EUGENE — It’s fortunate that Benjamin Hill is right-handed. Had the Summit senior been a southpaw, he probably would not have won the discus title at the Class 5A state track and field championships Friday afternoon at Hayward Field.

Three days before throwing at the Intermountain Conference championships last Saturday, Hill was hit by an errant discus, breaking his left hand.

Luckily he’s right-handed.

Since the injury, Hill has dominated the past two meets and set personal records. Having already clinched the state title, Hill extended his lead with the farthest throw of his life — 159 feet, 2 inches, improving nearly six inches more on his previous best set at the IMC championships last week.

“This has been coming,” Hill said. “I’ve had some big throws, but the big one came today. My heart was pumping pretty quick; the feeling of having already won the state was pretty crazy. But when I stepped into the ring, all of that went away.”

Goodrich repeats

Hill was one of two Storm athletes to claim state titles on the field event-heavy first day of the 6A, 5A and 4A state championships Friday. Joining him was teammate Noah Goodrich, who repeated as the 5A’s triple jump champion.

Like Hill, Goodrich did it with his best effort.

“I really wanted 47, but I’ll take what I got,” Goodrich said. “It feels more special to have won it twice.”

Goodrich was one of three Summit triple jumpers to finish in the top four of the event. Senior Brian Maloney (44-08.75) finished third and senior Davis Doan (44-00.5) finished fourth.

“We are always pushing each other to get better,” Goodrich said. “You can’t be slacking against them because they will pass me if I do.”

The three triple jumpers accounted for 21 of the Summit’s boys 42 team points on the first day to vault last year’s team champions into first place after the first day.

Back-to-back-to-back for Zowie Nunes

Ridgeview’s Zowie Nunes won the javelin as a freshman in 2022. Then she repeated as a champion as a sophomore. On Friday morning, with a throw of 146 feet, 4 inches, Nunes won her third consecutive state title.

Nunes had three throws that cleared 140 feet, no other competitor in the field had a throw further than 135 feet. Summit’s sophomore Anna Millikan finished second with a toss of 134-11.

“I was really consistent with my last three throws in the 140s,” Nunes said. “So that felt really good.”

More Friday notes

The Summit girls team, last year’s 5A team champions, lead the field with 31 points after the first day. The Storm picked up nine of those points in the 3,000-meter run, with sophomores Sophia Capozzi (10 minutes, 18.20 seconds) taking fourth and Sky Knox (10:18.81) finishing fifth. Freshman Jacqueline Haffner finished fifth in the high jump, clearing 5-01.75.

Summit’s Hayden Boaz (8:32.80) and Noah Laughlin-Hall (8:43.28) finished fourth and sixth in the boys 3,000.

Sandwiched between Boaz and Laughlin-Hall was Caldera’s Mason Morical (8:33.37), who finished fifth.

Three Central Oregon triple jumpers finished in the top 5 of the 5A girls triple jump. Through the first couple of jumps, Bend High freshman Lily Teel finished second (35-08.75), Summit senior Hannah Ortiz (35-07.25) finished third and Summit senior Isabelle Molebash (34-06.75) finished fifth.

In the 4A triple jump, four local athletes landed on the eight-person podium. Madras sophomore Gavin Williams set a personal record (44-08.25) on his way to a second-place finish in the boys triple jump. Right behind him was teammate Andres Aguilar (43-10), with Crook County junior Elijah Oelkers (43-01) finishing fourth. Madras got a third triple jumper on the podium with senior Danny Easterling (41-07) finishing eighth.

In total, four White Buffaloes medaled in the triple jump, with junior Adelynn Adams (35-10.5) finishing third in the girls triple jump.