The "Run-Down": HRV (and Ridgefield Dual)

There were lots of events that presented themselves as discouraging obstacles for not having the race at Hood River. Air Quality concerns from the Eagle Creek Fire that lasted for 2 weeks. I-84 closure for that two weeks. A landslide on SR-14 early in the morning on race day. HRV on lockdown that same morning.

Well, the heavy rains three days prior cleared out the air; I-84 did open for West-Bound traffic; the SR-14 landslide was minor and removed quickly that morning; the lockdown was resolved and hardly anyone outside of Hood River knew about it. So the race was ON!

We were concerned about the intense rain we encountered near Beacon Rock, but the rain subsided by the time we arrived and the sun broke through the clouds for some races. The Middle School girls race found a host of Panthers in the top ten half way through the race. Eighth grader Abigail Wall led the way down the hill onto the Indian Creek Trail, where the runners disappear for five plus minutes. “Disappear” is an ironic term as seventh graders Sydnee Boothby and Chloe Johnson entered the trail system in third and fifth place, but suspiciously were not in the top ten as they approached the finish. They somehow detoured onto the golf course and took an extra tour of the HRV campus, probably adding almost and extra mile. Thanks to fine performances from seventh grader Sparky Warta (5th) and our experienced eighth graders, the team escaped with a 3 point win over the host team. Abigail slipped to second place while Paige Maas (7th), Lillian Mucha (8th), Mary Lendvoyi (17th) and Elizabeth Lendvoyi (18th) were the Panther girls that made sure we took home the winner’s plaque.

Our Middle School boys finished a solid second of the six teams attending. Team leader eighth grader Gavin Keyser led the way placing 6th, but our next 6 runners were seventh graders: Blake Mattern (8th), Trey Keyser (9th), Travis Gibson (23rd), Alex Holden (28th), Adan Magana (29th) and Carson Holmes (30th). Noteworthy improvement performances included that of Trey and eighth grader Ezekiel Cerling-Austin, who sprinted down the homestretch of the track with great finishing from!

For the HS girls race, stating that junior Amelia Pullen stole the show would be an understatement. She took the lead just short of the mile mark on this “very Black Course” and never looked back, finishing in 20:12, 57 seconds in front of the next runner and some 23 seconds under the course record set last year (actually the course this year was lengthened slightly as well to make it exactly 5K, in addition to the trails being sloppy due to the recent rains). Freshman Meryl Keeler and junior Brooklyn Bausch landed in 20th and 21st spots, sophomore Morgan Stinchfield ran a solid race in 27^th and senior Alexis Maniscalco gutted out the last loop with significant knee pain in 31st place to round out our scoring five. We tied with Ridgefield for 4th place, but got the nod against them based on our sixth runner (senior Bekah Shilling). However, based on the dual meet scoring, the Panthers came up short by 3 points against the Spudders. Later on in the meet, our two Future Varsity girls, both sophomores, came through with flying colors: Kaylee Timmons captured third place and Denise Lara nearly matched her “Orange Course” time from last week!

The Panther boys managed to extend their winning streak to double digits, the first time either gender has done so in my coaching stint in Pantherville. Junior Gabriel Dinnel continues to build a reputation as a big meet runner as he notched another victory (3 of his 4 career wins have been at invitationals). Classmate Troy Prince-Butterfield managed to earn another top 10 finish award (7th), but the reason the team was the winner against Ridgefield as well as the overall race was our ferocious pack in places 12-14. Senior Tanner Lees pulled away from junior Ian Palmer and freshman Jonathan Wells the last 150 meters as he was attempting to chase down Ridgefield’s Miles Bethel.

Our Future Varsity boys placed third as juniors Koy Chaston and Andrew McElhaney took home awards for 8th and 10th place. Several Panthers in this race posted noteworthy improvement performances as they ran less than a minute slower compared to last week’s orange course: senior Quinn Austin, sophomore Derek Lawton and freshman Ted West. Nice job on such an impressive accomplishment!

Our next meet is in Woodland against Woodland HS and Hockinson on September 27th.

Coach Terry L. Howard

Here are the line scores:

Varsity Boys		1 Mile	2 Miles	5000 M
Gabriel	1^st	5:02	10:38	17:27.2
Troy	7^th	5:21	11:13	18:33.6
Tanner	12^th	5:34	11:40	18:58.0
Ian	13^th	5:37	11:35	19:00.6	P.R. Black
Jonathan	14^th	5:35	11:41	19:01
Jackson	22^nd	5:40	11:53	19:26.2
Caden	35^th	5:53	12:25	20:41.4	P.R. Black
	of 50

Future Varsity
Koy	8^th	5:46	12:18	20:30.3
Andrew	10^th	5:53	12:30	20:38.3
Warren	11^th	6:12	12:49	20:39.1
Sam	14^th	6:07	13:02	21:16.0	P.R. Black
Andres	23^rd	6:20	13:24	21:56.7
Derek	24^th	6:25	13:30	21:57.0	P.R. Black
Hayden	27^th	6:26	13:42	22:03.5	P.R. Black
Ethan	28^th	6:26	13:41	22:08.8	P.R. Black
Ted	31^st	6:56	13:44	22:22.2
Maddox	42^nd	6:27		23:54.3	P.R. Black
Sage	43^rd	7:00	14:46	23:55.9
Trent	47^th	6:43	14:52	24:30.0
Carson	48^th	7:10	15:00	25:07.4
Scott	49^th	6:55	14:51	25:08.9
Brett	57^th	7:25	15:56	26:27.0
Quinn	62^nd	7:34	16:14	27:07.0
	of 74

Varsity Girls				5000 M
Amelia	1^st	5:59	12:22	20:12.0	C.R.
Meryl	20^th	6:43	14:21	23:41.5	P.R. Black
Brooklyn	21^st	6:47	14:32	23:57.4
Morgan	27^th	6:57	14:48	25:24.5
Alexis	31^st	6:59	14:59	25:01.3
Bekah	36^th	7:01	15:17	25:21.3
Annabelle	37^th	7:03	15:10	25:38.7
	of 43

Future Varsity
Kaylee	5^th	7:18	15:25	25:31.0
Denise	14^th	8:20	17:48	29:43.8
	of 40