Hood River Valley’s girls track and field team has outdistanced itself — literally and figuratively — from the rest of the Intermountain Conference competition with the district meet looming this weekend.
Pre-meet predictions based on season-best rankings don’t always go to form, but they can provide a general outline of what to expect at the two-day meet which begins Friday at Ward Rhoden Stadium on the campus of Crook County High School in Prineville. Day one has some field event finals and heats in running events, which begin at 5:25 p.m. The 3000-meter finals begin at 4:45 p.m. Saturday’s second day will feature the remaining field event finals beginning at 11 a.m. and running event finals starting at 1 p.m. The top two finishers in each event qualify for the May 20-21 Class 5A state meet at historic Hayward Field in Eugene.
The Eagle girls are favored to win the IMC team championship, based on season-best performances this cold, wet spring. A main reason HRV is in a position to win is because its deep stable of distance runners who own four of the top five 800-meters times in the IMC this spring, and three of the top five 1500 and 3000 times. In addition, sophomore sprinter Simone Tillman, last year’s 200 champion, is ranked first in the 100, 200 and 400, and second in the 300 intermediate hurdles.
Hood River last won a girls district track and field championship in 2015 (the Eagle boys also won that season), when HRV competed in the Columbia River Conference. The Eagle girls were second at district last season and also runners-up from 2016-2018.
Pendleton figures to be the top challenger to HRV for the girls crown and has potential points throughout the 15 individual events and two relays. The Buckaroos, third behind runner-up HRV in 2021, are led by sisters Kelsey and Reilly Lovercheck. Reilly is ranked first in the triple jump, second in the long jump, first in the 300-meter low hurdles, and second in the 100 high hurdles. Kelsey is the top-ranked IMC pole vaulter and among the top eight in the 200 and javelin. She won last year’s IMC 400-meter final after not running the event during the regular season.
Ridgeview, the 2019 champion (the 2020 meet was not held because of COVID), figures to score big-meet points in the hurdles and sprints, as sophomore Kensey Gault won the 100 and both hurdles races a year ago.
Crook County, last year’s IMC girls champion with 151 points, figures to score heavily in the throws, led by 2021 shot put champion Grace Brooks and last year’s discus and javelin champ, Josie Kasberger.
The Dalles girls will be led by Zoe Dunn, who is top-ranked in the long jump and ranked second in the triple jump. Dunn also is a key part of the Riverhawks’ 4x100 relay, which ranks No. 1 in the conference as does The Dalles’ 4x400 relay. Dunn won the long jump at the 2021 IMC finals. The Riverhawks’ relay teams include Maisie Bandel-Ramirez, Amyrah Hill, Madelyn Harrison, and Lilly Adams running the 4x400 (4:20.76 season best). Dunn, Hill, Harrison, and Adams team up for the 4x100.
Pendleton is favored to win the boys team title, while The Dalles and Hood River should have a handful of athletes contend for individual district crowns — and spots in the 5A state meet. The Dalles boys are led by senior sprinter Jaxon Pullen, the defending 100 and 200 champion, distance runner Juan Diego Contreras, who won the 1500 and 3000 a year ago, and Taylor Morehouse, the 5A state leader in the pole vault.
Hood River’s top qualifiers are junior jumper Shaw Burns (ranked first in the triple and top eight in the 100 and long jump) and junior distance runner Elliot Hawley, who is ranked third in the 1500 and 3000.
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