Bridget Nelson Invitational Cross County meet at TD Country Club a scorcher
By Jill Pearson
Since time almost immemorial, the Bridget Nelson meet has been held at Sorosis Park. Sometimes with the “Agony Hill” above the park, more recently with a loop up the Community College, but always requires a climb to the top of the plateau overlooking the town; to our pride, it is one of the hilliest courses in the state.
This year, however, due to ongoing construction and irrigation at the park, The Dalles’ home meet was held on Sept. 8 at the Country Club- a much smaller, but much faster course. It entailed two perimeter laps around for a middle school 3k, and we added a longer loop to make a high school 5k. With mildly scorching temperatures, the teams’ times were just as hot for The Dalles, Henkle, Glenwood, and fellow Tri-Valley League team Estacada.
For the 3k, St. Mary’s Sawyer Dray led the pack at 11:30.8, with TDMS’ Jack Dewey hot on his heels a second later, and 6th grader Sam Ford claiming the 3rd at 11:36. Something tells me next year’s freshmen boys will continue to be fast, too! On the girls’ side, Henkle took the first and second places, with Lilah Zimmerman finishing at 12:40, over a half minute ahead of teammate Kathryn O’Connor (13:17) and TDMS’ Willow Ziegenhagen (13:19). Coaches Kellina Richman and Carol Ritchie were proud of their teams’ efforts: “this gave them just a taste of success!”
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On the high school side, the girls dominated- and outnumbered both the JV and varsity races, with senior Madison Goldbacher winning the JV race in under 30 minutes, and sophomore Alaina Casady leading the varsity girls by over a minute at 21:31. Estacada’s Heather Shaver (22:51) and Scottie Weiler (23:27) were next in, but the race, as a rule, continued to be fairly spread out, with 20-40 seconds between each of the next few runners. Senior Lucy Booth was grinning ear to ear as she finally broke under 24 minutes, at 23:48. “It might be too early to say,” she commented, “but I think this’ll be my season!” Alumni runner Erin Ford was there to cheer her into the finish, and into senior recognitions.
The boys’ race was almost just as spaced out, with the first three runners coming in about a minute between each place: Juan Diego Contreras at 15:34, Leo Lemann at 16:36, and Egan Ziegenhagen at 17:24. By the 18-minute mark, however, more of a pack emerged of the hungry sophomore and freshman boys, jostling for those coveted 4th-7th spots on varsity. “It’s a good thing to be competitive,” they agreed the next day at practice. “It just makes us want to get faster each race.”
After the races, in the golden afternoon sunlight, the podiums were filled time and again with ribbons, medals, chocolate-covered cherries, and gift bags for the seniors. Some of them have been running for The Dalles for 7 years, others are trying cross country for the first time. They’re a marvelous and ambitious group, but since the season is still very early, we won’t send them off too soon.
This week- wildfires pending- the high school team will race in Joseph at the Wallowa Invitational on Sept. 17, while the middle school heads to Oregon City. You can find the rest of the Riverhawk times and schedules on athletic.net.
