With last season's questions of: "Oh, so close?"; "What if?"; and "What are we truly capable of?" still resonating in the coaches' and athletes' minds, the task was fairly simple: Improve upon the 2025 T&F season's performances at SD-2 district and OSAA 3A state meets.

 

Performances during the 2025 season had been hampered by illness, injury and international student exchange travel. The boys team had finished sixth out of the nine team Special District 2, and the girls were fourth.  At the 2025 OSAA 3A state meet, the boys team did not score a single point, and the girls finished 30th with a mere 3 points.

The coaches knew that the teams' performances were an anomaly, and looked to bring the athletes to a level of success that had been standard from 2009-2021. 

 

The goal of getting athletes prepared during the off-season seemed to be working; more athletes than ever before had used the winter to get in the weight room, take part in the functional strength workouts, or put in the miles. As the season started coaches could see that this was quite the collection of hard working, talented individuals. The task became taking this group of individuals and turning them into a team with a unified common purpose.

 

Over the course of the season, Crusader tracksters had some incredible highlights with individual victories and podium finishes at multiple invitationals, including school record performances by sophomores Alia Newman (100m & 200m), Adley Damon (1 mile & 2 mile), and a collection of junior and senior boys in the 4x100m relay (Aiden DeBoer, Sawyer Baker, Dom Hiratkzka, and Oliver Ford).

 

As they entered the championship phase of the season (district and state), bettering last year's performances was the goal. The boys accomplished that by moving up to fifth place (70 pts) at district. The girls also improved upon last year's district finish moving up two spots to 2nd (129 pts). In doing so they qualified quite a few more athletes for the following week's OSAA 3A state championship meet. Boys qualifiers included: Alia Newman (200m, 400m & 4x400 relay); Adley Damon (3000m & 1500m); Liz McGill (High Jump & Triple Jump); Ada Bernard (Long Jump & Triple Jump); Muna Chiedozi (100m & 4x400 relay); Viviana Cummings (300m hurdles & 4x400 relay); Esther Arthur (800m); Natalie McLaughlin (discus); Marren Tignini (4x400  relay); and Grace Weymouth (4x400 relay). The boys would qualify: Aiden DeBoer (high Jump, 3x100 relay & 4x400 relay); Oliver Ford (400m, 4x100 relay, & 4x400 relay); Sawyer Baker (4x100 relay & 4x400 relay); Aiden Miller (110m hurdles); Dom Hiratzka (4x100 relay); and Jack Peterson (4x40 relay).

 

The two teams' improvement could be seen in the number of points scored: 6.5 for the boys = 26th place and 35 for the girls = 7th place and podium appearances: 

Alia Newman: 400m (1st), 200m (8th), & 4x400 relay (8th)

Adley Damon: 3000m (2nd) & 1500m (5th)

Liz McGill: Triple Jump (5th) & High Jump (6th)

Natalie McLaughlin: discus (7th)

Ada Bernard: Long Jump (7th)

Vivianna Cummings: 4x400 relay (8th)

Muna Chiedozi: 4x400 relay (8th)

Marren Tignini: 4x400 relay (8th)

Aiden DeBoer: High Mump (4th) & 4x100 relay (7th)

Oliver Ford: 4x100 relay (7th)

Sawyer Baker: 4x100 relay (7th)

Dom Hiratzka: 4x100 relay (7th)