The "Run-Down": Hockinson @ Hockinson Meadows

 

Hockinson Meadows is almost our home course, as many times as we have run on it since I have been coaching the Panthers. We didn't need a course map, in fact, none were provided. The gusty wind threw the racing cones around on the course as well as an occasional dust cloud through the start/finish area with noteworthy force. But the top three Panther boys blew past the Hawks with even more force in the second half of the race. An ultimately determined Junior Thomas Normandeau led the charge to the finish line, being encouraged by Seniors Sean Eustis and Isaac Stinchfield just a few steps behind. The "Three-Sweep" secured the win for the Panthers for 4th or 5th year in a row.

 

The back-up crew produced a host of significant black course PR's for the day. Had the wind been light, the PR's would have been tremendous. Led by Sophomore Jacob Bowen in that category, he even smashed his orange course PR by 20 seconds, and moved up to runner #6. Freshman Taylor Leifsen continued his improving ways and also bested his orange course PR by a few seconds. Freshman Collin Manning squeezed out a 1:17 PR for a back course while entering our scoring five for the first time. Junior Aaron Dunn (21:00) was also very impressive as he man-handled the course that dominated him two years prior. Sophomore Nicolas Velardi was our standard 4th runner of the day, mixing it up with the vastly improved Hockinson top 7.

 

For the girls, there was a little concern at the 1/2 mile point as the Hockinson gals took the pace out hard. At that point, the Hawks had the upper hand. But by the mile point, the Panthers took their dominating positions in the race and raced to the first win against them in five years. Sophomore Karina Miller continued her winning ways with an "easy victory". When heading into the wind, she intentionally slowed down to allow Hawks' leader Malia Caswell to pass, but like playing "Old Maid", Karina was stuck with the lead. The last half mile, Karina pulled away with ease by nearly 30 seconds.

 

Although Karina secured the individual win, our pack of Panthers gave the team its 5th straight league victory by finishing 3rd, 5th, 6th, 8th, 9th and 10th. Junior Paige Roberts was the next Panther across the finish line, with Freshman Yaneli Martinez (recently reactivated from the injured/reserve list) close behind. Fellow freshman Meredith Collins equaled her Orange PR on this Black Course (not easy to do) as she moved up to the 4th runner on the team this week. Junior Hannah Wright ran with her legs just about as her nose was running on this day as our fifth runner, while her classmates Megan Anderson and Brooke Croeni battled it out on the kick for our remaining team of seven. Megan's time of 24:05 was a lifetime best on any course.

 

Even though our next two girls finished out of the scoring, their performances were more than noteworthy. Junior Sydney Hickey decide to run more than a minute faster than her black course PR and fellow Junior Serene Dunn broke twenty six minutes for the first time on any course! This girls team is finding out that all of these girls can run quite well! The coaching staff can't wait to see what this girls can do on a fast Orange course.

 

Next week holds a double meet schedule with Thursday against Ridgefield and then Saturday at one of our favorite meets - the Adidas Classic and Fernhill Park in NE Portland. More success is heading our way.

  

Coach Terry L. Howard

 

Here are the line scores:

 

Varsity Boys

 

Mile 1

Mile 2

5000 M

 

Thomas

1st

5:50

12:04

18:21

P.R. Black

Sean

2nd

6:00

12:04

18:22

 

Isaac

3rd

5:50

12:09

18:23

Nicolas

7th

5:51

12:17

19:00

P.R. Black

Collin

12th

6:00

12:45

19:24

P.R. Black

Jacob B

14th

6:24

13:14

20:00

 

Anthony

15th

6:18

12:53

20:09

P.R. Black

Blake

16th

6:05

13:02

20:15

P.R. Black

Bailey

17th

5:53

12:45

20:16

 

Rusty

19th

6:18

13:30

20:59

 

Darian

22nd

6:25

13:35

20:59

 

Aaron

23rd

6:24

13:40

21:00

P.R. Black

Taylor

24th

6:20

13:47

21:08

P.R. Any!

Jacob S

27th

6:25

14:10

22:30

P.R. Black

Jordon

30th

7:01

15:20

23:20

P.R. Black

 

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Varsity Girls

 

 

 

 

 

Karina

1st

7:03

14:40

22:13

P.R. Black

Paige

3rd

7:15

15:05

23:09

P.R. Black

Yaneli

5th

7:18

15:10

23:25

 

Meredith

6th

7:20

15:34

23:41

P.R. Black

Hannah

8th

7:15

15:25

23:45

 

Megan

9th

7:30

15:35

24:05

P.R. Any!

Brooke

10th

7:30

15:45

24:06

P.R. Black

Sydney

12th

7:53

16:26

25:16

P.R. Black

Serene

13th

7:53

16:59

25:57

P.R. Any!

 

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