Small schools thrive at The Dalles track meet

The invite at the Wahtonka track complex was the season opener for all 16 teams attending, but partly sunny and lower-than-normal Gorge wind speeds led to numerous personal best times and marks.

Athletes from the Lyle girls and Horizon boys teams won two events apiece. Lyle’s Hannah Lind won the girls 100-meter high hurdles in a personal-best 19.47 seconds. She also finished in a three-way tie for first in the high jump with teammate Hannah Beeks and Glenwood’s Allison McFall, as each cleared 4 feet, 2 inches. On the boys side, Lyle senior Aaron Smith was second in the long jump at 18-7, was second in the triple at 38-2 and third in the javelin at 139-10. Teammate Kyler Henderson finished in a three-way tie for third in the high jump at 5-2.

Horizon Christian’s two individual event winners were senior Alex Whitaker and junior Caleb Yuan. Whitaker won the shot put in a personal-best, 42 feet, 9 inches. He later finished second in the discus. Yuan won the 300-meter intermediate hurdles in a PR 47.10 seconds. Earlier in the meet he ran a leg on Horizon’s third-place (behind The Dalles and Umatilla) 400 relay.

The Hawks also had the runner-up in the boys high jump in freshman Markeith Harris, who cleared 5-4 on his third attempt. Another top mark for Horizon was by junior Maxwell Al’Rubrie, who was fifth in the shot put at 37-4. Senior teammate Josiah Sohal was sixth in the 1500 in 4 minutes, 46.55 seconds and also later ran a 56-second 400 leg on Horizon’s third place 1600 relay. Senior Josh Rogers anchored the Hawks’ short relay to third place and finished second in the long jump at 18-0.5.

Horizon’s girls team was led by senior Augustina Decker, who finished fourth in both the 1500 and 800. Her 1500 time of 5:55.74 was a high school personal best.

Sherman High was led by sophomore thrower Sophie Hulke, who won the discus at 98-2.5, was second in the shot put (32-2.5) and third in the javelin (99-11). Her discus and javelin marks were personal bests. The girls javelin was a small school showcase, as Klickitat’s Chloe Wenz won with a personal best 121-7, while Dufur’s Brooke Beachamp was second at 109 feet (also a personal record). Wenz was also third in the triple jump with a best of 27-6.5.

Dufur did not have any individual winners but the Rangers, one of the team favorites to win the girls 1A District 3 championship in May, were well represented among top eight individual event finishers. Abby Beal was second in the long jump at 15-0.5 and fifth in both the 100 and 200. Teammate Hayley Peterson was third in the shot (31-0.5) and fourth in the discus (77-11) — both personal-best marks. Ashley Bailey was fifth in the both the shot and discus.

The Dufur boys were led by thrower Jacob Jones and sprinter/jumper Marshal McLaughlin. Jones was fourth in all three throws, all with personal-best marks: shot, 37-6.25; discus 104-5.5; and javelin 133-1. McLaughlin was sixth in the 100 at 12.18, fifth in the 200 at 25.10, and sixth in the triple jump with a best mark of 33-6.75.

Gynl Duke of Trout Lake won the girls pole vault at 8-0 to lead the vault-happy Mustangs. Frosh Sawyer Dean was second in the boys vault with a PR mark of 11-6, and junior teammate Landon Heberling was third at 10-0.