20-year-old record falls at Champoeg Invitational

The 18:07 finish is also a personal best for Dickinson.

“She broke away from the lead pack by 10 seconds in the final mile and never looked back,” said Hood River Valley head coach Brandon Bertram.

At the invitational on Oct. 12, the girls won the team competition with a final point total of 53 points, which was 40 points ahead of second place Aloha, who had 93 final points.

HRV also outlasted some of the state’s best competition, beating fifth ranked Crescent Valley (128, third place) and third ranked North Salem (166, fourth place).

“The competition was strong this year with several teams ranked in the top-10 in the 4A, 5A and 6A divisions,” said Bertram. “From the gun, the top five Eagles scoring runners asserted themselves in the top 20 of the 180-runner field.”

Evelyne Nunez and Brinna Weiseth raced in an “impressive” final mile to record sixth and ninth place, respectively.

The lone eagle senior, Nunez, broke the 19-minute barrier for the first time of her career with a time of 18:59, while the freshman, Weiseth, finished with a final time of 19:08.

Lottie Bromham ran an “inspiring race” for 16th place followed closely by Chloe Bullock, the final scorer in 21st place.

The victory for the Eagles made it a third consecutive season that the girls have won this meet.

This season, the girls have won four meets: Ultimook Race Invitational, IMC Preview, Nike Portland XC and Champoeg Invitational.

The boys also competed at the Champoeg Invitational and finished ninth overall out of 20 teams.

“These boys are beginning to show strong performances by their front runners as the remaining scorers improve each week,” said Bertram.

Josh Haynes placed third in a personal best time of 16:06, followed by Omar Quintana’s personal best time of 16:27 for eighth.

Joshua Humann continued his impressive season with a 39th place finish. Marshal Bailey and Fernando Rodriguez finished the eagles scoring in 95th and 100th.

A majority of the Eagles’ runners will finish their season at the Intermountain Conference championship meet in Prineville on Oct. 24.

The varsity teams will look to advance to the state meet by placing in the top two out of the six schools participating at the IMC championship meet.

“The girls team looks to be heavily favored ahead of the conference championship,” said Bertram, “while the boys will be racing tight with The Dalles and Crook County.”