A majority of the focus on track and field for Parkrose High School junior Maya Kruger has been on hurdles.
Kruger, who spent her freshman and sophomore year at Cleveland, is aiming to compete in the heptathlon moving forward though, a mix of events that includes the high jump.
Coming into 2024 though, the junior had never competed in the event at an official high school meet.
So, naturally, fast forward three months and Kruger was atop the podium as the 5A girls state champion in the high jump after clearing a personal record of 5 feet, 4.25 inches.
“I cried, that was the first thing I did,” Kruger said. “I was screaming, jumping up and down. My coach always told me I could be great at whatever I picked.”
In her second go at high jump this season on April 4 at Putnam, Kruger was able to clear 5 feet and start to see the vision for the event.
However, Kruger hit a lull toward the end of April and didn’t revisit the event in competition until May 10 at the Northwest Conference Championship.
There, she set a new PR of 5-3 and set a new school record in the event, building some strong momentum heading into Eugene.
“That put me third in the state and I was like, ‘Wait, this is crazy,’” Kruger said. “When I came down to Hayward Field, I came in here with no expectations, I have nothing to lose. All these other girls are going to have to work really hard to beat me and they’ve all been high jumping for longer than I have.”
Kruger cleared the first two heights with ease on her first attempts, leaving her and six other competitors left in the competition.
Three jumpers hit 5-1.75 on their first try while Kruger needed to hit on her third attempt, which was able to do.
At 5-3, Kruger was back in rhythm, clearing the bar on her first try and leaving only three other competitors left.
Finally, at 5-4.25, Kruger was able to clear on her second attempt while the three other girls couldn’t make it over, handing the Parkrose junior her first state title.
“If you just put your mind to something (you can do it),” Kruger said. “You can have a good day, you can have a bad day. At the end of the day, you just go to do what you got to do.”
The high jump was the first part of Kruger’s weekend as she also competed in the 5A girls 100 meter hurdles, her “main event.”
Kruger ended up taking fifth place with a time of 15.38, an improved placement after taking eighth at the 6A level with Cleveland last year at a 16.05 time.
“I didn’t expect to win hurdles because of my races and my PRs and stuff, but I just came out here to have a good time,” Kruger said. “Run hard, try to make a couple upsets here and there.”
Kruger wasn’t alone at Hayward Field with senior Morgan Binder competing in the 5A girls 100. Binder took 10th after running a 12.95 in the prelims.
On the boys side, senior Jackson Mathers and junior DeVontae Hillman were also jumping inside Hayward.
Hillman came up just short in the 5A boys triple jump, setting a new PR with a leap of 46-8.25 to finish in second place behind Summit’s Noah Goodrich’s mark of 46-11.75.
Mathers also competed in the triple jump, taking eighth place with a top jump of 42-4. The next day, Mathers took fifth in the high jump with a top mark of 6-2.25.
For Kruger, training doesn’t stop when the summer hits as she looks to improve in all seven events the heptathlon offers.
And with one state title now under her belt, the junior will be hungry for more come 2025.
“I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve been doing this for not even a year,’” Kruger said. “This is crazy, this is monumental, it’s so big. That (high jump) was just so big.”
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