Girls Recap: Kaylin Edwards Sweeps Hurdles For Wilson (Long Beach) And Bruins Pile On Points In Relays; Ellie Heslam and Roosevelt Defend 800 SMR Title

By Lori Shontz for DyeStat

Becky Holbrook photos

RESULTS/VIDEOS | INTERVIEWS

EUGENE - Hannah Huyler has been running with her twin, Chloe, for a long time. Over the miles and miles they’ve run and competed in together, Hannah has learned what her sister looks like when she’s feeling especially confident.

“I know when she’s locked in,” Hannah said.

When Chloe took the baton Saturday night for the anchor leg of the girls varsity DMR at the Oregon Relays, her Lakeridge team was in fifth place, about seven seconds behind the leader, J Serra Catholic of California. Yet Hannah saw that look and told her teammates, “She’s got her.”

And Chloe did.

First, she worked with two of the country’s other top high school distance runners, Addy Ritzenhein of Niwot and Sophia Rodriguez of Mercer Island WA, to reel in J Serra, which they accomplished with 500 to go. And then she tucked in behind Rodriguez for about half a lap before making her solo move with 200 remaining and giving Lakeridge the victory in 11:37.83, the third-fastest time in meet history.

Mercer Island finished second in 11:39.79, breaking the all-time Washington best, and Niwot CO finished third in 11:42.79.

“That was so fun,” said Chloe, who had won the mile Friday night and talked afterward about the work she’s done recently on her kick. “We’ve had so many battles in the past, and I’m kind of more confident in my last 200 than maybe she is. So I just knew with 300 to go that I had it.”

Huyler split 4:41 on the anchor carry; Rodriguez ran 4:44.

The Lakeridge runners said they were feeling confident heading into the race; their coach told them he thought they would win, and they agreed afterward that isn’t the kind of thing he usually says. But they appreciated it.

“He had faith in us,” Hannah said.

The runners know they have a strong anchor, and they considered their job for the first three legs to stay in position for Chloe to make her move. Lakeridge maintained fifth place through the first three legs – Hannah’s 1,200 meters, Margaux McCloskey’s 400 and Sigrid Brakenhielm's 800, which was only a second off of her PR.

Lincoln led after the 1,200-meter leg, and immediately afterward Mercer Island’s Lauren Balousek took control, running a 55.36-split on the 400-meter leg and giving her team a lead of more than five seconds heading into the third leg. Then J Serra Catholic’s Anne Elise Packard picked up the pace; her 800-meter leg of 2:12.12 gave anchor Chloe Elbaz a five-second cushion with 1,600 meters to go.

The pack chasing Elbaz included Ritzenhein, who finished fifth at NXN; Rodriguez, who finished eighth; and Chloe Huyler, who finished 20th. Rodriguez had won the 2-mile Friday night. Ritzenhein had finished third in the mile, behind Huyler and just ahead of Elbaz.

Huyler said the three of them worked together well, enabling them to catch Elbaz and setting up a thrilling finish. Huyler’s teammates were scrambling to see; at small meets, they’re able to get close enough to watch and cheer trackside at smaller meets, but here officials kept them off to the side, so they yelled while watching the giant Hayward Field video board.

All four runners are seniors, which they said made their victory that much better. “Our coach told us, you guys are going to win,” McCloskey said. “But to actually do it is crazy.”

In the individual girls events, two athletes were multiple winners.

Marissa Johnson of Tigard won the discus Saturday with a throw of 139-0 (42.38m), giving her three victories for the meet combined with her victories Friday in the shot put and hammer throw.

And Kaylin Edwards of Wilson (Long Beach) CA doubled in the hurdles, winning the 100 in 13.97, sipping some water and “putting my legs upside down,” and then winning the 300 in 42.48. She said she achieved her goal of attacking every hurdle in both races.

“I do this every day in practice,” she said. “So it’s no different.”

Edwards was also part of Wilson’s 4x100 relay victory in a season-best 47.16. Wilson also won the 4x200 relay in 1:39.44, more than four seconds ahead of the field, and the 4x800 relay in a meet record 9:18.90 when anchor Riley Jones outkicked the field with 200 to go.

Wilson piled up 160 total points between the boys and girls teams to win the co-ed team championship for the third year in a row.  

Roosevelt OR won the 800 SMR in another thrilling finish thanks to a strong anchor leg by Ellie Heslam, who was running her fifth event. Roosevelt’s time of 1:44.89 broke the meet record by more than four seconds.

“When you’re a 400 runner and you run 400s often, there’s always a lot more left than you think,” Heslam said. “So I was just going to dig in and do it.”

Chloe Symon of Lord Bing BC won the 800 in a season-best 2:10.68, and Iman Foster of Jesuit won the triple jump with the best jump in Oregon this season, 39-7.75 (12.08m).

Alexa Anderson of Tigard and Ava Enriquez of Shorewood WA tied for the pole vault victory at 12-11.50 (3.95m). They entered at the same height, had exactly the same number of misses and easily agreed that there was no need for a jump-off.

“I think by the end we just got really tired and decided we couldn’t jump anymore,” Enriquez said.

Added Anderson, “We compete together all the time – we’re always neck and neck, one slightly above each other. And today we were just the perfect tie.”