Things are coming together for Hood River Valley’s girls track and field team, as it continues its march toward next month’s Intermountain Conference district meet. The Eagles are fine-tuning by mixing and matching some of the pieces to compete the puzzle.
That was evidenced last week when HRV hosted IMC foes Pendleton and The Dalles under a mix of rainy, drizzly, and windy conditions. The five-plus hour meet was held in conjunction with a middle school meet and didn’t end until the Henderson Stadium lights were on. Hood River had limited entries as they trained through the meet, but they still won five events and the boys won three.
Leading the way for the girls team was the Eagle distance crew, specifically senior Mikelle Stasak, who was third in the 1500 and fourth in the 3000 in personal-best times (5:38.17, 12:28.58). Teammate Sophie Kaden won the metric mile in 5:33.38, while Phoebe Wood took first in the 3000 in a PR 11:20.5. Wood edged HRV’s Maeve Woodruff by .17.
The depth and competitiveness of the Eagle distance crew will be key if Coach Brandon Bertram’s team is going to hoist the district championship trophy. Crook County figures to score heavily in the field events, specifically the throws, in the IMC finals. The Dalles and Pendleton each have big-meet points, but not as much depth at this point based on the recent district meet form chart (rankings).
Versatile sophomore Simone Tillman did her thing for the Eagles last week at home, winning the 100 meters and 300 intermediate hurdles. Tillman continues to be the district leader in the 100, 200 and 400.
HRV also had quality performances from junior Lilliana Wyers, whose PR in the 200 of 26.79 ranks her No. 2 in the IMC behind Tillman. She also was second in the triple jump at 30-6.25, which is a top 8 district mark. Junior Ximena Santillan was second in the 400 in 1:05.12 – that mark puts her into the top 8 in district, as well.
On the boys side, event winners were sophomore Jackson Bullock, junior Elliot Hawley, and junior Shaw Burns. Bullock raced to a personal-best time in the 800 meters of 2:04.3; Hawley won the 1500 in 4:16.96; Burns won the triple jump at 39-3.5.
Hood River took two distance medley teams to last weekend’s Oregon Relays at Eugene’s Hayward Field, site of the Class 5A state meet next month. The boys team of William Bunch, Kaiden Mitchell, Bullock and Hawley finished 18th in 10:55.99. The girls squad was 22nd in 13:15.82. Running on the girls team were Wood, Tillman, Kaden and Woodruff. The distance medley includes relay legs of 1200, 400, 800 and 1600 meters.
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