Madras track & field sweeps past Corbett for Senior Night victory
In their final meet before districts next week, the Madras track and field teams rang in Senior Night by sweeping Corbett and registering nearly 50 new personal records.
The White Buffalo girls team defeated the Cardinals 97-42 at the dual meet held Wednesday, May 4, at Madras High School, while the boys prevailed 96-51 over Corbett. The Cardinals are one of the smaller schools in the Buffs' league, so the difference in participation numbers certainly helped Madras' cause on Wednesday. Still, with 42 different athletes setting personal records (PRs), it was an unquestionably good day for Madras track.
Leading the way on the girls side were seven individual winners, with freshman Emily Picard earning two victories on the day in addition to competing in Madras' uncontested 4x400 relay win. Picard also won the 800 and the 1,500, setting a new PR in the latter and sliding into third place districtwide in the event. Another freshman, Adelynn Adams, also had a great day. Adams set PRs in the 100 and 200 sprints, and like Picard, her win in the 200 put her into third place among Tri-Valley runners going into districts. Adams was also part of the winning 4x100 relay team, along with sophomore Austin Erwen — who now owns new PRs in the 100 and long jump — and seniors Isabelle Ludi and Feather Miller.
Like the girls, the Madras boys also had two double winners on Wednesday. A pair of juniors, Johan Poland and Tobias Byrd, led the charge as Poland won the 110-meter hurdles and the javelin while Byrd outleapt the competition in the pole vault and high jump events. Even more importantly for those two, Poland and Byrd set new PRs in their best events — hurdles for Poland, pole vault for Byrd.
Other Madras winners included: seniors Briann Ellis (girls high jump) and Ethan Tapia (boys 300 hurdles); juniors Matty Buck (girls shot put), Illiana Hance (girls javelin), Hannah MacDuffee (girls 400) and Wade Simmelink (boys long jump); sophomores Michael Picard (boys 400) and Talise Wapsheli (girls 3,000); freshmen Diego Arthur (boys triple jump), Eben Tapia (boys 800) and Kurtis Tanewasha (boys 3,000).
Ellis and Tapia had the most decorated day among the Madras seniors, but they were far from the only ones to enjoy good outings on Senior Night.
Isabelle Ludi was part of both Madras relays, and she also placed second in the 400 and third in the long jump. In addition to her own role on the 4x100 relay, Feather Miller set a new PR in the 300 hurdles while taking second by less than half a second. The other senior on the girls team, Sierra Adams, took second in the triple jump with a PR performance in that event.
On the boys' side, the other seniors besides Tapia are Ethan Nava and Joshua Shank. Nava is normally part of the 4x400 team, but he did not race in that event on Wednesday. Instead, he raced only in the 400 and took second behind teammate Michael Picard. Shank, meanwhile, did not place highly in either of his events — the 100 and the 200 — but he set new PRs in both.
Following their wins over Corbett, the Madras track and field teams will now shift their attention to the upcoming district meets. There is a JV district meet at Heckard Field in Molalla on Monday, May 9, and that event begins at 3:30 p.m. As for the varsity meet, preliminary events will take place on Friday, May 13, with finals held the following day, Saturday, May 14. The varsity meet will be hosted at Estacada High School, with events scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. on Friday and 1 p.m. on Saturday.
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