Tillman’s sprints highlight HRV performances

Tillman finished third in the 400 meters in a personal best 1 minute, 0.32 seconds and was fifth in the 200 in 26.59 at the 16-team meet, which featured some of the state’s largest high schools. She also ran a leg on HRV’s 4x400 relay which raced to a 4:30.53 clocking, good enough for fourth place. Tillman combined with Alex Bronson, Cristine Kinoshita, and Maeve Woodruff in the four-lap race.

HRV Coach Brandon Bertram said the Eagles continue to try athletes at different events, as many of them are newcomers to the sport.

“We’re so young and a lot of kids have never done this before,” he said. “The opportunity for growth is where it’s never been.

“The big thing for us (at this meet) was to try and fill every event. This week we’re going to try some fringe events with some kids.”

Hood River is hosting a six-team meet Thursday with field events beginning at 3:30 p.m.

Other top finishes for the HRV girls at Lake Oswego included the 4-foot-8 high jump by senior Lauren Griggs, who placed fifth. Lilliana Wyers was sixth in the triple jump with a personal-best mark of 30-5.75, and Sylvaine Farr was seventh in the pole vault with a PR 7-6 mark.

Hood River’s girls team was 11th with 23.5 points. Other non-scoring marks by Eagles during the rainy, twilight meet on LOHS’s six-lane track, came from: Junior Jacy Johnston, who had personal bests in the 100 (14.39) and triple jump (27-4.5), in addition to running a leg on HRV’s 4x100 relay;  junior Phoebe Wood, who ran a PR in the 800 (2:39.07) along with her 5:28.86 1500; Annika Trainer, who ran the 300 low hurdles in 55.1; senior distance runners Mikelle Stasak and Mieka McKnight, who raced to a photo finish in 13th and 14th place (12:43.08 to 12:43.17) in the 3000; and Lauraine Smith, who jumped 14-11 in the long jump.

The Hood River boys were seventh in the team standings with 37 points. Ten of those points came from sophomore pole vaulter Micah Castro, whose one-foot PR at 10-feet bested the 13-vaulter field. The Eagles scored 16 points in the vault, as Castro’s teammate Robert Wood cleared 9-0 for third.

Bertram said the slender Castro forgot his track singlet, so he had to borrow a thrower’s much-larger uniform. “He was the winner of the elements,” the coach said of the rainy competition. “He had his two towels to keep his things dry. He’s probably 5-foot-8, 115 pounds soaking wet and he’s out there winning the vault.”

Shaw Burns added eight team points with his personal record — by almost four feet — in the triple jump at 41-7, good enough for second place. Burns was busy in the long jump, with a mark of 18-11.5 (sixth place), and 100 (11.99). He also ran the anchor leg on HRV’s 10th place 4x100 relay (46.25).

Hood River’s distance runners represented themselves well, as Elliott Hawley doubled in the 1500 (4:18.67, sixth) and later ran a personal-best 2:04.96 in the 800. His two-lap run was a second faster than sophomore teammate Jackson Bullock (2:05.28) — they finished seventh and eighth for the Eagles. William Bunch added two team points with this seventh place in the 3000 in 9:13.77.