Roosevelt sophomore Aster Jones said earlier this track and field season that she didn’t get into the sport until she came to high school.
Instead, the talented Jones put her time into gymnastics, leaving track to her older sister Lily, who was one of the best sprinters in the state during her run from 2019-2022 and has been running for the University of Oregon following high school. Big sis still has the best time overall with a wind-aided 11.30 in the 2022 state finals and a wind-legal 11.44 from her high school years.
However, Lily was going against a once in a generation kind of talent in Mia Brahe-Pedersen of Lake Oswego for most of those years while COVID-19 took away a couple more of them, leaving big sister without a state sprinting title.
With Brahe-Pederson out for 2024 with an injury, that opened the door for little Aster, who took home first place May 18 in the 6A girls 100 with a time of 11.87 seconds, .04 off from her personal record time.
“It feels so amazing, I didn’t have a good state (meet) last year,” Aster Jones said. “It feels so good to rise above that and run to my best potential.”
Jones was seemingly dealing with a knee injury coming into state, one that was sustained during the PIL championships nine days prior.
Once on the track though, Jones seemed more than alright, blowing by the competition with Westview’s Love Uzoekwe coming in a distant second place at 12.18.
“I feel like I got a pretty good start, but I was pretty even with everybody,” Jones said. “I think my top-end speed really came through in that and I was very excited coming through (the finish line).”
The 100 final came a little bit after the 4x100 relays opened up the final day of the state track and field meet where Roosevelt came in tied with Lake Oswego for the best time on the season at 47.99.
In the final, the Lakers were able to best the Roughriders with a 47.92 time with Roosevelt taking second at 48.10.
Despite the silver medal, Jones was proud of how her relay team consisting of herself, junior Ellis Heslam, senior Alana Munoz and sophomore Nevaeh Landrum came together to compete.
“I feel like we all did super (well),” Jones said. “We all worked together as a team before to stay the calmest we are, and even though we didn’t run our PR, it felt so good for us to come out here and stay consistent with our times.”
Roosevelt made a splash in the other sprinting events as well with Jones taking second place in the 200 with a PR time of 24.02. Heslam racked up some team points as well by taking sixth in a time of 25.16.
For the 400, Heslam was running solo and took home fourth place with a time of 55.59, creating quite the sprinting pair between her and Jones for at least one more year in North Portland.
“I mean we’re so close outside of track, so that helps us when we come here,” Jones said. “I think that us having each other as a support system is what helps us run the best we can.”
It wasn’t just the track that succeeded this season for Roosevelt as senior Havana Alonso went out with a bang.
Alonso took home second place in the girls javelin with a top mark of 139 feet, 1 inch. The senior also picked up shot put more this season to help Roosevelt score a few more team points. She fell just short of snagging a point in the shot, taking ninth with a PR toss of 33-8.5.
Junior Gabriela Montanez also made the trip to Eugene in the girls pole vault where she took home 12th, clearing a new personal best of 10-feet that also set a new school record.
All in all, Roosevelt totaled 42 team points, leaving them just short of a team trophy in fifth place behind McDaniel in fourth with 43 points.
But with another Jones sprinting on the track, and this one already winning a gold, the Riders will be back looking for more in 2025.
Local News
