Tiger Invitational faces several weather hurdles

BATTLE GROUND — “This is the kind of day I need to help recruit kids to come out for track and field,” a coach said Saturday, after seemingly walking on water on the soaked, puddle-filled artificial field at Battle Ground High School.

Sarcasm rules.

Another coach said, in his dozen years of coaching, that this was the worst week of rain he could remember.

Athletes braved the elements to warm up for their events, then competed. But as soon as they were no longer needed, they headed for dry ground. The grandstand at the stadium, with its roof, was the place to be.

“You get to know people,” Fort Vancouver senior Marquis Taylor said.

If it were a warm, dry day, all the teams would have been spread out in their shade tents all over the field. On this day, though, they huddled together.

They were the smart ones.

The dry ones.

Or, the dryer ones. Nobody was truly dry on this day.

The Tiger Invitational is the first big meet of the year for Southwest Washington track and field meets. But events were suspended, at least one was cancelled, and some coaches held out their best athletes from competing, the fear of pulling a muscle in such conditions.

It is, after all, still March. No reason to push oneself too hard now.

“This is just like my freshman year,” Mercedes McLeod, a junior from Prairie, said. “It poured every single day.”

She ran the hurdles and a relay on Saturday. But she sounded as if she would have rather have been anywhere else.

“It’s so cold. I literally cannot even make my own body heat. I’m frozen,” she said.

Making matters worse, she ran an event, only to come back to find her clothes soaked.

Taylor, from Fort, said a little bit of rain is OK. This was not, however, a little bit of rain.

Fort Vancouver senior Charles Baker found some benefits to the weather conditions.

“You want to get out of it faster,” he said.

So in theory, he said, one should run faster.

Katy Parker, a sophomore from Fort, understands that philosophy.

“It’s not fun running in it, but you feel kind of intense running in it,” she said.

Fort freshman Mariana Beyer might have been the only one enjoying the rain and wind.

“I like it better than running in the sun,” she said. “I don’t like feeling tired and hot.”

No chance of that Saturday.

BOYS TIGER INVITATIONAL RESULTS

At District Stadium, Battle Ground

Team scores — 1, Skyview 101; 2, Camas 98; 3, Prairie 83; 4, Columbia River 82; 5, Mountain View 58; 6, Heritage 56.5; 7, Evergreen 50.5; 8, Union 50; 9, Hockinson 35; 10, Battle Ground 21; 11, Mark Morris 15; 12, Ridgefield 9; 13, Hudson’s Bay 3; 14, Fort Vancouver 1.

Top 3 Individuals

100 meters — 1, Marcus Gaylor (Columbia River) 11.13; 2, Cole Zarcone (Camas) 11.60; T3, Kobey Eaton (Evergreen) and E’Lon Mack (Heritage) 11.64.

200 — 1, Marcus Gaylor (Columbia River) 22.53; 2, Kobey Eaton (Evergreen) 23.24; 3, Cole Zarcone (Camas) 23.52.

400 — Nick Barclay (Hockinson) 50.71; 2, Vitaliy Svirdan (Heritage) 52.36; 3, Jefferson Kiyasu (Skyview) 52.82.

800 — 1, Keaton Spiller (Heritage) 1:58.93; 2, Sam Garvin (Mountain View) 2:04.58; 3, Doug Paresa (Prairie) 2:04.78.

1,600 — 1, Kaden Harbertson (Skyview) 4:34.01; 2, Aaron Brumbaugh (Mark Morris) 4:36.71; 3, Riley Hein (Camas) 4:37.84.

3,200 — 1, Kaden Harbertson (Skyview) 9:53.84; 2, James Breen (Heritage) 9:53.95; 3, Austin Blankenship (Columbia River) 9:55.21.

110 hurdles — 1, James Phillips (Prairie) 14.95; 2, Peter Zalk (Prairie) 15.11; 3, Ryan Gunther (Camas) 15.32.

300 hurdles — 1, James Phillips (Prairie) 40.21; 2, Ryan Gunther (Camas) 41.04; 3, Nikita Sheviakov (Mountain View) 43.33.

400 relay — 1, Columbia River (Marcus Gaylor, Jeffrie Ringold, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Jacob Ringold) 43.80; 2, Heritage (Devin Murphy, Chris Eirhart, Joseph Gandarillas, E’Lon Mack) 45.69; 3, Prairie (Justin Pena, David Tran, Reuvim Ponomarenko, Peter Zalk) 46.08.

1,600 relay — 1, Camas (Zach Eagle, Adam Ryan, Matthew Sanchez, Ryan Tunther) 3:34.54; 2, Skyview (Gage Stumpf, Kaden Harbertson, Tyler Hansen, Jefferson Kiyasu) 3:36.74; 3, Columbia River (Blake Duhamel, Jacob Bystry, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Elijah Green) 3:42.11.

Distance medley relay — 1, Camas (Hunter Schow, Jackson Cutler, Dustin Zimmerly, Riley Hein) 11:06.93; 2, Columbia River (Austin Blankenship, Alexander Stelbicki, Daniel Nehnevaj, Miles Park) 11:15.30; 3, Mountain View (Nick Hurst, Sam Garvin, Parker Linhart-Wubbena, Brikley Ramberg) 11:25.26.

Shot put — 1, Bailey King (Union) 49-8; 2, James NIemela (Columbia River) 48-11 1/2; 3, Jason Bracken (Prairie) 48-2.

Discus — 1, Bailey King (Union) 147-4; 2, Jason Bracken (Prairie) 141-11; 3, Ryker Gilbert (Mountain View) 133-6.

Javelin — 1, Jason Bracken (Prairie) 166-11; 2, Lexington Reese (Mountain View) 159-10; 3, Brad Decker (Skyview) 148-5.

High jump — 1, Peyton Fredrickson (Skyview) 6-2; 2, Jack Klodt (Hockinson) 6-2; T3, Adam Peterson (Camas) and Costal David (Evergreen) and Alec Dronen (Skyview) 5-10.

Long jump — 1, James Phillips (Prairie) 22-7; T2, Marcus Lord (Skyview) and Josh Ryan (Camas) 20-10.

Triple jump — 1, Devin Murphy (Heritage) 44-2; 2, Marcus Lord (Skyview) 42-0; 3, Jacob Ringold (Columbia River) 41-5 3/4.

Pole vault — not held.

GIRLS TIGER INVITATIONAL RESULTS

At District Stadium, Battle Ground

Team scores — 1, Camas 123; 2, Skyview 92.5; 3, Columbia River 72; 4, Union 71.5; 5, Evergreen 59; 6, Mountain View 53; 7, Prairie 47; 8, Battle Ground 42; 9, Heritage 36; 10, Hudson’s Bay 23; 11, Mark Morris 14; 12, Fort Vancouver 12; 13, Ridgefield 10; 14, Washougal 3; 15, R.A. Long 2; 16, Hockinson 1.

Top 3 Individuals

100 meters — 1, Danica Person (Mountain View) 12.36; 2, Emma Walton (Mountain View) 13.05; 3, Jamilah Harper (Evergreen) 13.07.

200 — 1, Danica Person (Mountain View) 26.52; 2, Karen Nguyen (Fort Vancouver) 27.57; 3, Emma Walton (Mountain View) 27.57.

400 — 1, Jai’lyn Merriweather (Evergreen) 1:00.46; 2, Lindsay Asplund (Prairie) 1:01.00; 3, Chisom Eke (Skyview) 1:01.20.

800 — 1, Alexa Efraimson (Camas) 2:08.83; 2, Nicole Goecke (Prairie) 2:18.82; 3, Alexis Fuller (Union) 2:24.37.

1,600 — 1, Alexis Fuller (Union) 5:19.70; 2, Alissa Pudlitzke (Camas) 5:22.49; 3, Savanna Craig (Mountain View) 5:25.76.

3,200 — 1, Alexa Efraimson (Camas) 10:16.31; 2, Marley LeFore (Camas) 11:46.27; 3, Michaela Bruns (Prairie) 11:46.36.

100 hurdles — 1, Jordan Davis (Camas) 15.39; 2, Tamaki Murata (Camas) 16.02; 3, Madison Lanford (Skyview) 16.14.

300 hurdles — 1, Jordan Davis (Camas) 46.56; 2, Ellie Walker (Columbia River) 47.99; 3, Madison Lanford (Skyview) 48.89.

400 relay — Evergreen (Jamilah Harper, Dai’lyn Merriweather, Jai’lyn Merriweather, Saydi Dozark) 51.86; 2, Skyview (Chisom Eke, Caroline Iverson, Madison Lanford, Cori Murray) 51.90; 3, Columbia River (Grayson Burke, Taylor Hallquist, Riarra Ringold, Sarah Landers) 51.91.

1,600 relay — 1, Skyview (Shelby Lee, Molly Beamon, Madison Lanford, Chisom Eke) 4:14.09; 2, Evergreen (Sulamita Senchilo, Elaina Hitt, Jai’lyn Merriweather, Dai’lyn Merriweather) 4:15.97.

Distance medley — 1, Camas (Alissa Pudlitzke, Savanna Joyce, Maddie Woodson, Alexa Efraimson) 12:22.44; 2, Prairie (Lindsay Asplund, Nicole Goecke, Amber Zoot, Jamie Ferris) 12:55.83; 3, Union (Allie Connell, Angelina Krawczyk, Cassie McKinney, Alexis Fuller) 13:39.63.

Shot put — 1, Aubrey Ward-El (Skyview) 42-4 1/2; 2, Jossilyn Blackman (Battle Ground) 37-9; 3, Jordan Hunter (Hudson’s Bay) 35-10 1/2.

Discus — 1, Guadalupe Mendoza (Heritage) 113-8; 2, Nicole Corbett (Camas) 110-11; 3, Jordan Hunter (Hudson’s Bay) 102-10.

Javelin — 1, Aubrey Ward-El (Skyview) 127-4; 2, Jossilyn Blackman (Battle Ground) 123-4; 3, Tuileisu Anderson (Union) 100-5.

High jump — 1, Danae Lee (Hudson’s Bay 5-1; 2, Dai’lyn Merriweather (Evergreen) 4-10; T3, Kameron Schalk (Union) and Haylee Castro (Columbia River) and Ellie Walker (Columbia River) and Madison Lord (Skyview) 4-8.

Long jump — 1, Jenna Dukovcic (Mark Morris) 15-11 3/4; 2, Taylor Troupe (Union) 15-7 1/4; 3, Nicole Carlson (Union) 15-2 1/2.

Triple jump — 1, Brooke Williams (Columbia River) 33-9 1/2; 2, Emily Wilson (Union) 33-7 1/2; 3, Rachel Rast (Battle Ground) 32-5.

Pole vault — not held.

800 wheelchair — 1, Yen Hoang (Evergreen) 2:47.80.

3,200 wheelchair — 1, Yen Hoang (Evergreen) 11:19.90.

(Click here to see complete results posted on athletic.net)