CHS girls track team honored

CRESWELL — Mayor Nicholas Smith and the Creswell City Council awarded a tribute plaque to the Creswell High School girls’ track team for earning its first Class 3A team title in program history at the city council meeting on Monday.

“It’s still just so amazing,” head coach Rachael Bailey said. “This recognition makes the girls so much more excited for next season and looking forward to the future after making history. Two will be graduating, but the other four will just continue to break their school records and improve upon their marks. The other two that are graduating will be doing bigger things in college now, but they’ll carry this with them.” 

Coach Evan Lybarger, left, and coach Rachael Bailey, far right,  join athletes in admiring the plaque they received from the Creswell City Council.
BOB WILLIAMS / THE CHRONICLE

It all kicked off at 5:15 p.m. with colorful signs, matching bright T-shirts, and the sound of blaring horns across West Oregon Ave. The City hosted a “Honk for State Champs” for the team for half an hour before the meeting.

The team and Nicholas Smith made signs for the “Honk for State Champs.”
PHOTO PROVIDED

After the street celebration, the team, coach Bailey, coach Evan Lybarger, and friends and family filed into Town Hall at 6 p.m.

“Tonight, we want to welcome the first-ever girls’ state track meet champions,” Smith said. “I appreciate the red faces – that means we did our job. We’re impressed.”

  • The team blushing from attention, which Smith commented on saying, “he appreciated the red faces.” ALL PHOTOS BY BOB WILLIAMS.
  • The City Council gave a standing ovation for the team.
  • The team wore matching custom team T-shirts.

One of the main driving aspects of the teams win, was their impressive finish of the 4×400-meter race. The relay team of Journey Meyer, Brooke Moehlmann, Kylie Leonard, and Jordyn Lee took the 3A title with a school record and set the 3A all-time record in 3 minutes, 57.31 seconds.

There were also notable individual performances. Smith asked each athlete to stand and read their stats in recognition. He started with now rising senior, Leonard, for winning the 300-meter hurdles and setting a school record. She also earned Creswell’s first individual girls’ state title since Olivia Powell in 2014. Next was rising junior Lee, who earned fifth in the 400 meters; Graduated senior Moehlmann, who ran the second leg of the 4×400 meters; rising sophomore Meyer, who earned second in the 400 meters and a personal record and third in the 200 meters with a personal record; graduated senior Vika Gabrio, who was absent, was recognized for her second-place finish in the triple jump with a personal record and fifth place in the long jump; and rising junior Mila Nguyen was recognized for an eighth-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles.

Gabrio will continue her athletic career at Bushnell and Moehlmann at Olympic College.

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