Gressley sets third Baker record, wins three district titles

Sammy Gressley turned Baker High School’s district meet into a full-scale rewrite of the record book, winning the 100 meters, 400 meters and long jump while setting her third Baker High record of the spring.

The Baker senior won the long jump with 18 feet, 3.25 inches, breaking the school mark she had set just one week earlier at the Ray Uriarte Invitational. She also captured the 100 in 12.04 seconds, lowering a 53-year-old Baker High record of 12.30 that Lynne Edmonson set in 1973, and took the 400 in 58.10. The meet was Friday, May 22, at Baker High School.

Gressley’s run through the spring has been relentless. She broke the Baker 200-meter record three times, first running 25.44 on March 20 to erase Tish Henes’ 1995 mark of 25.50, then lowering it to 25.32 on May 1 and again to 24.73 on May 8. Her long jump progression has been just as sharp, starting with 17 feet, 1 inch on April 1 at Vale before climbing to 18 feet, 2.5 inches and then Friday’s winning mark.

That combination of speed and range matters for Baker’s postseason push. Gressley’s three titles helped anchor a district meet in which Baker athletes won nine events and sent a strong group toward the Class 4A state meet at Hayward Field in Eugene on May 30-31. The Bulldogs’ qualifiers included Kate Norton, Henry Gaslin, Gwen Rasmussen, Wayland Thomas, Kane Hellberg, Gabriel McBride, Molly Rasmussen, Meren Jesenko, Jack Joseph and Gavin Scott.

For Baker, Gressley’s weekend was more than a set of wins. She left district as one of the school’s most decorated sprinters and jumpers, with school records now spread across the 100, 200 and long jump. The 100-meter mark had stood for more than half a century, and the 200 had survived since 1995 until Gressley started cutting it down in March. By the time the Bulldogs reached Eugene, she had already put her name in a place few Baker athletes ever reach, at the top of multiple lines in the school record book.