The Summit H.S. girls of Bend finished 4th in the 4x800 Friday night at the Nike Outdoor Nationals in Greensboro, N.C., and ran 9:05.68, believed to be the fastest time ever run in the event by an Oregon girls team.
On the final exchange, Summit got the baton nearly even with Garden City (Long Island, N.Y.), which pitted Kellie Schueler of Summit against Garden City’s star runner, Emily Menges. Schueler outfought Menges to the tape and ran 2:08.01 on her leg; Menges ran 2:08.25. The only faster split in the race was by Jillian Smith of the winning team from Southern Regional, of New Jersey. Smith, a senior headed to the University of Michigan, ran 2:04.31. Southern Regional won in 8:52.80, the 6th-fastest time ever and a New Jersey all-time best.
Summit’s other runners and their splits were freshman Keelin Moehl (2:22.01), junior Eirann Cohen (2:22.65) and senior Alyssa O’Connor (2:13.02).
The boys’ 2-mile, held in warm, muggy conditions on the campus of North Carolina A&T, was won by Trevor Dunbar, of Kodiak, Alaska in 8:49.79. Dunbar, who is headed to the University of Portland in the fall, won by nearly 6 seconds.
Earlier in the day, Schueler ran in the preliminaries of the girls’ 100 and finished well back. She ran 11.97 for 3rd place in Heat II, failing to advance to the final. The final, held later on Friday, was won by Chalonda Goodman, of Newnan, Ga., in 11.38. In the heats, Goodman ran 11.30 to break the meet record of 11.33 held jointly by Olympians Muna Lee and Sanya Richards along with Alexandria Anderson, this year’s NCAA champion.
The boys’ 4x8 was won by Morris Hills (N.J.) in 7:42.30.
The girls’ 2-mile was won by Chelsey Sveinsson of Dallas, Texas, in 10:04.85. The time set a national sophomore record, breaking the record of 10:07.56 set 2 years ago by California star Jordan Hasay. Hasay will be at Oregon in the fall. /JP/ Photos by Kim Spir