The delay gave just enough time to reflect on JV districts, in a nearly as humid Gladstone on Monday night. Freshman Rokiah Notbohm led from the gun in the 800 and 1500m, winning at 3:11 and 6:30, while cross country teammate and fellow freshman Noah Preston won the hurdle races with PRs of 18.36 (110m) and 46.19 (300m). The freshman distance boys represented well in the 800m and 3000 particularly, with Gabriel Castillo Quintana finishing at 2:23 and Aiden Nunez with a PR at 2:26. Josef Lutz and Angel Garza pulled the notorious double of 3000 and 4:400 (the events are back to back, at the very end of the meet), with both PR’ing in their relay splits.
Back in Madras, the weather finally cleared, and the podium opened for the thunderstruck varsity Riverhawks.
While the State qualifiers get- and will get- plenty of attention, it’s worth shouting out the third-place finishers at Districts- in some cases, excluded by a fraction of an inch or a hundredth of a second. Sophomore Hannah Adams, after pausing her pole vault for lightning on Friday, ended up vaulting 7 feet even (third), high jumping 4’6” (third), and was a tenth of a second off in the 100m hurdles (18.19). The 800 races were incredibly tight, with junior Ruby Jaimes Mora finishing with a PR at 2:38, and freshman Tyson Long getting boxed in to finish at 2:06, which still broke The Dalles’ freshman record for the event. Senior Leo Lemann finished his high school career with a 9:39 in the 3k, and was characteristically stoic after the event. “It’s not what I wanted, but I can still learn something from it,” remarked Tyson Long, speaking for his teammates as well.