On April 13th 2016, eight top athletes of the St. George’s Track & Field Team embarked on a five-day tour to the renowned Oregon Relays in Eugene, Oregon. Located at Hayward Field in the heart of the University of Oregon campus, the top track stadium in the U.S. with state of the art facilities, the Oregon Relays combines the Northwest’s premier High School and College meets to form an action-packed two day event, gathering thousands of aspiring athletes and enthusiastic fans. Athletes from all around the state of Oregon, and a few from Vancouver, California and Washington, attended the meet and represented their respective schools. The St. George’s Team went to the meet with hopes of experiencing a new level of competition and kicking off their season with strong performances.

On the long trip down to the Relays, the team made multiple stops in Washington and Oregon to eat, sightsee and explore their surroundings. One of the places they visited was the Nike World Headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon, where the boys did a pre-race workout at the famous Michael Johnson track. This track, situated in the middle of a forest next to the headquarters, is made entirely out of old cleats and serves as a training facility for many of the world’s top track athletes. The Saints spent an hour at the track preparing for their imminent competition before walking around the Nike World building. The team then boarded the bus once again and headed to Eugene with a mixture of excitement and nervousness in the air.

Over the course of the next two days, the boys pushed themselves to the limit and represented St. George’s in front of almost 7,000 spirited spectators in Hayward Field. The electrifying atmosphere, which the team had not experienced before in Vancouver, allowed them to perform to the best of their ability and achieve high placings and personal bests. Notable performances included Roberto Pelayo-Mazzone’s (11) 1st place finishes in his Senior 1500m and 3000m heats, Justin Scott’s (9) personal best in the Senior 400m and Jerric Palma’s (9) personal best in the Junior 3000m. However, the strongest performances from the Saints team came from Quinn Litherland (11) who competed in the Senior 400m, placing 3rd with a outstanding time of 49.19s, and the Senior 200m, placing 6th with an equally impressive time of 22.24s.

All in all, the 2016 Oregon Relays was a fantastic start for the St. George’s Track & Field Team as they proceed to compete back at home against athletes in the Lower Mainland and eventually all of British Columbia. Stay tuned for more coverage of how their season progresses on The Creed.

For more pictures and full results of the Oregon Relays, check out http://oregonrelays.runnerspace.com/.