It seems hardly a week has gone by this season without the track stars at Hood River Valley School smashing some school record, and this past week was no different.
Three runners are now the proud holders of school records, in addition to other honors. After breaking Ocean Kuykendall’s 1994 record in the 200-meter dash the previous week, Jestena Mattson broke Kuykendall’s 1994 school record of 12.22 seconds in the 100 after Matson ran a 12.01 in the Nike/Jesuit Twilight Relays in Portland on Friday, which was good for second in the race. Also competing at the meet was thrower Sebastian Barajas, who didn’t break any school records this week, but beat a field of nearly 50 competitors to take first in the shot put (throw of a 56 feet, 2 inches) and a similar-sized field in discus, which he also won with a throw of 174-04.
Meanwhile, at the Dean Nice Invite in Gresham, Parker Kennedy placed first in pole vault with an attempt of 15-9 breaking Bill Jones’ record of 15-8 that was set in 1995. The vault puts him at No. 3 in the entire state for the event. Kennedy also had a good day in the high hurdles, winning with at time of 15.69, his fastest mark of the season in the event.
Wrapping up the HRV record smashing was mid-distance runner Emily Viuhkola, who won the 400 with a time of 58.38, breaking the previous record of 58.44 set in 2010 by Lauren Lloyd. That time now puts Viuhkola at No. 8 overall in the state for the event.
Another performance of note came from freshman Gabriel Campos-Davis, who despite getting seeded in the “slow heat” of the 400, won the event in a blistering 52.36, breaking his previous personal record (which he set last week) by nearly two seconds.
Overall, the boys team finished second out of 14 teams and the girls finished 10th out of 13. There will be no Columbia River Conference “Last Chance” Meet as the schedule indicates; HRV will next compete at the CRC District Championships May 13 and 15 in The Dalles with events starting at 3:30 p.m.
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