Hood River News

By ADAM LAPIERRE

News staff writer

April 8, 2006

Perhaps the nicest thing about the beginning of track season, when the weather cooperates, is playing outdoors after a long, wet and grey Oregon winter. Rain in the spring is a given in Hood River, but with the seemingly never-ending wet comes the overwhelming joy of feeling the sunshine warm one’s winter-whitened skin.

And the sun came out Wednesday to greet athletes from Centennial, St. Mary’s and Hood River Valley high schools during the Eagles’ first of two home track meets this spring.

The girls competed in a three-way meet and, because St. Mary’s doesn’t have a boys’ team, the boys’ meet was a dual between the Eagles in gold and blue and the Eagles from the west in red and white.

The HRV boys lost the dual, finishing with 38 points to Centennial’s 105, while the girls finished with a 93-41 loss against St. Mary’s and a 77-68 loss against Centennial. The top three varsity placers in each event score points for their team.

“The kids are competing well at this point in the season,” Coach Shawn Meyle commented. “We had the school record set in the high jump, our pole-vaulter (Joel Miller) hit 13’6” which is the best mark in the league so far and both relay teams got off their handoffs.”

With multiple events running simultaneously in a small area, a track meet is often hard to keep track of from a spectator’s standpoint.

But there’s always plenty of action.

The throwers worked their magic with the discus, javelin and shot-put on the east end of the Eagles’ field, while distance runners, sprinters and hurdlers took to the track. At the north end of Henderson Community Stadium the triple and long jumpers leapt and bounded into the freshly-raked sandpits, and at the south end of the field the high jumpers and pole-vaulters got airborne in the sunshine.

Athletes often bounce between multiple events, saving as much energy as possible from one to the other while, behind the scenes, timekeepers, measurers, rakers, judges, starters and coaches do their best to juggle the event successfully along.

Highlights from the varsity meet include first place finishes from Lindsey Halliday in the triple jump, Jaquie Matson in the high jump, McKenna Hering in the pole-vault, Jacob Thornton in the long jump, Jesse Page in the high jump and Juan Zuniga in the 200 meters.

Matson’s high jump of 5’3” was enough to tie the current HRVHS school record, now held by Matson, Hering and Anna Hidle.

The team goes on the road now for meets at The Dalles-Wahtonka, Barlow/St. Mary’s and Mt. Hood Community College before returning home on April 18 for a dual with The Dalles-Wahtonka.

Meet highlights

Girls:

100 meters —

Kari Hidle 2nd

McKenna Hering 5th

Amy Hay 6th

400 meters —

Laura Yates 3rd

Markee Cox 5th

800 meters —

Kayla Lloyd 3rd

Melissa Princehouse 7th

1,500 meters —

Kayla Lloyd 4th

Melissa Kauffman 7th

3,000 meters —

Ashley Braniff 3rd

100 high hurdles —

Justine Campbell 5th

Jaquie Matson 6th

300 low hurdles —

Justine Campbell 2nd

Jaquie Matson 4th

Brittany Edwards 6th

4x100 relay —

Amy Hay 2nd

Laura Yates

Kari Hidle

Markee Cox

Adriana Sandoval 4th

Ana Marquez

McKenzie Ragan

Alyssa Jensen

4x400 relay —

Markee Cox 3rd

Laura Yates

Megan Clark

Kayla Lloyd

Shot put —

Cayla Thornton 5th

Terra Dawson 6th

Discus —

Terra Dawson 6th

Cayla Thornton 8th

Melanie Orozco 8th

Javelin —

Rachel Mallon 6th

Cayla Thornton 8th

Melanie Orozco 8th

High jump —

Jacquie Matson 1st

McKenna Hering 2nd

Alisandra Denton 4th

Jessica Wienholt 4th

Pole vault —

McKenna Hering 1st

Alisandra Denton 3rd

Long jump —

Kari Hidle 3rd

Amy Hay 5th

Triple jump —

Lindsey Halliday 1st

Kari Hidle 4th

Boys:

100 meters —

Chris Barber 3rd

Joel Miller 4th

200 meters —

Juan Zuniga 1st

Jason Vanderslice 2nd

Nick Maslen 3rd

Matt Yin 5th

800 meters —

Fernando Morales 2nd

Leo Castillo 3rd

Brandon Tolentino 5th

Carlos Quintanta 6th

1500 meters —

Leo Castillo 2nd

Fernanto Morales 3rd

Branton Tolentino 6th

Carlos Quintana 7th

3000 meters —

Alex Vanslyke 4th

Frank Zartler 6th

110 high hurdles —

Stefan Zosa 4th

300 int hurdles —

Stefan Zosa 2nd

4x100 relay —

Travis Moore 2nd

Chris Barber

Juan Zuniga

Jacob Thornton

Shot put —

Sal Ledezma 3rd

Matt McDougall 5th

Adam Vandenbos 5th

Colby Goe 7th

Discus —

Matt McDougall 2nd

Travis Moore 3rd

Sal Ledezma 5th

Javelin —

Jacob Thornton 3rd

High jump —

Jessie Paige 1st

Stefan Zosa 3rd

Travis Moore 4th

Pole vault —

Joel Miller 2nd

Long jump —

Jacob Thornton 1st

Chris Barber 2nd

Jessie Paige 5th

Triple jump —

Don Valentine 3rd