A month ago, Oak Harbor High School senior Dejon Devroe was bent on winning the state 400-meter championship. Today (Saturday, May 30) he won a state title — in the 800.
Devroe, breaking his own school record with a 1:52.61, won the 3A 800 crown at Tacoma’s Mount Tahoma High School.
In other action on the final day of the three-day state meet, senior John Rodeheffer placed third in the 3,200 in 9:11.71. He also finished third in the 1,600 Thursday.
Mount Spokane’s John Dressel, who earlier won the 1,600, captured the 3,200 in 9:00.2.
The 3,200 ended a stellar career for Rodeheffer, who qualified for the state meet all four years of his Wildcat career.
Together, Devroe and Rodeheffer scored all of Oak Harbor’s 22 points, good for ninth in the team standings. Bellevue won with 58 points. The Wildcats were only three points out of fifth place.
The Oak Harbor girls 4×100 relay team of freshmen Amaya Rittierodt and Jenna Cooley and juniors Janae Payne and Matti Miesle finished eighth in 50.75 to score the Wildcat girls only team point in the meet. It was a strong finish for the Oak Harbor squad which entered the meet with the state’s 17th-best time.
Devron ran his first 800 the final week of the regular season on May 8; until then he focused on the 400.
“It was harding giving it (the 400) up after working at it for four years,” Devroe said.
Noting his skill set, his coaches suggested he give the 800 a try. The turning point, he said, was a discussion with teammate Rodeheffer, who encouraged Devroe to bump up to the 800.
One of his goals entering the season was to break the school 400 record; he never did although he owned the state’s best 3A 400 mark most of the year.
“Once I got the hang of the 800, I realized I could break that record, too.” He snapped Tom Bailey’s record of 1:54 set in 1964 at the district finals last week.
“I just found out what I was doing (learned how to run the race) and put my trust in God,” he said.
In the state finals, Devroe was in fifth place after the first 400 meters, though all eight runners were within strides of each other.
With 250 meters remaining, he slipped by all but the leader on the inside, then with 200 meters left jumped to the lead.
He opened a five-yard lead coming down the home stretch and held on for the win, defeating Shorewood’s Devan Kirk, who edged Devroe for the district title last week.
Coming home with the lead and knowing the talent of Kirk and the field, he said he was thinking, “Don’t give up.”
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Top, John Rodeheffer takes an early lead in the 3,200 Saturday. He finished third in the event to go along with a third-place in the 1,600. Below, Matti Miesle anchor’s Oak Harbor’s eighth-place 4×100 relay team in the state finals. Photos by John Fisken.
