The first time Lincoln High School senior John Ladd Steele cleared the bar in the boys pole vault this track and field season was May 23 at the PIL district championship.

Eight days later, Steele was leaving Hayward Field in Eugene with a gold medal around his neck.

Nagging knee injuries kept Steele out for nearly the entire high school season as he had a couple no heights at the end of April and start of May.

All of the time spent on the sidelines didn’t matter though as the senior got to finish off his prep career in the best way possible.

“This is a better ending than I could have even dreamed of,” Steele said. “My dream was to get first, but I didn’t know if it was going to be realistic. I had that goal, and I’m just really happy to get it in that way. I’ve had amazing support from my coaches and from my family. I’m happy to be at the top my senior year.”

Steele qualified for state as a junior last season in 2024 where he took fifth in the event, giving him one last shot at gold in 2025.

At the PIL meet, Steele was able to return and won the title with a top clearance of 14 feet, 3.25 inches, giving him that shot at state that seemed to be out of reach for the first few months of the season.

Then, the 6A boys pole vault was delayed due to the previous pole vault events running longer.

“There was a delay, which was kind of tough,” Steele said. “I just tried to save my warmups for as close to the competition as possible, trying to conserve all my energy.”

Once it finally got going, Steele passed on the first three heights before getting in a mark at 13-5, which dwindled the field down to six competitors.

Steels passed the next two heights as well and got back in at 14-4, missing his first attempt but clearing the second to beat his PIL high-water mark.

Four vaulters were left and they all moved to 14-9.5 where Steele was able to clear on his first attempt, as well as South Medford’s Devon Scott to bring the field to just two.

At 15-0.25, a new PR mark for Steele, the senior was able to clear it on attempt two while Scott failed to get over the bar, giving Steele the title.

“The bars were just staying up,” Steele said with a laugh. “Quarter-inch PR, I haven’t jumped this whole season except for districts. … I’m just really happy with how it went and I’m happy I could get over that 15 mark again.”

The delayed event went on during the 4×400 meter relays, which is usually the final event for a normal high school track and field meet.

With Steele gunning for first still and the 10 team points that came with it, the Cardinals still had a shot at catching Jesuit in the team standings.

The 4×400 team of Errol Brotherton, Elwood Gordon, Nicholas Ranalli and Ryan Hendrickson came close with a sixth place finish in 3 minutes, 21.33 seconds, Jesuit won the race and secured the team trophy with 66 points compared to Lincoln’s 62.

Still, the Cardinals were only projected to get 52 points coming into state, making up serious ground on the Crusaders to make it close at the end.

Helping that charge were the field events where senior Brady Holland won the state title in the boys shot put and sophomore Greyson Murff won the title in the boys discus. Holland also took third in the discus competition.

“It’s funny, when I first started at Lincoln High School as an assistant we were pretty field-event heavy, then we went distance, little bit of spring and now we’ve moved back to more of a complete team,” Lincoln head coach Eric Dettman said. “This year, it starts with those field event guys, (Steele), (Holland), (Murff) and all those guys, they set the tone and they set the standard. It’s exciting to hear them talk about what they want to accomplish with zero fear.”

Out on the track is where Lincoln picked up points piece by piece as well with every event going above their projected spot.

The 4×100 relay team, made up of Grey Miller, Gordon, Hendrickson and Cole Pitzer, was projected to place in the top eight, but instead took third in a time of 42.05 to snag six points.

Gordon, a senior, followed that up with a fifth place finish in the 100 meter race in 10.93 seconds despite quite a difficult personal hurdle.

“After Cardinal Invites (on May 2), (Gordon) broke his foot, he’s been running on a broken foot,” Dettman said. “He didn’t run until the day before districts, he was in a boot, on crutches. We got the clearance from his doctor, and it’s just testament to who he is as a person.”

Murff also competed in the 110 meter hurdles and took fifth with a time of 14.87. Junior Nicholas Ranalli finished eighth in the 400 in a time of 49.66 after being projected to not make the finals.

Junior Joshua Prince took seventh in 800 in 1:55.64 and senior Drew Dunahugh took third in the javelin with a mark of 184 feet.

Add it all up along with the efforts of junior Cameron Mirzakhalili and Harlan Novy-Marx, and it was an incredible finish for a group of boys who have been the best teammates they could be for each other.

“You run the projections and you say 52 and you end up with 62 and you come up a little bit short, that stings,” Dettman said. “But we can be really proud of the effort we made and things that we’ve done to overcome the last four months and bond together. This group in particular, those seniors, are best friends, literally grown up together.”

At the end of the day, that relationship is what track and field and really any high school event is all about.

That group of seniors is all heading off after graduation to continue their strong paths, including Steele who is heading to Ole Miss to study biochemistry. He said he’ll be training at a nearby pole vaulting group to hopefully get a shot at walking on to the Rebels team.

No matter what happens down south though, Steele will always have that Oregon gold to hang on to and the friends he’s made as a Cardinal.

“I love all my teammates so much, this year I’ve gotten a lot closer with all of them,” Steele said. “As I participate in track and field more, I feel myself becoming more and more attached to it, I love the environment.

“Obviously I can’t name everyone on my team, but they’ve been amazing. Our sprinters have been working so hard and this season has been amazing, it’s been really great.”