Riverhawk boys, girls both second at district meet

THE DALLES — The MVP of The Dalles High School’s track and field team this season might be a slightly unconventional choice, but some solid arguments could be made for a couple of people.

Team trainer? Local orthopedic physician? Or, how about the inventor of Shoe Goo? More on those candidates in a bit. First, know this about the Riverhawks:

• They filled 23 of the Tri-Valley Conference’s qualifying berths into the 2026 OSAA Class 4A state track and field meet based on last week’s district meet results in Molalla.

• They won nine district championships between the boys and girls, both of which finished second to host Molalla in the team competition. Molalla’s girls won with 110 points to the 94 by The Dalles. The Riverhawk boys scored 97 points, while Molalla had 129.

“It’s been since the ‘90s since The Dalles has won a district championship and we were aiming for that,” said Jill Pearson, who co-coaches the Riverhawks along with Aaron Long. “The girls came close. The kids gave it their all, pushing towards that collective goal of scoring points for the team and for each other.”

The Dalles had visions of bringing home the championship trophy — something the school hasn’t done since Bob Thouvenel was the head coach (his hair was less gray and Y2K was still deemed a serious enough of an issue to command gobs of federal dollars). The championship party will have to wait for at least another season, but there was plenty to celebrate at the district meet for Riverhawk faithful just the same.

Starting with the boys, who have finished second three of the past four years in the culminating Tri-Valley district meet. Senior Derek Goulart successfully defended his high jump title, and he also was second behind teammate David McCracken in the 100 and 200 meters.

Pearson said: “Some of the most exciting ones were the ones that up until a few weeks before district we weren’t entirely sure about … It’s always kind of extra gratifying the less certain it is … They were awesome.”

Goulart eased into the spring after suffering a nagging ankle sprain during basketball season. McCracken, on the other hand, was all in — that is until he fractured his arm just prior to the season opener and was only cleared medically to compete in the team’s final regular season meet May 8.

Goulart ran either season or personal bests at district. McCracken also stood atop the podium along with the rest of his 4x400 relay teammates — Noah Preston, Patrick Rankin, and Tyson Long. They combined to run the meet’s final event in 3 minutes, 30.9 seconds. Rankin was responsible for bringing Lyman Van Vliet into the team’s MVP mix (yes, someone actually invented Shoe Goo).

Bell explained: “Patrick Rankin literally ran his shoes apart at district; ran so hard that they split — the sole from the rest of the shoe.”

Long competed on much more stable footing, as evidenced by his runner-up finishes in the 1500 and 800; Preston won the 400, and he was fourth in the 200; and Rankin was second in the 400 and the 300 hurdles. Junior Tyler Irving added a second-place finish (and state berth) in the 110 hurdles. The other state spot earned by The Dalles was the runner-up effort of the 4x100 relay of McCracken, Goulart, Rankin, and Preston.

Also placing in the top eight at district were: Asa Waller, fifth, 400, and sixth, javelin; Steven Chavez, eighth, 800, eighth, pole vault; Lazarus Taylor, sixth, 1500 (4:17.12 PR) and fourth 3000 (9:25.35 PR); Luke Sorenson, sixth, 3000; Aiden Erickson, seventh, 3000; Maurice Collins, seventh, 110 hurdles; Talitonu Fanene, seventh, shot put, and eighth, javelin; Adam Trosper, seventh, discus; Mason Morehouse, third, pole vault; and London Leitz, sixth, triple jump, and eighth, long jump.

The Dalles girls, who had five top-ranked TVC athletes, won four district titles. Sophomore Willow Ziegenhagen won the javelin, placed second in the high jump, and third in the 200. Distance runner Flamingo Duyck won the 800-meter run and she was fourth in the 300 hurdles. Evelyn Rogers won the shot put, was fourth in the discus, and she placed second in the javelin behind teammate Ziegenhagen. Senior Laura Black won the pole vault, was sixth in the 800 and ran relay legs on the Riverhawks’ state qualifying 4x100 and 4x400 teams.

The longer relay of Black, Ebony Mondragon, Duyck and Ziegenhagen was second behind champion Madras in 4:18.60. Gabriela Dominguez Bahena, Mondragon, Riley Stocks, and Laura Black ran 51.08 in the shorter relay and placed third. Mondragon, on fresh legs, added a lifetime best — by a couple of feet — of 32-5.25 to place second in the triple jump. Dominguez Bahena also was third in the 100 (PR 12.87 in the prelims) and fifth in the 200. Stocks was seventh in the 100.

Also placing in the top eight at district for the Riverhawk girls were: Noraya Gallegos, fourth, triple jump; Alondra Romero, fourth, pole vault, fifth, high jump, and seventh, 400 (PR 1:03.49 in prelims); Rozlyn Elliott, third, high jump (and a wild carder to state); Bryce Newby, sixth, javelin; Josie Brace, seventh, 300 hurdles, and fifth, 400; Lillen Vaught, seventh, 100 hurdles; and Abigail Pope, who was third in the 3000 (11:43.07 PR) and fourth in the 1500.

“The season has just been full of a lot of really fun surprises,” Pearson said. “We’re excited to see what happens at state.”