Lake Oswego senior Connor Bracken, the reigning Class 6A champion in the high hurdles, has bounced back from a tender hamstring in a big way.
Bracken tweaked his hamstring before the team’s first meet of the season and did not compete until last week. But he recorded the state’s best time (14.64 seconds) in a meet against Lakeridge last week and improved on it Wednesday with a personal-best 14.54 in a home meet against Grant.
“I didn’t think the hamstring would be a problem at all,” coach Eric Lider said. “We were really conservative in making sure that it was fully healed. It was just a slight strain, but we just wanted to be cautious. He’s back to full strength and running hard.”
Bracken, who has committed to Azusa Pacific, will get a big test Saturday in the Oregon Relays at Hayward Field.
“He’ll get a chance to see what the competition is about,” Lider said.
Last season, Bracken ran 14.63 in late April and 14.70 to win the state title.
“He’s stronger and faster than last year,” Lider said. “He worked really hard in the offseason to improve his strength and technique.”
Bracken is a team captain for a Lakers team that includes his freshman brother, Carter, a budding decathlete who has long-jumped 21 feet, 6 ¾ inches, the eighth-best mark in Class 6A and No. 14 in the state this season.
In the intermediate hurdles, Connor (41.14) and Carter (41.24) have the 18th and 19th best times in the state, respectively.
“When both of them get on the track at the same time, there’s no brotherly love between them,” Lider said. “It’s competition, and rightly so. They go after each other like they should. They’re really pushing each other in a healthy way. I think we’re going to be seeing a lot of Carter in the future.”
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