Ridgeview girls, Summit boys win
Published 5:00 am Sunday, April 21, 2013
LA PINE — Midway through the track and field season, the Ridgeview girls are becoming comfortable at the top of the team standings.
The Ravens stayed hot at the La Pine Invitational on Saturday, riding eight first-place finishes en route to 1591⁄2 points, topping Summit’s 152 to take the win in the 14-team field.
“We definitely are starting to hit our stride,” Ridgeview coach Rachel Hinze said. “Amazing standouts from some solid girls that have just continued to perform well week after week, meet after meet.”
Reid Stroup and Hosanna Wilder led the way for the Ravens. Stroup won the 200-meter dash in 27.04 seconds while also running the anchor leg of the winning 400-meter relay team and the first leg of the top 1,600 relay squad. Wilder took the high jump and long jump — setting a personal best in the former event with a leap of 5 feet, 3 inches — and was a part of the first-place 400 relay group.
“We enjoy the field we get to compete against,” Hinze said. “It definitely helps us perform and gives us what we need to stay up there and keep going for PRs and things of that nature.”
Tess Nelson won the 1,500-meter run to pace the Storm while taking second in the 3,000 to teammate Veronique Calmels. Culver was third with 611⁄2 points, led by Lori Sandy, who claimed top honors in the triple jump and long jump. Tefna Mitchell-Hoegh logged Redmond High’s lone girls win, a first-place showing in the 800, to guide the Panthers to fourth place with 501⁄2 points.
La Pine finished ninth, led by Brittnie Haigler’s second-place finish in the triple jump, and Gilchrist was 11th thanks to Paige Kooker and Ashley James, who finished 2-3 in the discus. Elle Renault was third in the long jump for Madras, which took 14th overall.
Summit edged out the Hawks in the boys team standings, 120-112. Redmond placed third (93 points), Ridgeview was fourth (83) and Class 1A Lowell took fifth (51) to round out the top five.
The Storm, who also had athletes at the Oregon Relays on Saturday, had no multiple event winners at the La Pine Invitational but recorded top-five finishes in all but two events. Matthew Sjogren and James Bowlin went 1-2 in the 1,500 to pace Summit. Riley Shelton added a victory in the discus.
La Pine rode another strong performance from Jeremy Desrosiers to second place. The senior standout won the 200 and long jump and helped the Hawks take first in the 400- and 1,600-meter relays.
The Panthers boasted four winners Saturday in Anthony Gonzales (100), Josue Nieves (shot), Jeffrey Bierman (pole vault) and John Hickey (300 hurdles). Zane Anderson led Gilchrist, which was 11th with 16 points, with a second-place showing in the shot put. Dillon Link finished third in the discus.
Other area athletes that took first were Culver’s Kyle Belanger (400), Ridgeview’s Brennan Buckley-Noonan (3,000) and Madras’ Brent Sullivan (high jump).