Adrian’s Roby Young runs through the finish line at the 1A Special District 4 meet last week. (Submitted photo)
ADRIAN – Adrian high school sprinter and jumper Roby Young has garnered local attention on the track all season.
Last Friday, the Antelope senior took it to a new level.
At the 1A Special District 4 track and field championships in Baker City, Young ran the 200-meter dash in just 26.41 seconds — breaking a 38-year-old school record. She also broke her school’s record in the triple jump with her new personal best of 34-feet, 5.5-inches.
She is headed to the state championships at Western Oregon University this weekend, where she is the No. 1 seed in the 200-meter dash. She is also seeded third in the 400 and high jump events and is the No. 4 seed in the triple jump.
She’s hoping to break her current records in all four events at the state championship and she has a good feeling she can.
She holds the fastest time in the 400 with her personal best of 1:01.08, but ran below that time at the district meet with 1:01.57.
When she’s not running on the track, she’s either lifting weights or running the country roads in Adrian or Vale.
She also can be found practicing basketball or volleyball. She was named to the first-team all-state in volleyball last fall and was invited to play in the volleyball all-stars team this summer.
“I really love volleyball, but track is my favorite sport,” Young said. “I try to go on long runs in the off season, like after basketball and volleyball practices, just so I can open up my lungs and stay in shape.”
Outside of school sports, Young is the president of the Adrian FFA chapter and the secretary of the Snake River District FFA. She’s also the class of 2019’s co-valedictorian, sharing honors with Sadey Speelmon, and maintains a 3.94 GPA.
The daughter of Robert and Cassie Young, Young does team roping with her family and helps out on the ranch.
Young’s dedication in both sports and academics has attracted a swarm of college recruiters. At least 20 colleges have approached her for her talents in volleyball and track and field, and six gave her official offers.
With graduation nearing, Young said she’s finally decided – she will accept a track and field scholarship from the College of Idaho.
As of Monday, Young hadn’t signed her letter of intent, but said she called the college’s coach and accepted the invite to join the Yotes’ track team. There, Young plans to major in biology and eventually become a physician assistant.
Adrian High School girls track team members, Roby Young (top), Riley Lucas and Zoe Nelson, stand at the trophy podium at the Class 1A district track meet at Baker High School Saturday. All three Antelopes claimed top honors at the meet. (Submitted photo)
Have a news tip? Reporter Kristine de Leon: [email protected] or 541-473-3377.
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