On the way to winning gold in the 5A pole vault Friday, Moriah Roberge watches the bar stay on the stands as she clears it. Last year, Roberge and teammate Amber Wiley vaulted to the same height, but Wiley won the gold and Roberge took second place. This year, it is Roberge’s turn for the top honors for the Pirates. World Photo by Lou Sennick.

EUGENE — Marshfield’s strong tradition in the pole vault continued Friday with two more state champions.

Moriah Roberge captured the Class 5A girls title at Hayward Field by clearing 11 feet, 9 inches, matching the meet record she and teammate Amber Wiley set last spring.

Later on the rainy second day of the state meet, Greg Eckes captured the boys title by clearing 15-5.

The pole vault victories, plus a third consecutive state title by Ali Worthen in the high jump, were the highlight of the second day for Marshfield’s teams.

Marshfield’s boys stayed in strong shape for the team title, especially after Caleb Kruse easily advanced in the hurdles races.

The Pirate girls, meanwhile, are in contention for a team trophy, though not the championship. Summit, as expected, positioned itself to run away with that title.

Roberge followed a family and school tradition by winning her first pole vault title. She joined older sisters Muriel (2005) and Celina (2002) as state champions. In addition, Trevor Woods (1998 and 1999), Andrew Simpson (2007) and Wiley all have won titles in the event in the past decade.

Roberge said she felt she needed to continue that legacy.

“It’s pretty important,” she said, giving credit to veteran coach Stan Solomon.

“Solly’s awesome,” she said.

Eckes echoed those thoughts after his win.

"Solly’s been coaching for a while,” he said. “Something clicks when kids work with him.”

Roberge outlasted Wilsonville’s Catherine Street, who briefly held the lead in the event after Roberge missed her first try at 11-3. But Roberge made it on her second try and then cleared 11-6 and 11-9 on her first attempts. Street went out at 11-9 after making 11-6.

Roberge then missed while trying for a new personal best of 12-1.

“(That) would have been pretty cool,” she said of  the height. “Considering the weather, I’m happy.”

Roberge said she was soaked from head to toe  because of the rain, adding the weather made vaulting challenging.

“It’s harder,” she said. “You have to warm up more and make sure everything is dryer.”

Eckes had less drama in his win. He already had secured the title before he had his first miss, which came at 15-5. Sherwood’s Kole Krieger, the runner-up, cleared 14 feet.

Eckes had hoped to set a new personal best. He settled for breaking Simpson’s meet record from last year.

“I wanted to go higher,” he said. “You have to take what you can get.”

The win made Eckes a little more animated than normal, jokingly flexing his arms while posing for pictures after receiving his medal.

“I feel good,” he said.

Like Roberge, Worthen continued a family tradition.

Her mom, Fran, won 10 state titles for Marshfield in the early 1970s, while Ali’s older sisters Nikki Sichting and Leah combined to win three more. Ali won her fourth — the three in the high jump and one in the 300-meter hurdles, which she will attempt to defend today.

She got a scare in the high jump when she missed her first two tries at 5-4, kicking the bar on the way over both times. Hermiston’s Sarah VonArx already had cleared the height when Worthen easily soared over it on her third try.

“I was really nervous at that point,” she said. “I felt good earlier, and this was my kind of weather. It felt good to clear it.”

Worthen then cleared 5-5 on her first try to win the competition and got over 5-6 on her third attempt, joyfully clapping after she landed on the mat. She then moved the bar to 5-7 1/4 in an attempt to set the school record, but knocked the bar off on all three tries.

In addition to wanting to repeat as state champion, Worthen admitted she wanted to redeem herself in the high jump after failing to win the event at the Midwestern League district meet last week.

“I had the second-place medal in my bag (today),” she said. “I think that helped me. I needed a lot of motivation. I work well off competition.”

She had been through a frustrating season in the event, never showing improvement even though she wasn’t injured as she had been in past seasons.

“This was my last year,” she said. “It was really important to win.”

Worthen later posted the top qualifying time in the preliminaries for the high hurdles.

Despite Marshfield’s two wins, Summit moved to the front on the way to what should be an easy team title with 37 points, two more than Crater. Summit’s Alyssa O’Connor dominated the 800, winning in 2:12.00.

Marshfield’s boys got a boost from the pole vault and also from Will Messerle in the javelin.

Messerle, competing at state for the first time, had fouls on his first two throws in the preliminaries before getting a legal throw and advancing to the final.

He ended up fourth with a best of 171-6.

“I’m happy I got fourth — I was just glad to get here,” Messerle said. “I’m a little disappointed I scratched those first two (throws). I was really pumped up to throw.”

His five points helped Marshfield continue to lead in the team race with 31 points heading into the final day. Wilsonville is second with 27.

“I wanted to score the most points I could,” he said.