For the last few years, the XO Invite in Eugene, Oregon, has been an upstart meet searching for identity and permanence on the Northwest prep schedule, elbowing for room in an already-crowded slate of events at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field. This year, the former-XO combined with a collegiate meet known as the Oregon Invite to establish a new 2-day entity called the Oregon Relays, with high schoolers, collegians and professionals sharing time in the homestretch spotlight. Aided by stellar late-April weather and a host of talented athletes, the meet delivered in spades in its first incarnation.

Girls 1500-winner Nicole Cochran, whose Bellarmine Prep WA team eschewed their usual trip to the Lake Washington Invite to try something different in Oregon, echoed the sentiments of many when she enthused, ““Being able to see college and pros run was great, and so is being here at Hayward Field. It’s quite inspirational to watch people like Kara Goucher and her husband Adam go after it. We’re having a great time.”

Cochran’s Bellarmine Prep teammate, Kelly Jacka (right, in runnerspace video), was equally enamored with the meet and the environment. “I love it. It’s so exciting. The atmosphere is really cool. It gets you a lot more pumped up, watching what you could be doing in a few years.”

Jacka hardly needed more inspiration. On a sun-splashed Saturday afternoon, she and fellow sprinter Kellie Schueler of Summit OR waged a pair of memorable sprint battles between two of the Northwest’s the best young speedsters.

Jacka took both clashes, but not without a stiff challenge.

Schueler and Jacka dive at the tape - Rick Russell

Kelly vs Kellie lives up to expectations

Kellie Schueler was one of the unexpected stars of the 2007 XO Invite, bursting onto the prep scene as a high school freshman and turning plenty of heads in the Hayward grandstands with her performances. She won the Freshman 100 in 12.13, a wind-aided time that bettered the top mark from the varsity race (Vanessa Harris, Curtis WA - 12.32). She then took on the varsity fields in the 200 and 400, winning both in meet record times of 25.09 and 55.88.

“I was just so excited,” Schueler said back then. “This is the first year I’ve really focused on track, and it’s starting to show in the results.”

A month later, Schueler swept the girls sprints at the Oregon 5A state meet (12.12, 24.98, 56.82) and ran a leg on the winning 4x1.

Kelly Jacka is one of the top sprinters in Washington, a junior ranked NW#1 in the 200, with range up to 400 and wheels down to 100. She’d never raced at Hayward Field before, but she had faced Schueler in a few low-key indoor meets at the University of Washington this past winter. Neither knew the other well, but they were about to get better acquainted.

Jacka drew first blood, taking the 100 in 12.11 (+1.1) to Schueler's 12.17 close runner-up. Forty minutes later they were at it again, lining up side-by-side as the top two seeds in the 200. Again, Jacka took the measure of Schueler, barely edging her new rival in a wind-legal 24.36 (+1.5) that left Schueler a stride back at 24.50.

“I just got a PR in the 200,” Jacka said afterwards, “so that’s pretty exciting. The 100 felt good too—low wind—so that was good.”

Asked how it felt to race her counterpart from Oregon for the first time on a big stage, Jacka had nothing but enthusiasm for the matchup. “She’s a great competitor. She pushes me hard.”

Shueler wasn’t done pushing. Twenty minutes after the 200 final she toed the line as the top seed in the 400, minus Jacka this time. She blazed that final as well, speeding to a smooth 55.83 victory, while still leaving a little in the tank for a 4x400 anchor in the meet’s final event. There, all she did was take the baton deep in second and track down Southridge OR’s anchor in the closing meters to win in a NW#1 3:57.32 (54.90 split) and lead her Summit OR squad to the Oregon Relays co-ed high school title.

An impressive pair of performers, but the Kelly vs Kellie Show wasn’t the only big story of the meet.

Barlow's new throws star, frosh Ryan Crouser - Rick Russell

Freshman thrower rises in the West

Ryan Crouser knows all about Morristown NJ freshman Nick Vena. The Barlow OR frosh has been following Vena’s progress this winter and spring as Vena has literally re-written the national freshman record book in the boys’ shot put. Crouser is impressed, but he’s not intimidated. He hopes to place his name near Vena’s on those lists soon, and he’s well on his way.

In an Oregon coming-out party of sorts, Crouser won both the shot put and the discus at the Oregon Relays, a lanky freshman taking on larger weightmen who lack either his technical expertise or his gene pool. Crouser, it turns out, comes from a family of successful throwers. The last name is a familiar one in the Pacific Northwest. His father, Mitch, was a Big Sky Conference champion at the University of Idaho. His Uncle Dean was a 3-time NCAA champion at the University of Oregon and still holds the shot put and discus records for those events at U of O. His Uncle Brian is the javelin record-holder at Oregon. Dean’s son Sam is a sophomore at nearby Gresham OR who has gone over 200 feet in the javelin. Clearly, this throwing thing is a family affair.

Several weeks ago, Ryan decimated the Oregon freshman record in the discus, reaching 173-09 at the Mike Kostrba Invitational. But even that didn’t suggest the breakthrough at the Oregon Relays, where he handily won two events typically taken by older, upperclass athletes. His 168-05 discus win on Friday evening was by nearly eight feet, and his Saturday afternoon shot put effort of 57-09.75 won him gold by the same margin.

“I’m happy with that,” he said after his twin victories. “I had a PR in shot, and had a pretty good discus. I guess I fouled with my heel, so I’m still happy with how I threw. I’m not the biggest guy out there, but I try and have better technique. I think technique is more important than strength.”

While he lacks for neither strength nor sound technique, Crouser—who started in the throwing events as a fifth grader—figures to only improve in both categories as he matures. And that will bring him closer to a distant rival he’s never met, but chases each time he steps in the ring.

“I’m going to try to get over 60 [feet] by the end of the season,” Crouser says of his pursuit of Vena's marks, “and close the gap between me and him.”

He’s off to a pretty good start.

Elliot Jantzer leads the boys 1500 early on - Rick Russell

Double winners highlight the best of the rest

Phoenix OR junior Elliot Jantzer completed an impressive weekend distance double, following up a Friday 3k in which he kicked away from Lincoln OR junior Nathan Mathabane to a 8:37.60 victory, by taking the boys 1500 from the gun and going on to win in 4:00.25.

“The time wasn’t what I wanted,” Jantzer said after his second gold of the weekend, “but I can’t complain. If you’re going to be .25 off of going under [4-minutes] that’s a little frustrating, but it’s alright.”

Alexandra Jones of St. Mary's Academy OR was hoping to match Jantzer's double with a victory in the girls 1500 after her Friday 3k triumph (9:54.39), but Nicole Cochran (Bellarmine Prep WA sr) denied her with a 64.6 closing lap for a NW#1 4:34.39 victory.

“The plan was to get somebody else to do the work for me,” Cochran said. “I knew that I had a strong kick, so I just waited until 300 to go and gave it everything I had.”

Another NW#1 came to Cochran’s Bellarmine Prep teammate, junior Shaquana Logan, who took both hurdle races, winning the 300H in 44.87 and the 100H in a NW#1 14.79.

Hurdler Eric Capelle of Barlow OR sewed together a double of his own, but not the typical 110/300 barrier pairing. Saturday morning he found himself runner-up in the 300 hurdles to a great 38.01 effort by Sean Lewis (Damascus Christian OR), but then rebounded for twin victories twenty minutes apart in the 100 (10.87, +1.0) and 110H (14.40, +0.9). The latter was an improvement on his own NW#1 time of 14.42.

“The 300 hurdles were in the morning,” Capelle said, “so that wasn’t too bad, and I had a lot of time to recover. But between the 100 and the [110] hurdles I did my victory lap and then I went right onto the track for the hurdles. So it was kind of a pain, but it was something I had to live with.”

Another solid double came from Southridge OR junior Trinna Miranda, who won the girls long jump in 18-01.00 and the triple in 36-08.75

Two especially noteworthy Friday performances were the US#1 9:33.99 3k steeple by Central Catholic OR senior Taylor Morgan, and a NW#1 3:57.01 1500 mark by Franklin OR senior Bryce Burgess in a college/open 1500m heat, where he finished eighth.