Hood River Valley junior Elliot Hawley and sophomore Simone Tillman raced to runner-up finishes Friday at the Dean Nice Invitational track and field meet — Hawley in his specialty, Tillman in her newfound specialty. And, just for good measure, Tillman tossed in a first place in her old specialty.
The Eagles were among the 16 teams competing at the meet at Gresham High School in weather conditions far better than many days this cold, wet spring. “We hadn’t been there in a few years; it was fun to be back,” Coach Brandon Bertram said. “You know it’s that time of the year when you start popping a little bit. And we did … we got decent weather, 55, overcast, no wind. It’s a fun time of year.”
Popping as in peaking and Hawley, Tillman and the rest of the Eagles appear to be on pace to do just that — especially if Friday’s meet is any indication. Tillman definitely piqued the interest of her coaches. “We confirmed that Simone Tillman is mighty quick,” Bertram said.
Tillman won the 100 meters in a personal best 12.77 seconds and later finished second in the 300-meter low hurdles in another PR, 47.41. Tillman continues to own the top marks in the 100, 200 and 400 meters in the Intermountain Conference and is now second in the low hurdles (having raced at that distance three times — all this season).
Hawley was second in the 3000 meters in 9 minutes, 1.53 seconds, just a little more than a second off his PR in the race.
“Maeve Woodruff and Phoebe Wood are really tough competitive runners” Bertram said. “The same with Elliot Hawley and Mr. Jackson Bullock — he had a good 3K as well.”
Bullock raced to a PR of 9:12.96 and finished fourth in the 3000. Wood, a junior, was sixth in the girls 3000 in 11:13.62, the fastest time by seven seconds in the IMC this spring. Woodruff one-upped her teammate by recording the fastest-ranked IMC time in two races at Dean Nice. The sophomore was fourth the 1500 in 5:02.76 and sixth in the 800 in 2:26.37.
“This is a luxury to have the athletes we do have,” Bertram said of his team. “With Simone she has picked up the hurdles; really enjoys that event. She’s always watching and willing to learn something new, incredibly opened minded and really, really coachable.”
Last year at this time, Tillman started tinkering with the pole vault — much to the chagrin of HRV’s other specialty coaches — and went on to qualify for the Class 5A invitational state meet.
Other top marks and/or places Friday for the HRV boys included: William Bunch’s PR 4:18.23 1500 (fifth place); Shaw Burns’ 11.63 100 (seventh); Micah Castro’s 10-6 pole vault (fifth); and Titus Grimsley’s 16.95 PR in the 110 high hurdles.
The Eagles return to the track on Wednesday for a meet at Scappoose High along with Portland’s Parkrose High. “It’s looking to be a fun, competition couple of weeks,” Bertram said.
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