EUGENE – Despite it being her fourth trip to the state track and field championships, Crook County’s Natalia Crass learned something new – winners are awarded the bullet from the starting gun from their race.

After several second- and third-place finishes in both the 400 and 800-meter races dating back to her freshman year, Crass can finally call herself a state champion after taking the 800 title with a time of 2 minutes, 15.97 seconds on Saturday at Hayward Field.

“When I crossed that finish line I was like ‘Oh my goodness, I could have missed out on this,’” Crass said. “This is an amazing feeling. It is so nice to have it all come together. I’ve been about this all season and it is great to finally have that hard work pay off.”

Crass used her sprinting background to overtake Stayton’s Haley Butenshoen on the final lap to cross the finish line first. A former 200 runner who was convinced by her mother to give the grueling 800 a try after her sophomore season, Crass pulled away on the final turn.

“I like being able to switch over into that (sprinter’s) mentality,” Crass said. “It was also my last race of the day so I had to give everything that I’ve got or otherwise I would regret it. I’ve been here before, I know how the race works, I just had to push and do what it can. And it worked out.”