The 66^th annual Grants Pass Rotary Track and Field meet will go down as a meet for the ages.  32 teams from across Oregon and Northern California competed under near perfect conditions.

The meet was highlighted by a number of electric performances that ranked amongst some of the best in the nation.  Justin Petz, from LaPine High School, moved up to number 5 in the national rankings in the pole vault when he cleared 16’ 9”.  While Gabrielle Kearney of Roseburg did not improve her nation’s best javelin throw of 158’ 4”, she did win the javelin with a throw of 145’ 1”.

Local athletes that had an outstanding day were Deshae Wise, Larry Cotton, Zac Hannan, and John Hanley.  Wise placed second in the girls 100m (12.56a), 1^st in the 100m Hurdles (14.94a), and she anchored the winning 4x400m relay team.  Wise’s time in the Hurdles was a new school record.  Cotton placed second in the High Jump with a personal best of 6’ 6”, and also placed second in the Triple Jump with another personal best of 44’ 0.5”.  Hannan was voted most outstanding male athlete with his 3 victories in the 100m (10.81a), 110m High Hurdles (14.97a), and 300m Intermediate Hurdles (39.50a), and a 5^th place finish in the Long Jump (20’ 4.5”).  Hannan’s personal best time of 10.81a in the 100m dash also set a new school record.  Hanley had a great day in winning the boys javelin with a throw of 187’ 4”, which is a new school record.

Teams for Grants Pass performed well.  The boys varsity team won their division, while the frosh/soph boys placed second.  On the girls side, the varsity girls team was third while the frosh/soph girls team finished 6^th.

As always, local Rotarians volunteered their time and energy in serving as the backbone of a first class meet.