EUGENE, Ore. — There’s no such thing as practice makes perfect in Luke Barrick’s mind.
To him, practice makes permanent.
Barrick was the only Onalaska High School track and field athlete to make the trek to Eugene, Ore., for the 2025 Oregon Relays at Hayward Field, and he did not disappoint in his debut.
The junior pole vaulter placed sixth out of 33 qualifying athletes with a jump of 14 feet, 5.25 inches, just three-quarters of an inch away from his personal record of 14-6.
Barrick bounced back from two misses at 13-11.25 to clear the pole on his last attempt for the height and the first try at 14-5.25. Although they weren’t PRs, he exploded with joy after each of his back-to-back successes.
“It was just the fact of missing it twice and it being the last attempt and the adrenaline of finally clearing it. That rush is an awesome feeling,” Barrick said. “I probably cleared that first one by a good foot and a half. I performed pretty decently. I’m pretty satisfied with it.”
While his goal was to reach 15-7, his day concluded with narrowly missed attempts at 14-11 Barrick said the experience of not only competing on as big a stage as an early-April track meet can get nationwide but finishing in the top six will fuel his confidence going forward.
“Practice makes permanent. I’m consistently around 14-6 right now. That’s where I’ve been all season so far,” he said. “But I see big things coming.”
Tenino senior and future Portland State Viking Carson Schall had a busy day in Eugene, competing in three events in the span of roughly three hours. In the 110-meter hurdles, he was just a half second away from qualifying for the finals and setting a PR but settled for 14th at 15.66. He followed it up with his first 300-meter hurdles race of the season and finished 34th and one tick away from his PR at 43.34, good for sixth in his heat.
Schall then joined teammates Austin Johnson, Parker Minerich and Ashton Moore for their first 4x100 relay of the season. Moore crossed the finish line to give the team a final time of 45.67, which was impressive considering Schall’s loaded afternoon and Minerich had just completed the discus. Their best time, 44.84 seconds, came at districts last year.
“The 110s went well. I was feeling locked in for that, and then I got back out there to the track and saw that I only had 20 minutes until my 300 call time,” Schall said. “That was definitely a little shocking. I definitely had to make some adjustments and be able to adapt to race well, and I felt like I did that for my 300. It was a good season opener [for the 4x100 relay] too.”
Minerich had a tough day on the field for discus Saturday, fouling three of his four attempts. On his lone successful throw, he measured in at 133 feet and 4 inches for a 28th-place finish and fifth in his flight. While he came up short of the expectations, Minerich said he will use the lessons learned from the trip toward his state aspirations.
“It’s definitely gonna get me ready for state. It’s been a great experience with the crowd and everything,” he said.
Schall said Tenino’s track team, which was the most represented in the area in terms of athletes competing in Eugene, proved it is not to be slept on.
“I think we proved that we’re able to compete with bigger teams like 4A teams and 6A teams in Oregon and do better than a lot of them. We are capable of a high level if we put the work in,” he said.
