daniel Rotaru, Micah Gerhard, Brayden Nee and Marcus Burton are part of deep group of Tigers sprinters who have shined in relay races this season. / Dan Brood

WEST LINN — Maybe it’s not exactly an abundance of riches.

It’s more like an abundance of speed.

For the deep group of sprinters on the Tigard boys track and field team, that might be just as valuable.

If nothing else, the Tigers are turning heads, turning in impressive times, excelling in a big way in the relays and having a great time doing it.

“For me, it’s really fun. For the team, I think it’s the most fun we’ve ever had,” Tigard senior sprinter Brayden Nee said during the Tigers’ recent Three Rivers League dual meet at West Linn. “Being with a team this fast, with this competitiveness, it’s just been so fun for us. That’s going to push us even more.”

“I guess we just have a really talented group of runners this year, and we all work hard,” Tigard senior Micah Gerhard said.

Put that talent, hard work and an impressive, deep group of competitors together, and you likely have the makings of successful relay teams — for example, take a look at the Tigers.

“I think our chemistry makes us good,” Tigard senior Daniel Rotaru said about the Tigers’ 4x100-meter relay squad. “Me (running the first leg) and our second leg, Brayden, I think our chemistry is really good. I love our whole team.”

And it’s a deep team.

“Right now, we’ve got great depth, which makes my job really hard,” said Tigard sprints coach Zach Schlachter, who was a standout sprinter when he attended Tigard High School. “We have any number of guys who we can plug and play to put in there, which I’m super grateful for.”

The deep group of Tigard sprinters also has experience and plenty of motivation.

Tigard returns three runners — Rotaru, Nee and junior Marcus Burton — from last year’s 4x100 relay team that finished second to Lake Oswego at the Class 6A track and field championships with a time of 42.05 seconds in the finals.

“Last year we got second at state, so that motivates us to get first this year,” Burton said. “Our group was good last year, and we only lost one senior off our relay team. So, we just brought that team over, and we’ve been really good this year.”

They certainly seems to be the case this season. As of Thursday morning, the Tigard 4x100 relay team had the fourth-fastest time in the state with a 42.14, which the Tigard team of Rotaru, Nee, Burton and senior Noah Saldana recorded in a winning performance at the Cardinal Invite, held May 2 at Lincoln High School.

In the meet at West Linn, the Tigers combination of Rotaru, Nee, Burton and Gerhard triumphed with a mark of 42.19, the squad’s second-fastest time this season.

“It went pretty good,” Burton said. “We put a new person in but still almost ran a PR (personal record).”

“It was my first time running with that team, and I thought it was pretty great,” Gerhard said. “We got a 42.19 — that’s our second-best time of the year.”

“We put in a new guy today in the third leg, and we still did really good,” Nee said. “Our handoffs were good. We’re just trying to keep progressing through the season,”

“I think we had pretty decent handoffs. It wasn’t exactly the time we were looking for, but it was still really fun,” Rotaru said. “We’re shooting for 41.9 or something like that. That’s our goal right now.”

Rotaru says the Tigers can go even faster than that.

“In the 4x100, I’m hoping we can do a 41.6,” he said. “If we got that, I’d be insanely happy. I hope we can get it.”

No matter what, it would be hard to find someone happier being part of a track and field team than Rotaru.

After never taking part in any organized competitive sport of any kind before, Rotaru joined the Tigard track and field team as a freshman.

“Freshman year, I came to track. I hadn’t done anything before,” he said. “I was out of shape and I was looking for a fun sport to do, and track turned out to be right for me.”

What made it right?

“It’s just the people, the coaches, Coach Zach and Coach Anna (Johnson), they’ve been really supportive of me, especially my freshman year,” Rotaru said. “The summer workouts got me in shape, and it all has helped me become the person I am today.”

Tigard’s (from left) Micah Gerhard, Daniel Rotaru and Brayden Nee, as well as West Linn’s Peter Daniels, compete in the 200-meter dash during the Three Rivers Dual meet at West Linn High School. / Dan Brood

Part of the person Rotaru has become is one of the fastest sprinters in the state. His time of 10.74 in the 100 is the fourth-fastest in Oregon this season.

“In the 100, recently I PR’ed. I got 10.74 at the Cardinal Invite,” Rotaru said. “I was insanely happy about that. In the 200, I started running that again this year. I ran a 22-low and was really happy about that.”

Rotaru is one of three Tigers who have gone 11 flat or faster in the 100 this season. Nee ran an 11.00 at the T Smith Need for Speed invite April 12 at Sherwood, and Burton had a 10.80 at the Sunset Team Challenge on April 18.

“I went sub-11 for the first time,” Burton said. “I had a good block start, and I usually don’t, and once I had that good start, I just started running, and the rest just came to me.”

Even with all that speed, there’s been another big key for the Tigers relay team this season.

“Honestly, what I really like is, regardless of any individual performance, their support and encouragement of each other is what’s really made this group special,” Schlachter said. “There’s not a single guy who doesn’t want his teammates to succeed. That makes all the difference.”

Nee, who is the closest thing to a newcomer to the Tigard program, sees that closeness as well.

“For Daniel, Mathew, Marcus, they’ve always been here,” he said. “I came from Newberg. I transferred here my sophomore year, and I’ve grown into the family this year.”

That family is now taking aim at a top spot in the state in the 4x100 relay.

“It really starts with how they train and the dedication and hard work they put in,” Schlachter said.

“We know our potential is way better than what we’ve done so far. We’re trying to get it down below 42, and maybe down to 41.7,” Nee said. “We just need to keep working on our handoffs, getting stronger in our legs, basically do everything a team does. We just need to get better. We just have to focus and push each other. Every day, I push my guys to get better. I try to motivate them to get better. Every meet we go to, we think we can win, and we just push ourselves really hard.”

“We’re all fast, so we can get there,” Gerhard said.

Burton, Nee and Gerhard, as well as sophomore Paul Hretcanu, who shines in the 800, run in the 4x400 relay for Tigard. That Tigers team has the third-best Class 6A mark in the state with its time of 3:23.60 at the Cardinal Invite.

Burton just recently started competing in the long jump.

Tigard junior Marcus Burton, a top sprinter for the Tigers, started competing in the long jump a couple of weeks ago. / Dan Brood

“I’ve been interested in it for a while, and I got a chance to do it for the first time last Tuesday (when he had a winning mark of 19 feet, 11.5 inches),” Burton said. “I think it’s a lot of fun, but it’s complicated.”

Fun is a big thing for the Tigard sprinters — not just for this group now, but for the future Tigers as well.

“Honestly, I haven’t had a group that I don’t enjoy,” Schlachter said. “But this group has something special developing, with the talent that we have, as well as the character of the guys, which is creating a really good environment for the younger guys coming up.”

“I’m ecstatic about it — I love track,” Rotaru said with a smile.

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