Battle lines drawn for Siuslaw, Wilsonville.

Byline: Curtis Anderson The Register-Guard

To nobody's surprise, Siuslaw and Wilsonville both performed like champions Friday on the first day of competition at the OSAA 3A boys track and field championships at Hayward Field.

3A BOYS

The meet co-favorites established themselves atop the leaderboard with the Vikings in first place with 26 points, followed closely by the two-time defending champion Wildcats at 22 and North Bend in third with 21 1/2 .

Siuslaw is eager to avenge last year's four-point defeat to Wilsonville.

`We've been waiting for this day the whole year,' Siuslaw coach Chris Johnson said. `We want one more crack at it, and unlike last year's team, we have people who can score on Saturday.'

The Vikings' chief threat is senior Collin Cram, who did his part Friday by winning the pole vault with a clearance of 14 feet, 6 inches, placing second in the long jump at 22-3 and qualifying for both hurdles' finals.

Cram is the top qualifier in the 110 high hurdles and ranks fifth in the 300 hurdles, just behind Wilsonville's John Zaganiacz.

`Everything went smooth today,' said Cram, who was slowed by a case of food poisoning at last year's state meet. `It feels good to be a state champion, but we're in a close race for the team title, and what's exciting to me is helping out the team by scoring as many points as I can.'

The Vikings added eight points in the 3,000 as Adam Pino, a junior in his first season of track, placed second overall with a time of 8 minutes, 44.83 seconds. Brookings junior Scott Sanders, who was the state runner-up in both the 1,500 and 3,000 last year, reeled in Pino on the stretch drive to earn the narrow victory at 8:44.42.

`He (Pino) ran as tough a race as any kid I've ever coached,' Johnson said.

As good as Siuslaw was Friday, the Vikings were unable to put any distance between themselves and Wilsonville.

The Wildcats suffered a minor stumble in the long jump when North Bend's Andrew Greif stole the victory on his final jump at 22-4 - dropping the Wildcats' Jarrett Axelrod into fifth place - but they rebounded nicely with a victory in the discus and Axelrod's clutch second-place performance in the high jump.

Cram was leading the long jump at 21-8 1/2 heading into the final round when Greif, the son of North Bend coach Steve Greif, stunned the field with a PR by four inches.

Dominique Easterling of Madras, who has jumped over 24 feet this season, moved into second with a mark of 22-0, only to be trumped by Cram at 22-3. North Bend also picked up a fourth from Anthony Accinelli at 21-7 1/4, while Axelrod settled for fifth at 21-6 3/4 .

When the news filtered over to the discus ring, Wilsonville's Joe Staub knew exactly how to respond. The reigning state champion uncorked a winning throw of 174-5 on his second attempt to break his own school record.

`For us to win the state title, I knew I had to win the discus,' Staub said. `That's a lot of pressure, but I love it. It helps me throw better. It gets me pumped up and the adrenalin flowing.'

In the high jump, Axelrod pushed Easterling to the brink before settling for second with a 6-7 clearance. The multi-talented Easterling, who is headed to UCLA on a track scholarship, had to get over the bar on his third attempt at both 6-7 and 6-8 to pull out the win.

Pleasant Hill's Ryan Drake placed third at 6-5.

`I was pretty disappointed with the long jump,' said Easterling, who hopes to hit the 50-foot mark in today's triple jump. `I expected at least 23 feet after hitting 24 earlier this season. Winning the high jump made me feel a little better.'

North Bend picked up 6 1/2 points in the high jump, as Ryan Johnson tied for fourth and Accinelli placed seventh, but the Bulldogs missed an opportunity to make it a three-team race when they got blanked in the discus, an event in which they were expected to score six points.

`At state, it's all about peaks and valleys,' Steve Greif said.

CAPTION(S):

Siuslaw's Collin Cram clears 14 feet, 6 inches to win the pole vault. Cram also finished second in the long jump and qualified for the finals in both hurdles races on Friday. Chris Pietsch / The Register-Guard Madras' Dominique Easterling came back from disappointment in the long jump to win the high jump.