HRV track: playing in the rain

April 19, 2006

Track records are being broken.

So far this season, Hood River Valley High School track athletes Jessie Page, Jacquie Mattson and Kari Hidle have set new school records for the Eagles.

Page, a sophomore, bettered the school’s high jump record of 6’3”, set in 1991 by Stan Campbell, by an inch during the first meet of the season in Pendleton. Then on Thursday, Mattson bettered the high jump record of 5’3”, set by herself, McKenna Hering and Anna Hidle in recent years, by an inch to take the record from a three-way ownership to a monopoly. Kari Hidle set a new triple jump record at 16’7.5” on Thursday to better the 1999 record of 16’7.5” set by Dresden Merz.

Following Tuesday afternoon’s meet at home against The Dalles-Wahtonka, the Eagles will have had three meets in less than a week. On Thursday the team traveled to Barlow for a meet with Barlow and St. Mary’s. The following day they competed in the East County Classic at Mount Hood Community College, with HRV, Mountain View (Wash.) Lakeridge, Battle Ground, Reynolds, South Albany, The Dalles-Wahtonka and West Salem in attendance.

“It was tough having two meets in a row,” Coach Shawn Meyle said. “It took some strategy on how to use our athletes in the meets so they don’t get burned out. So both days we didn’t load our athletes with their normal events.”

HRV’s showing on Thursday was, in large part, a battle of numbers. The boys competed in a dual with Barlow and the girls a three-way with Barlow and St. Mary’s and the Eagles were outnumbered by both Portland teams. The boys lost to Barlow 109-27 and the girls finished third with 40 points behind St. Mary’s 91 and Barlow’s 96.

The story was much of the same on Friday for the boys team, which finished seventh out of eight. The girls, however, shined through the clouds and rain and took first overall with 143.5 points.

“Thursday it was light rain and misty and Friday it came down in showers,” Meyle commented. “And our athletes competed great. We had some great performances.”

Along with the new school records from Mattson and Hidle, standout performances for the girls include first place finishes from Hering (pole vault), Hidle (100-meters), Kayla Lloyd (1,500 meters), Lindsey Halliday (long jump) and the 4x100 relay team of Amy Hay, Laura Yates, Hidle and Markee Cox. The relay team is now ranked 2nd in the conference.

For the boys, Leo Castillo had a season personal record in the 1,500 for a first place finish on Friday. Fernando Morales took first in the 400 on Thursday. He then went on to set a huge personal best on Friday in the 800, with a time of 2:02.3 to finish third. Jessie Paige continued his dominance in the high jump to finish first on Thursday with a leap of 5’10 and second on Saturday with an improved height of 6’2”. Finally, pole vaulter Joel Miller won his event on Thursday with a 13-foot vault.

After Tuesday’s meet, the Eagles go on the road for the rest of the season. Districts are scheduled for May 19 and 20 at Redmond.

Thursday highlights

(combined):

100 meters —

Markee Cox 2nd

Jason Vanderslice 3rd

200 meters—

Laura Yates 3rd

400 meters —

Fernando Morales 1st

800 meters —

Kassy Green 2nd

Elizabeth Reyes 3rd

Brandon Tolentino 2nd

Frank Zartler 4th

3,000 meters —

Carlos Mercado 2nd

Sal Ledezma 3rd

100 high hurdles —

Justine Campbell 3rd

110 high hurdles —

Stefan Zosa 3rd

300 int. hurdles —

Stefan Zosa 3rd

300 low hurdles —

Justine Campbell 3rd

4x100 relay —

Megan Clark 3rd

Laura Yates

Justine Campbell

Kylee Staughton

4x400 relay —

Markee Cox 3rd

Laura Yates

Justine Campbell

Kylee Staughton

High jump —

Jacquie Mattson 1st

McKenna Hering 3rd

Jessie Page 1st

Stefan Zosa 2nd

Pole vault —

McKenna Hering 1st

Joel Miller 1st

Long jump —

Jessie Page 2nd

Triple jump —

Kari Hidle 2nd

Lindsey Halliday 3rd

Antonio Garcia 3rd

Friday highlights

(combined):

100 meters —

Kari Hidle 1st

200 meters —

Markee Cox 3rd

800 meters —

Kayla Lloyd 2nd

Fernando Morales 3rd

1,500 meters —

Kayla Lloyd 1st

Melissa Kauffman 2nd

Leo Castillo 1st

3,000 meters —

Ashley Braniff 2nd

Melissa Kauffman 3rd

Leo Castillo 4th

2K steeplechase —

Elizabeth Reyes 6th

100 high hurdles —

Justin Campbell 2nd

4x100 relay —

Amy Hay 1st

Laura Yates

Kari Hidle

Markee Cox

Pole vault —

McKenna Hering 1st

Long jump —

Kari Hidle 1st

Jacob Thornton 4th

Triple jump —

Lindsey Halliday 1st

Kari Hidle 2nd