Reporter for The Canyon Weekly
Santiam High track and field standout Averie Peterson continues to pile up state meet medals.
Peterson, a versatile junior, won the 800 meters and the triple jump, while taking second in the 1,500 meters at the May 16-17 state track and field championships at Hayward Field in Eugene. Her total of 28 points allowed the Wolverines to finish 10th as a team.
Peterson has now placed in the top five seven times while competing in five different events at state. She won the 800 and was fifth in the 400 as a freshman in 2022. Last year she won the 800, took third in the 400 and the triple jump and finished fifth in the long jump. She told The Canyon Weekly that she was a little bit disappointed that she “only” participated in three events this time around. Peterson tweaked her ankle at an April 24 meet at Sweet Home and did not do any jumping until the district meet, where she had trouble hitting her mark in the long jump and failed to qualify for state.
Peterson also said she was hoping to break the 20-year-old Class 2A 800 mark of 2:15.90, set by Amber Looslie of Elgin. Peterson’s run of 2:17.60 was a personal best and 6-plus seconds ahead of the runner-up, but Looslie’s mark is still out there.
“I’m glad I got a PR. I was hoping to go a little faster in that 800 but that’s OK,” she said. “One of my goals for the year was to break the record for 2A, but that will be next year’s goal.”
Brenda Peterson, Averie’s mother and coach, said that she needs to “work on her finish to get her goal of breaking that state 2A record. She ran the first 3/4 of the race exactly how she trained.”
Averie turned in a 34-7.75 performance in capturing the triple jump. Her winning mark came in her fourth of six attempts and she fouled on the final two tries.
“She scratched the last two trying to give her all and we could see she has even more to give. That is definitely exciting to see,” coach Peterson said.
After running the 400 in her previous two state meets, Peterson entered the 1,500 this time, partly because the rest time between the 800 and 1,500 was longer than that for the 400-800 double.
Peterson ran a personal best 4:47.84, trailing only defending champion Daisy Lalonde of East Linn Christian, whose 4:46.41 winning time was nearly ten seconds faster than her first-place clocking of a year ago.
Peterson said she plans to compete in volleyball and basketball next school year in addition to track and field. She ran cross country her freshman year and she said “I’m not opposed to running cross country in college.”
She said she likes the team aspects of volleyball and hoops.
“We all work pretty hard together,” she said of the team sports, “but there are only a couple of us in track and field.”
Santiam advanced to the Class 2A tournament in volleyball and advanced to the round of 16 in hoops.
“What is great about volleyball and basketball is that we’ve all played together for a long time. Definitely that helps us as a team.”
Peterson said that running in college remains another goal, but added she is not even close to reaching a decision on a college destination.
In addition to Peterson’s showing at the state meet, sophomore Colt Twede threw 41-6.5 in the boys shot put to take sixth place. Twede produced his top mark on his third try while turning in a well-balanced six fair throws, with the shortest, his fourth, at 38-9.5. He threw more than 40 feet on three of his six attempts.
Softball: Scio and Santiam were alive and well in the softball playoffs as of presstime. The Loggers, top-ranked in Class 3A, hosted No. 16 Glide on Wednesday, May 22, while the Wolverines, ranked eighth in Class 2A/1A, hosted No. 9 Lowell, also on Wednesday. Quarterfinals in both classes are Friday, May 24.
Baseball: Scio finished 7-15 overall and 4-8 in Special District 2 play, good for fifth in the league. Santiam was 11-15 overall and 7-11 in Class 2A-1A’s Special District 3, tied for fourth in the district despite having just one senior on the roster.
