EUGENE, Ore. — The Oregon Relays at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., brought out the best in Ridgefield’s Davis Sullivan and Prairie’s Will Foster as they each shattered their personal records Saturday, April 5.
Sullivan torched the track in the overpowering Eugene morning sun with an 800-meter time of 1 minute, 55.77 seconds, surpassing his previous PR by nearly two seconds. He finished in third place in his heat and ninth place overall in the event.
The Spudders senior said immediately after the race that he had no idea what he was capable of running after a recent rough patch of training.
“It’s felt kind of crappy, so I didn’t really know what I could run. But with 300 meters left, I was like, ‘Wait, I could actually win this,’ and so I just sent it,” Sullivan said. “It felt really good. I’m just happy to be here and to feel good running fast.”
With this race, Sullivan now has the ninth-best 800-meter run in Washington state in 2025. As a sophomore in 2023, seven of his eight 800-meter races were between 2:01 and 2:07, but he just couldn’t break under two minutes. The trend continued early in 2024 until May 3 when he hit a new PR of 1:58.79 for the first of three straight finishes under two minutes to close the season. Now, Sullivan hopes to built a nest in the under-two threshold for the remainder of his high school career.
“It’s just a lot of consistency. There’s been a lot of days and a lot of nights, especially this winter, where I just really had to push through,” Sullivan said. “It’s taken a lot of consistency and knowing that the consistency was going to pay off, and I’m super happy it did.”
Foster, who finished second in the shot put Friday afternoon, took the discus world by storm, momentarily, with three straight throws over 180 feet. His previous lifetime best coming into Saturday was 178’7,” but he launched a 189-foot, 2-inch missile on his first attempt and pumped his fist in jubilation. The senior followed it up with throws of 186-10 and 185-2 to establish a new standard for himself.
“I had a rough day in shot and I flushed it down the drain and said, ‘Let me go have myself a good day in discus and have some fun,’” Foster said. “The techniques started clicking.”
If it wasn’t for Mead junior Simon Rosselli breaking Rainier alum Jeremiah Nubbe’s Washington state record by over 4 feet at 211-7, Foster would have earned a discus title at the Oregon Relays.
“I’ve never seen a throw over 190 in person. That was unbelievable,” Foster said. “It’s really cool to be here and be a part of a historic competition.”
Foster’s throw of 189-2 sits right behind Rosselli’s mammoth toss for second in the state in the young 2025 season and ranks 10th in the country.
“After that, it was just pure joy. Finally, all the hard work paid off, and I was super ecstatic to hit it in a big meet like this with tons of people here watching,” he said. “It just proves that I can do whatever I set my mind to.”
