2020 Gorge Virtual Track & Field Invitational: The Dalles girls use field-event depth to take first-day lead over Hood River Columbia, Goldendale athletes also win individual titles

Johnson’s winning throw of 166-2 came on her last attempt, as the eight finalists took advantage of calm virtual-meet-day weather at Hood River Valley High School. Johnson’s throw to win the 2001 Class 5A state meet, 163-0, capped a sweep of the javelin crown all four of her high school years, and also would have been long enough to win the virtual title.

Johnson, who was ranked third in the nation her senior year in 2001, competed during an eight-year span when the Northwest was at the pinnacle of prep girls javelin throwing in the United States. From 1998 through 2005, Oregon produced the top female high school thrower in the nation four of those years and regularly dominated the top-10 rankings.

Washington was producing quality javelin throwers of its own in the earlier 2000s, including Lyle’s Lindsey Blaine, who finished second to Johnson in the virtual meet. Blaine, who was eighth in the 2008 US Olympic track and field trials after a stellar career at Purdue University, edged Stevenson’s Lisa Sohns by two inches, 155-6 to 155-4.

The Dalles scored 17 points in the javelin, as Elsherie Leata (class of 2006) and Courtney Bush (1995) were fifth and sixth. Leata was ranked 22nd in the nation in 2005, her junior year at The Dalles. That season Oregon had the 1-2-3-5 ranked prep girls javelin throwers. Leading the way was then national record holder and future Olympian Rachel Yurkovich of Newberg (class of 2005), who held the high school best at the time of 176-5.

Johnson also reached the 170-foot mark — though after high school; her freshman best of 175-5 remains the all-time throw (new javelin) in the Brigham Young University record book.

Bolstered by its javelin points, The Dalles took a 4.5-point lead over Hood River Valley after the first day of the girls competition. The Eagles had one champion on the opening day, multi-event phenom Jestena Mattson in the high jump. Mattson, the HRV school recordholder in three events, eased into the virtual meet by jumping 5-foot-7, one inch higher than Debbie Smith of The Dalles.

Mattson (class of 2015) was a four-time state of Oregon track champion, winning the Class 5A 100 and 200 her junior and senior years. She recently completed her collegiate career at Fresno State University, where she was a two-time All-American heptathlete and four-time conference champion. Mattson is continuing her track career, with a goal of qualifying for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France. (She also is favored to win the virtual meet 100 and 200 and is listed among the six Eagle 4x100 relay entrants.)

The final field event the first day was the long jump, which saw a 1-2 finish by two of south-central Washington’s best athletes of all-time. With the other field events complete, many of the first-day competitors hung around and surrounded the HRV long jump pit to watch Columbia’s MaryAnn Graves flirt with one of the event’s holy grails for females — 20 feet. Graves had a foot-fault on her third attempt, which appeared beyond that mark, and eventually settled for a winning effort of 19-8. (Graves brushed off media requests for interviews after the event, saying she needed to get in some high hurdle drills before the track was cleared for the meet’s final event, the 3000 meters.)

Graves had the best state-meet marks of any classification in Washington the two years she won the state title — each year at 19-1. Her best her senior season in 2001 (19-8) was the 14th best girls long jump mark in the nation that year.

Graves won the virtual meet long jump by a foot over runner-up Jill Primley of Goldendale. Primley brought two sets of track singlets to the virtual meet — one representing the maroon and gold of the Klickitat Vandals her frosh and sophomore years, as well as the purple and gold of Goldendale High, which she attended as a junior and senior. Her second-place mark of 18-7.25 was three inches better than third-place finisher, Kristi Miller of The Dalles.

The stadium lights were turned on for the day’s only track event, as the finalists for the girls 3000 paraded out from behind the west grandstand to the Chariots of Fire theme song (at the request of HRV coach Brandon Bertrand). The distance race field included three runners from both HRV and The Dalles, but it was Goldendale’s Carissa Seward who stole the show.

The three-time Class A/B (smallest schools) state cross country champion had her distance running career cut short by health issues, but her prep legacy ranks among the state of Washington’s all-time greats. Her 1987 cross country time of 17:04 for three miles was the fastest of any classification at the state meet. On the track, Seward’s 1988 3200-meter winning time of 10:32.9 remains the second-fastest ever in the Class 1A ranks at state. Only Stacey Brown of Omak has run faster at the state meet at that level; Brown ran 10:28.5 a year after Seward.

Tensions were high before the virtual 3000, as honorary starter Jim Puckett (the Cove comet) twice had to recall the runners — once after a false start, and a second time after some first-turn jostling forced three runners to step off the inside of the track. Hood River’s Christie Paul set a blistering pace early (as was her racing style), which quickly strung out the 3000 field.

Paul, the 2001 state cross country champion, also was a multiple district champion in track at Hood River. She later was an Academic All-Ivy League cross country runner at Cornell University. HRV’s distance depth allowed Paul to focus only on the longer race in the virtual meet. Noticeably absent from the field, but an interested observer nonetheless, was Mandi Fitz-Gustafson. The multi-state champion runner from The Dalles was a late scratch, deciding (as, not surprisingly, a coach would) to focus on the difficult 800-1500 double later in the virtual meet in order to score more team points.

Seward shadowed Paul for five laps before taking control with a 74-second 400 on lap six to build a 10-meter margin. Seward won comfortably in 9:49.48, and appeared fresh at the finish, striding out another 200 meters afterward. Paul was second in 10:09.6, three seconds ahead of teammates Frances Dickinson and Erin Jones. The 19 team points in the race gave Hood River 44.5 for the meet, enabling the Eagles to close the gap on first-day leader, The Dalles.

(Next issue: Day one of the boys virtual meet.)