In April of 2022 I attended a grade school track meet in Union to watch my granddaughter perform. But the highlight of the meet was watching Rasean Jones, an eighth grader from Baker City, win the 110-meter hurdles by some 40 yards.

This reminded me of my college years from 1955 to 1959 at Eastern Oregon when I lived with an aunt and uncle on Lower Cove Road and got to watch Cove high schooler Jim Puckett do his workouts on that paved county road, as Cove High did not have a track. Jim won the Class B 100-yard dash in 1956, 1957 and 1958 with times of 10.2 seconds, 10.3 and 9.6. His 9.6 time is still the record for all classes in the 100 yards in Oregon high school history. In 1977 the OSAA adopted meters (replacing yards), so this record will never be broken. The “Cove Comet” went on to run track for the Oregon Ducks and was inducted into the Oregon Hall of Fame as a member of the Oregon Ducks 1962 NCAA championship team.

At the same time Puckett was running for Cove, a Wallowa High School boy, Amos Marsh, finished second to Puckett in the state meet 100-yard dash three years in a row. Training on a dirt track, probably maintained by the county road grader circling the football field, Amos ran track and played football for the Oregon State Beavers. Ironically, Marsh, who couldn’t beat Puckett in high school, beat him when they met in college. Marsh went on to play seven years in the NFL, primarily with the Dallas Cowboys. He followed his brother, Frank, who played football and ran track for the Beavers.

Rasean, like Amos, has an older brother, Isaiah, who has won state championships in basketball and golf. Rasean, in addition to track, plays football and basketball. As a freshman, Rasean won both 4A state hurdles races. His time in the 300-meter hurdles was 41.09. This year he broke the Baker High School 300-meter hurdles record with a time of 38.49, followed by a 38.10, beating Ontario’s 2024 Olympic hopeful Jose Delgado’s 4A record of 38.14. He then set a meet record at the Oregon Relays with a time of 37.65. The 300 hurdles record is the oldest of all OSAA state records. It is held by Ken Scott of Aloha, who ran a 36.10 in 1979.

Rasean has three more state meets to challenge Scott’s record. Will he do it? I wouldn’t bet against it.

John Heriza

Baker City