As Jaron Long crossed the finish line first amid the crowd’s roar at Hayward Field, he was thinking about what he and his three teammates had just accomplished.

They had won the 4×400 relay at the state championship meet.

They had broken a Baker High School record for the second time this spring.

They had broken the Class 4A meet record.

In that moment of jubilation early Saturday evening, May 18, Long, a junior, spiked the metal baton in his right hand, throwing it to the ground in front of his feet as he slowed from an all-out sprint.

In that moment the first-place medals for Long and his teammates, seniors Malaki Myer and Giacomo Rigueiro, and sophomore Rasean Jones, were lost.

So was the meet record.

Long had violated Section 11, Article 2 of the National Federal of State High School Association track rules, which states: “The baton shall not be thrown following the finishing of any relay.”

The penalty for an infraction is disqualification.

Less than a day later, in a phone interview, Long said that although he threw the baton out of sheer excitement, “it was not the smartest thing to do.”

He said he didn’t know about the rule then.

But he soon did.

Long said he noticed that fans from Marshfield, whose relay team finished second, 2.12 seconds behind Baker’s 3:22.47, were yelling.

He told Baker coach Suzy Cole what he had done.

Cole said she appealed the disqualification, but she conceded that the rule is “pretty black and white.”

Long, seeing his coach’s reaction after she spoke with officials, “knew it wasn’t good.”

He said Cole consoled him, saying “we all make mistakes.”

Long said he was distraught mostly because of his teammates, and in particular Myer and Rigueiro, who were competing in their final high school meet.

“I was pretty emotional,” Long said.

He said his teammates were supportive.

“They came up and said, ‘it’s all good,’ ” Long said.

Although Long, like Cole, said the rule is clear, he said was not expressing anything other than pure joy at his team’s accomplishment.

“There was no intention of showboating,” he said.

Cole said the rule doesn’t say anything about the intent of the runner, however. She described Long’s action as “simply an expression of joy of an unparalleled accomplishment for the four competitors.”

Cole called their performance “near perfection.”

“They may not be taking the medals home in the relay, but they will remember that race forever and know who ran the fastest time,” she said.

Despite the disappointment, Long said he takes solace in knowing that he, Myer, Rigueiro and Jones did run the race they had hoped to.

He said he was especially excited because in his anchor leg he had held off Marshfield’s Bodey Lutes, a junior who won the 400-meter race earlier in the meet.

“It was a cool experience,” Long said.

Nor was it the only one on Saturday.

Earlier, Long had finished second in the 800-meter race, breaking the BHS record with a time of 1:54.32. The previous record was 1:57.16, set by Pat Kelsey in 1999 at the state meet. Kelsey was in the stands at Hayward Field for Long’s race.

Setting the record was a goal, Long said.

He credited a competitor, Austin Uhl of La Grande, with helping him achieve that goal.

Uhl won the race by less than a second, in 1:53.64.

“Without him there I wouldn’t have run the time I did,” Long said.

The two had a similar race during the district meet May 11 in Pendleton, when Uhl won by half a second.

The venue was an inspiration, too.

The recently renovated Hayward Field, on the University of Oregon campus, has hosted many top events, including Olympic trials.

“Being at that stadium, it’s an amazing experience,” Long said.