A welcome respite from the recent cold weather enabled Gorge-area small schools to kick off their 2023 track and field seasons under partial sunny skies March 17 at the annual Mullen Leavitt Invitational in The Dalles.
Fourteen schools, including many from the Class 1A District 3 competed in the non-scoring meet. Six athletes, including double-winner Sophie Hulke of Sherman High, earned wins in individual events. Hulke won the shot put (32 feet, 10.5 inches) and discus (103-7), and was second in the javelin. The Sherman junior was the Class 1A state champion in the discus in 2022.
Also winning an individual event was Trout Lake frosh pole vaulter Jade Mclean, who bested teammate Gynel Duke by clearing 8 feet. Duke, the third-place finisher at the 2022 state meet, cleared 7-6.
The Mustang boys also went 1-2-3 in the boys pole vault, led by senior Landon Heberling’s 12 foot clearance. He is the two-time 1A state meet runner-up in the vault. Teammate Klayton Schmid won the boys javelin with a personal-best throw of 147-8. Schmid, who did not compete in track and field last spring, was third in the pole vault behind teammate Sawyer Dean.
Klickitat junior Austin Fink, who competed at state a year ago in the shotput, won his specialty in a PR 43-10. It was a day of 40-foot plus throws for District 3, as Horizon Christian senior Maxwell Alrubaie was fourth overall with a three-foot PR of 40-8.5. Sherman frosh Renan Christiansen tossed the ball 40-2 in his first high school meet.
Horizon had the other Gorge-area small school winner in frosh Landon Whitaker. He won the 200 meters in 24.59 seconds. That edged Dufur senior Marshal McLaughlin in the event (though they competed in different heats). McLaughlin, the reigning District 3 100 and 200 champion, ran the longer race last week in 24.73 and finished second in the 100 in 12.21.
Commented
Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles.