McDaniel High School senior Josh Hepner got ready for the PIL district track and field meet on May 23 a little bit differently than most.

The mid-distance runner spent the five hours on the Sunday prior dying his hair in a leopard-esque look with spots of dark blue on the blond hair background.

Hepner said for his last PIL meet he wanted to do something a little different, which he not only accomplished with his hair but on the track as well.

In the final 200 of the 1500 meter race, Hepner sprinted ahead of Franklin’s Zafer Courcelle and Brennan McEwen and took first to earn a spot to state for the first time in the event.

Later, Hepner won the 800 in a similar fashion on a late kick, setting up his second time at state in the event. He also anchored the Mountain Lions’ 4×400 relay team which took second and will also head to state.

“Coming into districts, I wanted to do something different,” Hepner said of the hair. “Districts, I’m just gonna do it and run my hardest, even if I win or don’t win, don’t PR or PR, whatever. Just go hard and end my season with a bang.”

Hepner’s time of 3 minutes, 54.15 seconds was a personal record in the 1500 while his time of 1:54.88 in the 800 marked his season best and is only .26 seconds behind his PR of 1:54.60 set at state last year.

He’ll look to improve on those times at the state meet which is set for May 29-31 at Hayward Field in Eugene.

“Sticking with those top two, (Courcelle and McEwen), I realized I have more,” Hepner said of the 1500. “Knowing this is my last race as a senior (in the PIL) and moving on to college running, I just thought, ‘I need to get it.’ And I was hungry for it and I kicked as hard as I could.”

Last year as a junior was Hepner’s first appearance at the state meet after an injury derailed his sophomore year in 2023.

Originally, Hepner was aiming to be more of a long distance runner in high school, but a growth spurt added some speed to his game and his body naturally gravitated toward the 800 where he has excelled.

At the 2024 state meet, Hepner took sixth in the 800 prelims before moving up a spot to take fifth in the finals.

After the successful spring season, Hepner entered the 2025 season looking to make sure his body stayed right and was prepared for not only the end of the season, but what the Southern Oregon commit still has in front of him in college.

“Senior year, it’s been on and off, I was overall happy with the season,” Hepner said. “Beginning of the season I was going in with more of a mindset like, ‘Just want to stay healthy, not get injured and train hard and recover as much as I can.’ Last year I wasn’t very on top of recovery. This year has been different trying to get different training in and a different mindset.”

Hepner heads to state alongside his fellow 4×400 running mates in Tobias Boydsteen, Benjamin Watnick-Wizeman and Eliott Black.

Also representing McDaniel will be Boydsteen in the boys 400, Lily Mae Buerkle in the girls shot put and javelin, and Princess Fletcher in the girls discus and shot put.

While winning would be the ultimate way to go out as a senior, Hepner is happy with the advances he made in his career as he gears up for college whether he wins or not.

Now it’s all about heading to Eugene healthy and seeing if one more big kick can get him across the line first.

“Probably get at least one workout in, more recovery,” Hepner said of prepping for state. “I just want to stay good on recovery and stay fast. Hopefully get a PR at state.”