Crater Lake Distance Project Wins Second National DMR Title; South Lakes VA Outlasts JSerra CA In Girls DMR

By Keenan Gray of DyeStat

EUGENE, Ore. – Discus standouts Bryce Ruland of Waterford and Ben Smith of Hortonville made it a 1-2 sweep for the state of Wisconsin in the boys discus championship competition, kicking off day one of the 2023 Nike Outdoor Nationals at Hayward Field in Eugene.

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The nation’s top two discus throwers threw new personal-best marks to earn first- and second-place finishes, with Ruland taking home top honors with a high school facility record throw of 213 feet, 9 inches (65.15m) and Smith finishing right behind him with a throw of 210-4 (64.12m).

While Smith fouled on his first throw to begin, Ruland’s first mark was 199-3 to move ahead into first by almost 24 feet. 

On his second throw, Smith took the lead with a throw of 206-7. Ruland then responded with his best throw of the day on his second attempt at 213-9, surpassing Ryan Crouser’s facility record throw of 212-1 from 2011 when he was a senior at Barlow High in Oregon.

Ruland would foul his next three attempts, setting Smith up for one last opportunity to match or surpass Ruland’s first-place mark. 

Smith entered the ring on his final attempt, launched the discus well into the air and landed within striking distance of Ruland’s best throw. It reached 210-4, just short of first place. 

JSerra TC CA teammates Brendon See and Jake Stafford had career days themselves in the competition, with See throwing 205-3 to place third and Stafford throwing 192-11 to place fourth.

On the track, the Crater Lake Distance Project OR boys team of Tyrone Gorze, Aidan Chenoweth, Caleb Doddington and Josiah Tostenson won the distance medley relay championship, running US#9 10:09.79 to claim the program’s second DMR title this year. 

Back in March at New Balance Nationals Indoors, Gorze, Doddington, Tostenson and Jeffery Hellmann ran 10:00.20 to claim the first DMR title.

After breaking Steve Prefontaine’s Oregon state all-time 2-mile record at the Brooks PR Invitational on Wednesday, Gorze opened with a 3 minute, 1.76 second 1,200-meter leg to give Crater the early advantage over Los Angeles Cubs CA, who finished second in 10:18.90.

Chenoweth ran the 400 leg in 50.57 seconds, then handed off to Doddington for the 800 leg to run 1:55.02. Tostenson closed out the race running the 1,600 leg in 4:22.44.

South Lakes TC VA, featuring Caroline Elliott, Aya Ryan, Bella Haranyi and Catalina Simon, took home the girls DMR title, defeating JSerra TC CA over the final 100 meters by a margin of  US#3 11:46.12 to US#5 11:50.42.

Georgia Jeanneret gave JSerra the early lead, running 3:34.06 on the 1,200 leg, with Elliott running 3:35.83 for South Lakes. Maya Woolforde continued to stretch the lead to five seconds for JSerra with a 56.25 second split on the 400.

On the 800 leg, South Lakes’ Haranyi managed to catch JSerra’s Anatasia Snodgrass as Haranyi ran 2:12.50 to give South Lakes its first lead going into the final 1,600.

South Lakes’ Simon took the baton ahead of JSerra’s Anne Elise Packard on the last leg where the two would trade leads back and forth over the remaining laps, leading to Simon outkicking Packard on the final straightaway, closing in a 4:58.41 anchor leg.