Nike Jesuit Twilight Relays/Shoreline Invitational Recap
Updated: Jun 14, 2022
Nike Jesuit Twilight Relays, April 29
For the first time in three years, Jesuit High School hosted the Twilight Relays and the exciting races made up for lost time.
The elite girl's mile started with Jesuit's Chloe Foerster ahead of the field by a good twenty meters for the first two laps. Kaiya Roberston of Franklin slowly drew closer to Foerster and with 200 meters to go, it was anybody's races. Foerster was able to hold off the late challenge by Roberston for a 4:43.81 and establish a meet record. Roberston finished in 4:44.18 and a personal best in the mile and 1500 (timed in route to the finish). The deep pre-meet seed times set up for an exciting boy's elite mile. In the end, Caleb Lakeman finished in 4:04.46 for the win. Lakeman won the 3000 at the Oregon Relays last week and will be the favorite in both races at the 6A Oregon State Meet. Lakeman also set a family record as he is now faster than his father Dirk Lakeman who ran 4:04.9 at South Eugene back in 1977. Dirk's may be pushed to number three in the family as junior son Aaron Lakeman ran 4:07.74 in the elite mile. Twelve boys broke 4:10 in the mile including nine Oregonians. On another note about this remarkable race, freshman Josiah Tostenson of Crater ran a national freshman record in both the 1500 (3:52.3) and mile (4:09.11).
The 3200 is a new event at the Twilight Relays and the girl's race was a battle between two freshman phenoms Sydney Collier of Skyline of Washington and Emily Wisniewski of Crescent Valley of Oregon. Collier claimed the win at 10:28.03 with Wisniewski finishing second in 10:29.64. With 200 meters to go in the boy's 3200 meter race, a pack of five started the kick to the finish. Max Girardet of Central Catholic finished ahead of Sunset's Benjamin Balazs to win in 8:55.25. Balazs came in at 8:55.58.
The weather was predicted to be a steady flow of rain, but it held off mostly until the evening relay races. Summit girl's had a dominant win in 9:26. 68 and the boy's race was closer with Tahoma winning in 8:00.87 and Tualatin taking second in 8:02.06.
The distance medley relay was a wet mess, but athletes still competed. Tahoma girls took the lead early in the distance medley, but gradually Ida B Wells caught up for a showdown in the 1600 portion of the race. Ida B Wells eventually prevailed, winning in a time of 12:13.58 and Tahoma finishing second at 12:14.19. Three boy teams fought with one lap to go and Rogers of Puyallup, Washington came away with the win in 10:47.16 over Mountain View of Oregon and host school Jesuit.
Shoreline Invitational, April 30
We traveled up north of Seattle to watch the Saturday afternoon distance races at the Shoreline Invitational, including the elite 1600 and elite 3200.
The elite mile turned out to be a competitive finish between three boys. Sam Jacobsen of Newport pulled away with the win in 4:11.13 and freshman Vincent Recupero of Bishop Blanchet edged Zack Munson of Sehome in a time of 4:11.80 to 4:11.88. Anna Grabowski of Liberty took the early lead in the girl's elite 1600 and Isabela Alvarado of Eisenhower eventually came from behind to win in 4:59.03 with Anna Callahan of Skyline finishing second in 5:01.62.
The 800 races were run in four heats in each gender. In the boy's fourth heat, Eastlake's Connor Hom took the lead in the first lap and never relinquished his lead to win in 1:57.30 and William Ryan IV of Lakes finished second in a personal best time of 1:58.66. In the girl's fourth heat, a battle ensued between freshman Alexa Matora of Lake Washington and University of Arizona commit Kara Michelson of Eisenhower. Michelson eventually won in 2:14.30.
The final elite distance event was the 3200 meters girls and boys race. Freshman Lily Lapointe of Bishop Blanchet took a commanding lead in the 3000 from the start and ran by herself for the win in 10:43.29 with Rebecca O'Keefe of Skyline finishing second in 10:53.18. The boy's 3200 had a pack of five athletes for most of the race leading the way and eventually Zack Munson took the lead and won in 9:06.80 and William Schneider of Bishop Blanchet coming in second at 9:08.93 and establishing a personal best.
Pictures of the distance events from the Nike Jesuit Twilight Relay are found HERE
Pictures of the distance races run after 1:00 of the Shoreline Invitational are found HERE