Mountain View takes Oregon Relays team title back to Idaho

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Mountain View of Idaho knew it had the personnel to win the Oregon Relays and came in Friday to Eugene with a re-tooled plan for how to get it done and earn the meet’s free pizza party.

The school in Meridian, Idaho recently installed a steeplechase pit – and it turned into an advantage. In the first two events on the track Friday, sophomore Adelyn Rosin won the girls 3,000-meter steeplechase and Brandon Walker placed second in the boys’ race.

Those 18 early points put Mountain View out in front and that’s where the school stayed throughout the meet. The Mavericks scored 132 points to win the meet, and the pizza, at Hayward Field.

“We have a great freshman class and in looking at the overall spectrum of things I knew we were really good,” coach Tracy Harris said.

Harris took a look at how Summit OR and other schools had won it in the past and noticed their entries in events such as the sprint medley and other events that are a bit outside the norm.

“Our eyes were kind of opened when we saw how close we were last year,” Harris said of the school’s third-place finish in 2016. At the Oregon Relays, the team score comes from both boys and girls results.

A year ago it was uncertain what would happen to the Oregon Relays in 2017 because renovation had been scheduled to begin on Hayward Field. The college portion of the meet was eliminated as the University of Oregon made other plans, and when the construction work was delayed, the Oregon Relays were able to stay put as a high school-only event. 

Star freshman Lexy Halladay made a big impact for Mountain View. She brought her team from third to first to win the distance medley relay in a new Idaho record (11:59.98), won the 1,500 meters in a meet record 4:26.59 and also anchored the 4x400 relay to third place.

Meanwhile, senior Caleb Hardy won the 400 (49.53) and anchored second-place finishes in the 4x100 and 4x200 for Mountain View.

The biggest stars on the track, however, were the identical twins from Union High School in Camas, Wash. – the Merriweather sisters.

Jai’lyn Merriweather ran a meet-record time of 54.26 to win the 400 meters, with Dai’lyn running a wind-aided 23.77 to run away from the field in the 200 final.

“The 200 is like my baby, that’s my favorite event,” said Dai’lyn, who said she was “happy and surprised” to see a 23 appear on the scoreboard.

“I see you!” Jai’lyn playfully said to her sister after the 200 meters.

Together, the sisters were devastating. In the 4x200, they teamed with Logan Nelson and Makayla Woods to break the meet record with 1:39.22. And then later, running the third (Dai’lyn) and fourth (Jai’lyn) legs of the 4x400 relay, the Merriweathers got another meet record with 3:54.39.

The Maryland-bound seniors could make a big impact on the Washington state meet, where both have enjoyed success in the past – but never won the 4x400.

“I believe we can do it,” the sisters said, in unison.

Additional big performances included a meet record by Canadian Anastas Eliopoulos in the 110-meter hurdles. He ran 13.75 wind-legal (1.6) and broke the record by more than half a second. The Vancouver College senior was third in the meet last year and it was his first time under 14 seconds. He first broke the meet record in the prelims when he ran 14.10.

Sheldon of Sacramento won the girls 4x100 relay with a meet-record time of 47.02 seconds and also broke the school record.

Makayla Linebarger of Reed NV broke the meet record in the pole vault with her clearance of 13-1.50. Linebarger has already broken the all-time Nevada record this spring with 13-6.

Shelby Moran of Sherwood OR won the discus with an Oregon record throw of 162-10.

Anthony Ocegueda from Reed NV broke the 3,000-meter steeplechase record in his first try at the event, running 9:27.88. It’s an event that Ocegueda said he’d like to try at U.S. Juniors.

Matthew Watkins anchored Henry Jackson WA to a meet record in the distance medley relay with 10:14.46. Jackson pulled out a close victory over Wilson of Portland, which ran 10:15.51.

Wilson of Long Beach, Calif. dominated the sprint relays, collecting wins in the 4x100, 4x200 and 4x400.

Camryn Rogers of McMath BC won her third consecutive girls hammer title, with 180-9.

Rowan Hamilton of Sardis BC won the boys hammer with 199-6, while Ridgefield WA freshman Trey Knight was a strong second with 192-7.