Oregon Relays: Sallee sets personal record in triple jump, takes second
Federal Way High School’s Mason Sallee climbed out of the sand to a cheering crowd and threw his fist in the air at Hayward Field on Saturday.
He knew he had the lead in the triple jump at the Oregon Relays with one jump to go.
“I popped out of the pit and looked at the line and I was like, ‘Alright, yeah, that’s pretty far,’ ” Sallee said.
Only to have Harrison Schrage upstage him on the next attempt.
For the second consecutive day, Schrage, a Grant (Portland) senior, popped off a wild jump to hand Sallee a second-place finish.
On Friday, it was in the long jump and on Saturday, Schrage’s mark of 48 feet, 11 inches — a new meet record — in the triple jump beat Sallee by a foot.
“That’s just Harrison for you,” Sallee said. “He’s a competitor. I’ve been jumping against him since we’ve been freshman. He gets fueled by that.
“That’s why we always get to clap because we just want something to pump us up. He just went out there and jumped farther. I’m proud of him.”
Sallee has good reason to be proud of himself, too. He set personal bests in both the long jump (23- 1/2) and triple jump (47-11 3/4).
“It’s always good competition, and I appreciate the competition,” Sallee said. “And that’s really what helps me get that extra edge.”
Sallee’s third attempt in the triple jump was a personal best by more than four inches.
“I just had to get my form right,” he said. “I don’t always have the strength to power through my jumps, but if I have my form right, I can pop something. That jump, everything felt right.”
He’s got that and a new University of Oregon backpack to take back to Washington with him. Two second-place finishes earned him two T-shirts, which he traded in for a backpack.
So, a profitable trip to Eugene for Sallee in more ways that one.
“Oh yeah, it was a good trip,” he said.
Other developments:
▪ River Ridge’s Josh Braverman took second in the 110- and 300-meter hurdles. He set a personal-best, school-record time of 14.24 in the 110 hurdles.
“I like the competition,” he said. “The 110s I like to do because it’s fast and technical and it’s not a really tiring race.”
By the time Braverman got to the 300 hurdles — his final race and fifth event in two days (including prelims) — he was a little more gassed. He posted a 39.17, and was passed by Andre Jones of Mountain View (Idaho) with one hurdle to go.
▪ Caila Tongco from Kent-Meridian picked up a second-place finish in the girls’ 100 hurdles at 14.98. She qualified for the final after clipping the eighth hurdle in the prelims. She did the same in the finals, and Deshae Wise of Grant’s Pass (Oregon) edged her by 0.41 seconds.
“I don’t know if that was a mental thing for me, but it might have gotten into my head because in this finals race I hit the same hurdle,” Tongco said. “… But I think I still ran a pretty hard race.
“I guess I’m pretty satisfied. I know I could have done better, but I’m not unhappy with how it turned out.”
▪ Tongco also recorded a third-place finish as the third leg of Kent-Meridian’s 4x100 relay team. The combo of Jaleesa Taylor, Olivia Carter, Tongco and Keeley Phommathirath posted a 49.13 for the best finish by a team from Washington. It was the team’s second time racing in that order.
“I was expecting a couple fast teams because we were in the fastest heat,” said Phommathirath, who anchored the race. “We all talked to each other before the race and we prayed and hoped that we would get a good start, and we did.”
▪ Bellarmine Prep’s combo of Jack Yearian, Spencer Fischer, Luke Ostrander and Cameron Wyman also picked up third place in the 4x800 relay.
University of Oregon junior Marcus Chambers — a Foss product — blitzed by the field in the men’s 400 to take first at 46.95. He also anchored Oregon’s first-place 4x100 relay team, which recorded a 40.18.
This story was originally published April 16, 2016 at 9:35 PM with the headline "Oregon Relays: Sallee sets personal record in triple jump, takes second."