EUGENE – WIth one event left and clinging to a two-point lead in the team standings, Crook County track coach Ernie Brooks took off his track coaching hat and put on his football coaching hat to have a talk with the four members of the 4×400-meter relay team – Michael McKinnon, Adam Radabaugh, Jace Jonas and Gabe Love – before the all-important race.

The stakes were at an all-time high. All the Cowboys had to do was finish ahead of Henley and they would repeat as the Class 4A state team champions at Hayward Field.

“We got the boys together and said there’s a time in your career where you have to own up and be there for each other,” Brooks said. “Gabe had a look in his eyes and said, ‘We are doing this.’”

Love, who despite repeating as the javelin champion, had a challenging day running, placing fifth in the 100 (10.97 seconds) and third in the 200 (21.81), below where he was projected to finish.

Through the first three passes of the baton, Crook County found itself in third place and was nearly three seconds behind Henley, which was leading the race. Then Love flew around the track and erased the deficit.

Marshfield won the race, but Crook County finished second in 3:21.84, more than three seconds ahead of third-place-finishing Henley to ensure the Cowboys repeated as state champs.

“It was my last race as a senior and I gave it my all because I had nothing to lose,” Love said. “It was a rough day, but I wanted to go out and end on a good note.”

Crook County finished with 78 points, Henley finished with 74, Marist took third with 46 points and The Dalles and Scappoose finished tied for fourth with 42 points. Madras placed fifth with 37 points.

Repeating as state champions proved to be more of a challenge than last year, when the Cowboys essentially had the team title wrapped up midway through the meet.

“The competition all around was better this year,” said senior Eli Oelkers, who was named Athlete of the Meet after winning the long jump title (22 feet, 7.25 inches), finishing second in the 110 hurdles (14.92) and triple jump (44-7.5) and third in the 300 hurdles (39.29). “We just kept putting in the work and we knew that we could do it.”

The four members of the 4×400 relay team, along with Oelkers, form a formidable team that has led the Cowboys to back-to-back titles. In addition to a top-five finish in the relay, Jonas had a fourth-place finish in the 400 (50.90) and Radabaugh finished third in the 1,500 (4:05.5). Junior Alexander Jarrell had a top-five finish by taking third in the high jump (6-1.5).

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime group,” Brooks said. “That is really what it is that’s led to where we are at.”