The Crook County Cowboys are state track and field champions, again.

The Cowboys edged Henley by four points, 78 to 74, to win their second consecutive 4A state title Saturday, May 31 at Hayward Field in Eugene, fueled by the four-event standouts and state titlists Gabe Love and Eli Oelkers.

However, a second-place Cowboy finish in the 4×400 relay was also huge.

The Cowboys went into the final event of the meet needing to finish at least one place behind Henley to earn at least a tie. If Henley finished two places ahead of the Cowboys in the relay, Henley would take the team title.

And it looked like they were going to do just that. Heading into the final lap, the Hornets had a huge lead. But Love for the Cowboys and Marshfield’s ace Bodey Lutes awaited for the anchor legs for their squads. They both caught the Henley runner and left him in the dust.

The Cowboys ran their season-best time of 3:21.84 and third-place Henley crossed in 3:24.94. Marshfield, fueled by Lutes, won in the new record time of 3:19.94.

That effort from the Cowboys’ foursome of Michael McKinnon, Adam Radabaugh, Jace Jonas and Love put an exclamation on the Cowboy team victory. Along with Marshfield’s time, the Cowboys broke the previous state record of 3:22.53. Of the top eight placers in the race, only third-place Henley did not run its fastest time of the season.

The 2025 boys meet featured a bevy of outstanding athletes, with meet record after meet record set on the track.

“There were a lot of dudes at the meet,” said Crook County head coach Ernie Brooks. “But I’ll take my dudes over their dudes. Our guys fought for every point.”

The biggest “dudes” for the Cowboys were Oelkers and Love.

Oelkers won the long jump, was second in the triple jump, second in the 110 high hurdles and third in the 300 hurdles. Love won the javelin in dominating fashion, was third in the 200 and fifth in the 100. Every track event the duo competed in saw new-meet-record times as the competition was fierce. Oelkers won the long jump last year as well and Love was a repeat javelin winner.

Oelkers walked a fine line between repeating as the Class 4A long jump champion and not even making the podium. Of his six total jumps Friday afternoon, the senior fouled on four of them. But two jumps – his third and final attempt to advance to the final round and his fifth jump – were all that was needed to become a repeat champion.

“I scared myself a little bit out there,” said Oelkers, who will compete for Lane Community College next year. “To be honest, it wasn’t my best, but I can’t complain with a state title. I’m just thankful to God that I was able to pull through even if it wasn’t a personal best.”

Oelkers won the title with a jump of 22 feet, 7.25 inches, his second-longest jump of the season. Last week at the Tri-Valley Championships, he set his personal best with a 23-6.25.

The repeat title almost didn’t happen for Oelkers. On the warm late-spring day in Eugene with a strong tailwind, many of the competitors had a difficult time hitting the board cleanly without a fault. Oelkers faulted on his first two attempts. Another fault and he would have been eliminated from contention. It was time to play it safe. “I just moved myself back about a foot and a half,” Oelkers. “I ran it at like 90% speed just hoping to make it to finals.” After faulting on his fourth jump, Oelkers pulled ahead of Madras’ Andres Aguilar with his best, and title-winning, jump of the day. Aguilar took second with a 21-10.25.

Aaidyn Bokuro of Newport got off his best-ever triple jump to win by a foot. Oelkers also had his best-ever triple with a 44-7.5 mark for second. The White Buffalos’ Aguilar was third at 43-8.75.

Love dominated the javelin with his 188-8 throw. Josiah Peters of Philomath was a distant second with a 179-0. Molalla’s Brandon Roberson, who beat Love at district the week before, was fourth with a 173-5. Love saved his best throw for last in the Class 4A javelin competition Saturday.

“This season has been a bit of a struggle,” Love said. “I’ve been hitting some good marks this season but I knew I had more left in the tank. I was struggling to hit them consistently this year, but I was glad to be able to pull it out in the most important meet.”

If there were any nerves coming into the meet, Love quickly put an end to them with his first throw of 187-5, which would have been good enough to win the title as well.

Cowboy depth

Senior Radabaugh was, as usual, another strong point-scorer for the Cowboys. Along with his leg in the 4×400, he took third in the 1,500 with a personal-best 4:05.50. Marist sophomore Corbin Sage won going away with a 3:58.53 effort. Cottage Grove standout Carter Bengston was second at 4:01.54. Radabaugh was also eighth in the 800 with a 2:03.49. Marshfield’s Lutes crushed the 4A state record with his 1:50.42, winning by nearly nine seconds over The Dalles’ Tyson Long. Radabaugh finished the 800 in 2:03.49.

“Adam was gassed after that 800, he really struggled,” said Brooks, who added that he strongly considered using an alternate for Radabaugh for the all-important 4×400.

“I talked to him about it and he said ‘I can do it,'” said Brooks. “And all he did was run a 51 split. Awesome.”

Another key performance for the Cowboys was junior Alexander Jarrell taking third in the high jump. North Bend’s Miles Baxter won by nearly four inches with a 6-6.25 effort. Brayden Decker of Phoenix was second at 6-2.75.

Adding to his 4×400 leg, Jonas, a junior, ran a 50.90 400 to finish fourth. Astoria’s Quin Gohr won the 400 in 50.46.

Taylor Harper ran his best-ever 3,000, finishing in 9:24.09 and taking 10th. Bengston won the 3,000 in meet record fashion with a 8:26.40.

On the track, the 2025 4A boys state meet may have been the most record-breaking to date. Meet records were set in the 100 and 200 by Henley’s junior Janney; Lutes set a record in the 800 and Bengston in the 3,000; Baker’s super hurdler Rasean Jones broke his own meet records in both the 110 and 300 (and The Dalles River McClure’s mark in taking second in the 300 broke the previous record too); two teams (Marshfield and Crook County) surpassed the previous 4×400 relay record; and two teams topped the previous 4×100 record as well (Scappoose and Madras).

Love ran a 10.97 in the 100 for fifth. Janney’s 10.74  broke an eight-year old record. Janney’s 21.48 beat the 200 record set last year. Love’s 21.71 was good enough for third as Seaside’s Ryder Jackson took second in 21.72.

Only Jones was better than Oelkers in the 110 hurdles. Jones won with that new record of 13.96 and Oelkers was second in 14.92. Jones and McClure battled in the 300, running 37.03 and 37.22, respectively, with Oelkers third in 39.29. In another key moment for the team title, Oelkers beat Henley’s Samuel Bennett, who was fourth in 39.64.

“Last year we had more kids who scored points at state, but this year’s group was a better team,” said Brooks. “Those guys competed for themselves and for each other.”

2025 4A Boys State Track and Field Championships 

Hayward Field, May 30-31

Top 10 Boys Scores – Crook County 78, Henley 74, Marist 46, Scappoose 42, The Dalles 42, Madras 37, Marshfield 35, La Grande 31, Junction City 26, Baker 25