Five months before the Class 5A state track and field meet at Hayward Field, Summit coach Dave Turnbull all but assured his coaching staff that once May came around, the Storm would be the team bringing home two blue first-place trophies.

With nearly 50 total athletes competing, more than 40 individual placers and five state champions, the proclamation became true.

The girls brought home their state-leading 13th title, and the boys brought home their sixth.

“I basically said that both our boys and girls will both win a state championship,” Turnbull said. “You can’t make those kinds of guarantees without knowing who your population is. And our population is a bunch of solid individuals. The Central Oregon community that we are in, we knew we would be pushed and developed.”

In the return to the 5A classification after spending the past four years competing in the state’s highest classification, the Storm returned to its dominant form. The boys scored 118.5 points, which was 47.5 points more than second place Crater. The girls finished with 99 points, 43.5 points ahead of Wilsonville.

2023 marks the fifth time since 2011 that the Summit has swept the team titles.

“They demonstrated their ability to do what needed to be done and prepared to win,” Turnbull said. “Honestly, there wasn’t a point in the last two days that I was nervous.”

After Spencer Elliott (shot put), Isabella Sanderl (high jump) and Noah Goodrich (triple jump) won titles on Friday, it was Barrett Justema and Ben Strang’s turn to bring home gold. Justema won a thrilling 1,500-meter race, beating Crescent Valley’s Emily Wisniewski, who had beaten Justema for the cross-country title in November.

There is certainly “Hayward Magic,” according to Ridgeview’s Tyas Selby. And early on in the 5A pole vault, the magic was working against him.

But after clipping the bar three times in his first five jumps, Selby cleared the bar each of his next five jumps to win the title with a high mark of 14-09 feet.

“It is an unreal feeling,” Selby said. “Coming in and doing the best that I could and getting the state title is what I wanted. It is nice to be the last man standing.”

The pole vault came down to Selby and Summit’s Bryce White after both were the only two to clear 14-06 feet.

It is challenging for Redmond’s Nate Wachs to compare this year’s title in the 5A high jump and last year’s title.

A year ago, he had the adrenaline rush of winning the title by clearing the bar. This year, he won because his competition had more misses than he did.

“It just feels good to be a two-time state champ,” Wachs said. “I came in at the beginning of the year thinking I was going to be a two-time state champion, so it feels great to do that.”

Wachs and Summit’s Collin Moore — the IMC champion and last year’s 6A high jump champ — were the final two competitors standing in the events after clearing 6-03.25 feet. Wachs cleared it on his second attempt, Moore on his third.

The bar was raised to 6-06 feet, and neither could clear it in three attempts. The tiebreaker was given to Wachs because it took him fewer attempts to clear the previous height.

“Deep down, I was thinking I would have been fine if he made it, because I was rooting for him,” Wachs said. “But I was thinking if he missed it, I would be all right. It feels good to win in the end.”

Competing in its first state meet, Caldera had five individuals and one relay team step onto the podium.

Crook County’s Natalia Crass was the big-point scorer for Crook County. The sophomore finished second in the 4A girls 400-meter run (58.51) and fifth in the 200-meter (26.95). Joel Rice finished fourth in the boys pole vault (13-05.75) and Jane Rice finished fourth in the girls pole vault (8-11.75). With a throw of 106-06 feet, Lucy Brooks finished fourth in the girls discus. The boys 4×100-meter relay team of Gabe Love, Eddie Freauff, Cooper Nelson and Julian Lopez, finished third (43.74).

Michael Picard took fourth in the boys 400-meter run finishing in 50.88 seconds, Madras’s highest boy placers. Emily Picard finished fourth in the 800-meter run to be the highest placer for the Madras girls.

In Friday evening’s session, Sisters’ junior Gracie Vohs brought home two state titles. The 3A volleyball state player of the year won the 400-meter with a time of 1:00.25 minutes, narrowly beating Pleasant Hill’s Dakota Hyland. Then, in the final race of the evening, Vohs — along with Delaney McAfee, Brooke Duey and Ila Reid — anchored the Outlaws’ 4×400-meter relay team to a first place finish, finishing in 4:10.82.

The final day of the small-school championships saw Culver bring home three second-place finishes. Peter Miranda, the state shot put champion, capped off his meet with a second-place throw of 135-04 feet. It looked as though the Culver 4×100-meter relay team of Roger Sotelo, Trent Reese, Kaydon Haro and Dustin Noy, was poised for a gold medal, but Mannahouse Academy-Portland crossed the finish line in 44.45 seconds, just ahead of the Bulldogs’ 44.53 seconds. Reese then took second in the 200-meter with a time of 23.28 seconds.