Sophomore sprinter Anna Schlosser was exhilarated Friday after winning the 400 meters going away.
“It’s my PR!” she said of the 60.40 time, putting her second in the conference “I’ve cut three seconds from the start of the season,” she said.
She also won her 200-meter heat in 26.33, putting her a split second behind teammate and Conference leader Jestina Mattson’s season best of 26.06.
Schlosser said the 400 “was fun but it’s really hard — at that last corner, it’s like ‘legs, go faster!’”
She trails Pendleton’s Sandra Torrers (59.28) in 400 standings. HRV’s Emily Thompson is third at 59.28.
Schlosser and her relay partners dealt with disappointment in the 4-by-100-meters, as Schlosser and Mattson dropped the baton on the final handoff, with HRV comfortably in the lead. Thompson and Zoe Peters ran the first two legs; the quartet went into the meet with the conference-best time of 50.30 seconds.
“It was mostly my fault because I left too early,” Mattson said.
“Normally we do better on our timing, but today was just off,” Schlosser said.
“I think it’s when everyone’s passing you on the stagger, and it feels like you need to get going,” Schlosser said.“Today was kind of a rushed thing, but we’re going to work on it. It’ll get there. I believe in it.”
(Schlosser and Mattsen rebounded in the 4-by-400 relay to win it with Thompson and senior Danae Burck Friday. Their 4:10 time was five seconds ahead of second-place Hermiston.)
Eagle athletes pointed to Friday’s meet as a chance to hone the mental part of track competition
“This is the first time we’ve competed against all the teams in our conference, so it’s good to see your competition from the district meet next week,” said senior Emily Thompson, who leads the conference in both the 100-meter hurdles (15.71) and 300-meter hurdles (45.74) events.
“I’m just starting to get mentally prepared for the district,” she said. “I need to work on my mental part of track. This gave me confidence for district.”
“It prepares us mentally,” senior runner Erik Gutierrez said after winning the 400 (51.83, tops in confrence). He went out strong and stayed in front.
“I just tried to think about working hard and maintaining that lead. I kept focusing and I beat him,” he said of Chris Behrendt of Hermiston. “Hard work pays off,” he said.
Said Mattson, “I’m pretty confident about the district meet; it’s just state that I’m uneasy about, because there’s only four teams in our district.”
She has competed in five events (relays, 100, 200, 400 and high jump) over the season but said her coaches are likely to have her focus on the high jump and 200 at state. Two weeks ago, she registered the second-best 200 time in the state.
Sophomore Wyatt Webber, (long jump and high jump) said the main goal Friday was: “You try to get a PR, and go into (district) knowing you’ll do well.”
He entered the 100-meters just to see how he would do, and won his heat in 11.72, putting him fifth this year in the conference and third on his team. Webber said he expects to be among the top two or three in the Eagle sprint field in 2013.
Webber was enjoying the sunny weather on Friday — and looking ahead.
“We’ve never really had a meet like this,” he said, “not having to fight the wind and rain. This has been really nice.”
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