PENDLETON – Early in the track and field season, the Hermiston Bulldogs have already established themselves as the team to beat in Eastern Oregon.

They dominated the field and their own personal records at Pendleton’s Buck Classic Thursday.

The girls team finished with 12 top-three finishes in 17 events and the team victory.

The boys weren’t far off, with 14 top-three finishes and a second place finish behind Walla Walla.

Together, the teams scored 283 1/2 points, the most at the meet.

“We picked up right where we left off last week,” coach Dave Rohrman said. “I think we’re in a real good spot. We’ve got a lot of kids that are really buying into it. We’re focusing on doing everything right, working hard. We’ve got kids that are coming back everyday that want to get after it and it’s paying off.”

Host Pendleton finished third and fifth in the boys and girls competitions, respectively.

“I think the meet was run pretty well,” coach Mark Christensen. “The weather, you really can’t beat it for this time of the year.”

Seniors led the way for the Bulldogs in the running events with cross country standout Jennifer Macias taking first in the 3000-meter run and the 1500, Melissa McKinley taking first in the 800 and Alma Aguiar taking first in the 100-meter dash and second in the 200.

“For the beginning of the season I think I did OK,” Aguiar said. “I was satisfied with my 100-meters. The 200, I was, I don’t know. I talked to my coach about it, I’m like, ‘I don’t understand why my legs die out so soon.'”

Aguiar was also part of their first-place 4×100-meter relay team while McKinley helped the 4×400 relay team to the top finish.

“In the relay I think we did awesome,” Aguiar said. “Every hand-off was just perfect basically.”

McKinley’s time of 2 minutes, 24.76 seconds in the 800 was also a new personal record.

“I’m going to shoot for the school record because I’m only a couple of seconds off,” McKinley said. “My goal is to just keep PR-ing.”

Junior Kashina Rademacher also set a new personal record of 48.75 seconds on her way to first in the 300-meter low hurdles.

After setting a new personal record of 134 feet even at the Hermiston time trials in the javelin, junior Michelle Coombs took first once again in the event with a throw of 130 feet, six inches.

“It was not a bad mark but it was ugly looking,” Coombs said of her javelin throw. “My whole plant and everything was off. I would have liked to have PR-ed but it’s OK.”

Senior Kersee Lind also set a new personal record in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles with a first-place time of 39.28 seconds and was just one one-hundredth off his personal best in the 110-meter high hurdles with the day’s fastest time of 15 seconds even.

“I just got a really good winter track season going and I’m just really excited to see what we can do,” Lind said. “Across the board we’ve just had great performances.”

Lind now holds school records in both the 300 intermediate hurdles and the 110 high hurdles according to Rohrman.

He was also part of the boys 4×400 relay team, which is already nearing postseason form with their time of 3:31.38, more than seven seconds ahead of second-place Pendleton.

The Bulldogs also got big days out of the Ringe brothers as sophomore Jordan took second in the 3000 and the 1500 while junior Alex placed first in the 800 and was also part of the 4×400 relay team.

“We got the Ringe boys back in the races they normally run,” Rohrman said. “Alex and Jordan just dominated the distance races.”

The Pendleton boys got great showings from senior Brandon Caswell and junior Derek Barfuss, who each set personal bests in their first meet of the season.

Caswell’s records came in the 400, the 1500 and the 3000 with his first-place times of 50.61 seconds, 3:27.64 and 7:29.80, respectively.

“For a first meet I was actually progressed from where I was last year,” Caswell said. “I think my best last year (in the 1500) was a 3:35 at the end of the year so I’m excited to see where I can finish off at the end of the year.”

Because Caswell races from a wheelchair, his first-place finishes in the 1500 and the 3000 did not go toward the team’s final score.

“In a distance race I would have (an advantage),” Caswell said. “But anything 400 (meters) or less there is no advantage whatsoever.”

Barfuss set personal bests in the 110 high hurdles and 300 intermediate hurdles, finishing second in both races to Lind.

“For my first meet of the year I was OK,” Barfuss said. “I kind of like having Kersee (Lind) in my heats because he’s such a great competitor, it makes me want to be as good as him.”

The girls’ big days came from sophomores Kate Bostwick and Haylie Wynn.

Bostwick finished third in the 100 high hurdles and high jump and second in the 300 low hurdles.

Wynn took second in the javelin and shot put and fourth in discus and wasn’t far off her personal records in the first two events.

A couple of Eastern Oregon’s smaller schools also had good days at the Buck Classic.

A very young Riverside team had 28 personal records set Thursday and one school record rewritten.

“We haven’t done a lot of technique work, we’ve been focusing on conditioning,” coach Dave Boor said. “I’m pretty anxious to see how it plays out in the next few months.”

Freshman Shannon Callow set the new school record in the 1500 with her fourth-place time of 5:25.47.

“It kind of caught me by surprise because I’ve never ran (the 1500) before,” Callow said.

Sophomore Jessica Donovan brought back the highest finish on the day for the Pirates with her second-place triple jump of 32 feet, one inch.

“I haven’t really been jumping this year at all (in practice),” Donovan said. “This is actually the first time I’ve triple jumped.”

Senior Robert Turner had the highest boys finish with his third-place high jump of 5 feet, 10 inches.

McLoughlin got another solid day from junior Hailey Rambo, who finished second in the 400 and third in the 800.

“All my girls I stretched to the max today,” coach John Milleson said. “The 400 and the 800 back to back today was too much for Hailey.”

Junior Casey Smith came back strong after tweaking his ankle last week to take third in the 400.

“It was better than I thought I was going to get,” Smith said.

“Casey had a great race today,” Milleson said. “He’s not going to be happy unless he’s winning every race.”