Riverhawk Track “Shows Up” at Canby, April 15; PRs abound

Story By Jill Pearson

Photos by Ashley Quisenberry

There’s an ongoing joke I keep with my high school classes for how to pass and succeed in life in general: “show up and do the things.” While there’s another entire article to be written about the value of excellence and effort, just showing up consistently and being willing to do the work will put you well ahead of the curve.

That thought came to mind several times at the Canby varsity meet on Friday - while there were some stellar PR’s across the track and field - the most memorable entries were from the athletes who were just plain willing to try:

Like Andre Niko, a sophomore sprinter and long jumper who tried shot put for the first time and threw 40’ 1.25”, placing him in 3rd. 

Andre Niko's first shot-put throw in Canby.

Or Sohaila, a freshman thrower who rounded out the women’s 4 x 200m team, coming in first at 2:23 total- every point counts for placing. 

The can-do attitude was so contagious that even I ended up running a community 800m, with a new PR and a first-place finish; no other women ran!

For Conor Blair, dedication, perseverance (and maybe a doubly lucky jersey) paid dividends in not one, but two first-place finishes: a 54.58 in the 400 meters, and 46.67 in his first 300m hurdles of the season. Additionally, his quick split on the 4 x 400m relay pulled The Dalles (with Egan Ziegenhagen, Alex Nipko, and Leo Lemman) to a close second-place finish behind Kelso at 3:50.89. 

In this 4 x 100m exchange, Amyrah Hill passes the baton to Hannah Adams.

It was a strong day for the rest of the distance squad as well, with impressive PRs in the 800 for Alaina Casady (2:39.1, - ten seconds off her best time), in the 1500 for Egan Ziegenhagen (4:35.77, a 13-second improvement). 

Jaxon Pullen's start in the 100m

The Riverhawk sprinters dominated the 100m dash, with another first for Jaxon Pullen (11.35 seconds) and first and second for Madelyn Harrison and Amyrah Hill, with PR’s at 15.50 seconds and 15.60 seconds, respectively. Along with teammates Alaina Casady and Caitie Wring in the 4 x 400m, Hill and Harrison’s quick splits placed them in first at 4:38.84. 

Zoe Dunn, reaching for extra distance in the long jump

In the jumps, Jaxon Pullen and Zoe Dunn showed strong marks: a first for Jaxon in triple at 40’ 1.0”, and close seconds for Zoe in long jump (17’ 1.0”) and triple (32’ 4.0”). 

Last but not least, as the sun set beyond the stadium at Canby, Taylor Morehouse took first by a foot in the pole vault, at an impressive and consistent height of 14 feet even. 

Some of the Riverhawk runners, waiting for track events to start. Left to right: Skyler Coburn, Kayden McCavic, Conor Blair, Gabe Castillo, and Leo Lemman.

They showed up, and they showed up strong. Next week, the Riverhawk Track and Field heads back to Hood River on Wednesday, and to the Willamette Falls Invitational in Oregon City on Saturday. You can find the rest of their schedule and records on athletic.net.