Competing in her first heptathlon, Marshfield student and Pre Track Club member Ali Worthen won the young women state championship in dramatic fashion last weekend.

Worthen out-kicked Alyssa Rife of the Beaverton Track Club in the 800 meters, the final event, to finish with 4,595 points, eight better than Rife, at the Oregon Junior Olympic Combined Event Championships at Willamette University in Salem.

Worthen led by three points entering the 800 meters. Both runners had a relatively pedestrian time of about 73 seconds for the opening 400, said Hunter Fales, Worthen's heptathlon coach. Rife surged in front of Worthen on the final corner and cut to the inside, forcing Worthen to break stride. The Marshfield runner rallied to catch up and the two runners were side by side until the final five yards, when Worthen edged in front, finishing in 2:20.

Cloud cover kept the temperatures tolerable both days.

Worthen opened the meet on Saturday, with an impressive time of 15.6 seconds in her first-ever attempt in the 100-meter hurdles. The time ranks Worthen sixth on Marshfield's all-time list.

Worthen jumped 5-5 in the high jump, just nicking the bar with her heels at 5-7. She also had a mark of 30-43/4 in the shot put and a time of 26.5 in the 200 for a first-day total of 2,803, a 216-point lead on Rife.

On Sunday, Worthen soared 17-21/4 on her third attempt in the long jump, but struggled in the javelin with a throw of 79-9, which allowed Rife to make up all but three points of the deficit with a toss of 116-8 heading into the 800.

Fales said Worthen was concerned about her conditioning for the final race because she has spent the past month working on technical events.

“When Alyssa cut her off, her competitive fires sparked, fueling the final hundred-meter dual,” Fales said. “What a way to finish the meet.”

Fran Worthen, the head coach of the club and Ali's mom, was impressed with her daughter's first heptathlon.

“We wanted to introduce Ali to the heptathlon with this meet,” she said. “Alyssa has been going to nationals for several years in the hep and I knew the two would battle each other. The heptathlon is a great event for Ali. We'll have to see where she can take it.”

Pre Track Club in action

A total of 17 athletes from the Pre Track Club competed at the Northwest Youth Classic at Willamette University on June 9-10.

First-place finishers from the event have the opportunity to advance to the National Youth Championships in Lisle, Ill., on July 3-8.

The Pre Track Club attracts athletes from throughout Coos County, as well as Reedsport and Gold Beach.

Peyton Babb from Powers, competing in the midget girls (11-12) age group, set two personal bests resulting in first-place finishes in the long jump (14 feet, 9 inches) and the 400 meters (1:06.60). She also was second in the 100 (14.23).

Moriah Roberge and Amber Wiley from Marshfield both cleared 11 feet in the young women (17-18) pole vault. Roberge won based on fewer misses, while Wiley was second.

Samantha Clark from North Bend won the intermediate girls (15-16) pole vault by clearing 10 feet.

In the youth girls (13-14) division, Ashton Mann of Reedsport was second in the 200 hurdles (33.22) and had times of 14.5 in the 100 and 29.3 in the 200 and a mark of 13-3 in the long jump. Sidney Snook of Gold Beach set a personal best of 2:30 to finish third in the 800 and was seventh in the 1,500 (5:16.71). She also had a leap of 13-73/4 in the long jump. Lindsey Wright of Reedsport was sixth in the pole vault (6-6), high jump (4-7) and 200 hurdles (36.15) and had a mark of 13-21/2 in the long jump. Devrie Dewald of Myrtle Point finished eighth in the long jump (14-3) and was timed in 2:50.42 in the 800. Courtney Dixon of Coos Bay had a time of 15.1 in the 100 meters, while Samantha Hammond of Coos Bay was third in the pole vault, clearing 7-0.

In midget girls, Emily Wright of Reedsport was ninth in the 400 (1:26.74) and was timed in 19.97 for the 80-meter hurdles.

In youth boys, David Eckes of Coos Bay set a personal best by clearing 4-31/2 to finish sixth in the high jump. He also competed in the 100 (16.2) and long jump (11-2). Charles Chavtur of Reedsport was sixth in the 100 (13.56) and 200 (27.00) and 10th in the long jump (15-01/2 ).

Chris Chavtur of Reedsport had a mark of 6-11 for a new personal best in the bantam boys (9-10) long jump and also cleared 2-71/2 in the high jump to finish sixth.

Blake Kemp of Coos Bay was fifth in the intermediate boys long jump with a mark of 17-8. He also was timed in 12.6 for the 100 hurdles. Dallas Wilson of Myrtle Point had marks of 13.5 in the 100 and 14-61/2 in the long jump, while Claude Wilson of Myrtle Point finished sixth in the 400 (55.98) in the young men's age group.