Prep boys track and field: Kruger survives scare, places runner-up in triple and long jump

May 9—RIDGEFIELD — Once Adam Kruger finished his three long jump attempts, saw he hit a new personal best and was in second place, he decided to opt out of the three additional jumps. The reasoning was simple.

Stay as fresh as possible for his marquee event, the triple jump.

It nearly backfired. Kruger scratched his first two leaps, putting him in danger of not medaling in the event he left Yakima with a state medal last spring.

"I was like 'Oh my gosh, I better get in the finals at least,'" Kruger said.

Like he did plenty of times on the gridiron and on the hardwood, the Toledo High School senior came through in the clutch.

His third preliminary attempt was 43 feet, 4.25 inches to put him in the driver's seat for a top-three finish and he eclipsed that mark a jump later of 43-05 to place second at Friday's Spudder Invite held at Ridgefield High School.

Back-to-back PR jumps allowed Kruger to leave feeling relieved. It's been a season of plenty of winning and some second place finishes sprinkled in. Still, there wasn't a lot of offseason work outside of strength-building.

"I've put in the work, my coaches have put me through the right training," Kruger said. "It is fun to see the results.

Practices have been focused on his steps rather than actual jumping, which has allowed for Kruger to be as healthy as possible for meets. He admitted after the triple jump he felt his steps and marks were off a bit, a reason for the two scratches.

He put it all together on the jumps that mattered. Kruger has gone over 40 feet six times this spring, tying the number he registered as a junior. At least in the triple jump, he's aiming for the top podium spot.

"All it takes is a couple inches," Kruger said. "That's really pushed me to be the best version of myself I can be. I know what I can do in my mind and seeing people are out there doing that, like, why not me?"

The long jump is another event Kruger is seeking a medal in. He didn't make it out of districts his freshman season or last spring, but went over 21 feet for the first time on Friday.

"Long is fun," he said.

The Riverhawks, which were the best area finishers in the team race with 45 points to take fourth, also had Trevin Gale place second in the 400-meter dash. He was neck-and-neck with Elma's Ricardo Guadarrama through the staggered turn and both ended up going under the previous meet record of 50.41, set by Hockinson's Nick Barclay in 2014.

Guadarrama's time of 49.37 clipped Gale's 49.95 mark. It was a PR for both.

"It is mostly mentality," Gale said. "Last year and the beginning of this year, I was always like 'Man, that's the worst race in track. Who wants to run a lap at full speed?'

"Everyting thinks those people are the dogs and I wanted to be that dog. It is probably my favorite event if I had to choose."