Hermiston’s Paige Palzinski gets ready to throw the shot put on April 19, 2019, during the Kiwanis Twilight Invitational. Palzinski won the event with a throw of 38 feet.

After the sun welcomed athletes and fans to the Kiwanis Twilight Invitational on Friday, the rain began to fall on the meet at Kennison Field for the first time in recent memory.

Event sheets were soggy, as were the athletes, but the rain did not put a damper on the event.

Kamiakin ran away with the boys title with 233 points, while Hanford and Kamiakin fought to the bitter end for the girls team title.

The Braves, who had a 1.5-point lead over the Falcons heading into the 4×400 relay, came away with the title (160.5 points) because Hanford (156) did not field a mile relay team. Hermiston finished third.

Jaxson Nichols of Kamiakin, who won the high jump and long jump, and was second in the triple jump, was the boys high-point athlete of the meet.

For the girls, the honor was shared by Hanford teammates Amanda Fraga and Katelynn Gelatin.

The Pendleton boys finished fourth in the team standings behind a stellar day from junior Lane Maher, who won the 300 hurdles (39.58), and was second in the 110 hurdles (14.74) behind Parker Morgan of Kamiakin (14.72). Both times were personal bests for Maher.

Maher was seeded sixth entering the 110 hurdle race.

“I knew they had faster times than me coming in, and getting higher than that (sixth) is joyful,” Maher said. “It feels good to compete against faster people.”

Morgan said he didn’t know anything about Maher coming into the race.

“I was more worried about Beau (Franklin of Hanford),” Morgan said. “My goal was to break 15 (seconds), and meets like this push me.”

In the 300 hurdles, Maher pulled away from Morgan just before the last hurdle.

“I was trying to go as fast as I could,” Maher said. “He was right next to me, then I pulled away at the end. This and the Willamette meet are the best I’ve been to this year. Maybe I should join Washington conference.”

Pendleton coach Larry Brizendine said Maher’s times rank in the top four in each event on the school’s record board.

“He’s just a junior,” Brizendine said. “I see him breaking those. This is why we go to these meets. They help us get prepared for state.”

Also for the Bucks, Sam Jennings was third in the javelin (150-9 1/4).

For the Pendleton girls, Elisabeth House finished second in the 300 hurdles with a time of 50 seconds. Kamiakin’s Britney Donais won with a 47.06.

“That is a new event for her this year,” Brizendine said, “but she did really well.”

Paige Palzinski had a productive day for the host Bulldogs, winning the shot put with a heave of 38 feet, placing fourth in the triple jump (31-5), fifth in the long jump (15-5) and seventh in the discus (98-4 3/4). She also ran the anchor leg on the winning throwers relay, but that event was nonscoring.

The Hermiston girls 4×400 relay of Jayden Ray, Amanda Nygard, Sydney Seavert and Abigail Sharon crossed the finish line first in a time of 4:19.29.

The Bulldogs’ 4×100 relay team of Sharon, MaKaylee Young, Kamryn Aldred and Ray finished third (51.77).

Young added a second-place finish in the long jump (16-4), while Ray was second in the 400 with a time of 1:03.37, and Aldred was sixth in the 200 (28.42).

Junior Jazlyn Romero won the javelin with a toss of 136-7 1/2. She also was fourth in the discus (107-3 1/2).

“We had side wind, so I had to run at an angle,” Romero said. “There was some good competition, but not like at the Pasco Invite.”

Freddy Mendoza led the Hermiston boys with a third-place finish in the 800 with a time of 2:02.23.

Stanfield-Echo had one winner on the day — Devan Craig in the javelin, with a toss of 157-8.

Craig’s winning throw, which also is a personal best, came on his second attempt in the prelims.

“I was a little timid at first,” Craig said of throwing against guys from bigger schools. “I was a bit frightened. I scratched my first throw, but I knew I’d be able to get my steps right. Once I got my first throw in, I knew I’d be OK.”

Rebecca Reynolds was fourth in the high jump for the Tigers with a PR of 4-10.

Boys team scores — Kamiakin 233, La Grande 86, Chiawana 84, Pendleton 58, Hanford 52, The Dalles 50, Moses Lake 42, Hermiston 34.5, Baker 32, Dufur 22.5, Nyssa 14, Powder Valley 11, Stanfield-Echo 10, Mac-Hi 1.

Top 3 each event

3000 steeplechase — 1, Payton Hill (Kam), 10:11.88. 2, Sam Alvarez (TD), 10:17.53. 3, Andrew Holladay (Kam), 10:34.37. 110H — 1, Parker Morgan (Kam), 14.72. 2, Lane Maher (Pend), 14.74. 3, Ethan Berkey (Kam), 15.09. 100 — 1, Derek Fischer (Kam), 11.24. 2, Cam Sanford (Pend), 11.35. 3, Syl Hunt (Kam), 11.37. 1600 — 1, Isaac Teeples (Kam), 4:32.65. 2, Kale Cassidy (Baker), 4:33.11. 3, Cameron Gutierrez (Kam), 4:36.88. 4×100 relay — 1, Kamiakin (Syl Hunt, Neal Berkey, Parker Morgan, Derek Fischer), 43.13. 2, La Grande, 43.78. 3, Dufur, 44.58. 400 — 1, Cameron Gutierrez (Kam), 50.07. 2, Bennie Alferness (Chi), 51.60. 3, Sajun White (LG), 51.64. 300H — 1, Lane Maher (Pend), 39.58. 2, Parker Morgan (Kam), 40.44. 3, Ethan Berkey (Kam). 800 — 1, Austin Bachman (Chi), 1:59.67. 2, Isaac Teeples (Kam), 1:59.98. 3, Freddy Mendoza (Herm), 2:02.23. 200 — 1, Cajun White (LG), 23.16. 2, Derek Fischer (Kam), 23.23. 3, Reed Twidwell (TD), 23.40. 3200 — 1, Fax Weide (Kam), 9:48.62. 2, Grayson Wilcott (Kam), 9:52.61. 3, Bennett Welch (LG), 9:57.71. 4×200 relay — 1, Kamiakin (Syl Hunt, Tyler Gourley, Ethan Berkey, Derek Fischer), 1:35.90. 2, Moses Lake, 1:39.73. 3, La Grande, 1:39.82. 4×400 relay — 1, Kamiakin (Woodley Downward, Parker Morgan, Neal Berkey, Cameron Gutierrez), 3:30.31. 2, La Grande, 3:36.41. 3, The Dalles, 3:38.40. PV — 1, Neal Berkey (Kam), 14-0. 2, Brayden Freitag (Kam), 14-0. 3, Cameron Breier (Chi), 12-6. LJ — 1, Jaxson Nichols (Kam), 21-4 1/2. 2, Nickolas Tsiatsos (LG), 21-4 1/2. 3, Dion Lee (Chi), 21-2 1/4. Discus — 1, Ryan McCartney (Kam), 138-0. 2, Konner Oberman (Han), 136-7 1/4. 3, Chase Bradshaw (Herm), 123-8 1/4. Shot put — 1, Hunter Williams (Chi), 45-6. 2, Carson Evans (ML), 44-1 1/2. 3, Trenton Pearson (Chi), 43-5. Javelin — 1, Devan Craig (S-E), 157-8. 2, Moses Garza (ML), 157-2 3/4. 3, Sam Jennings (Pend), 150-9 1/4. HJ — 1, Jaxson Nichols (Kam), 6-5. 2, Woodley Downard (Kam), 6-0. 3, Justin Conklin (TD), 6-0. TJ — 1, Dion Lee (Chi), 45-7 1/2. 2, Jaxson Nichols (Kam), 42-7. 3, Zaanan Bane (Pend), 41-0.

Girls team scores — Kamiakin 160.5, Hanford 156, Hermiston 107, The Dalles 51.5, Chiawana 46.5, Moses Lake 46, Nysa 44, Baker 42, Pendleton 30.5, La Grande 27, Dufur 11, Stanfield-Echo 5, Mac-Hi 1.

Top 3 each event

2000 steeplechase — 1, Alexa Neff (Chi), 7:57.42. 2, Megan Wright (Han), 8:00.10. 3, Carlie Gregg (ML), 8:03.79. 100H — 1, Kari Heath (ML), 16.41. 2, Madisyn Hartley (Nys), 16.75. 3, Grace Meek (Kam), 16.83. 100 — 1, Katherine Petsch (Kam), 12.68. 2, Camryn Dezember (Han), 13.17. 3, Britney Donnas (Kam), 13.26. 1600 — 1, Marisa Memmott (Kam), 5:30.97. 2, Emma Baeth (Baker), 5:37.12. 3, Jacki Martini (LG), 5:37.71. 4×100 relay — 1, Kamiakin (Kaili Knapp, Britney Donais, Katherine Petsch, Rachel Harper), 49.40. 2, Hanford, 50.34. 3, Hermiston, 51.77. 400 — 1, Amanda Fraga (Han), 1:00.15. 2, Jayden Ray (Herm), 1:03.37. 3, Elizabeth Tapia (TD), 1:03.64. 300H — 1, Britney Donais (Kam), 47.06. 2, Elisabeth House (Pend), 50.00. 3, Megan Wright (Han), 50.54. 800 — 1, Hannah Paulsen (Kam), 2:26.01. 2, Emma Mullins (TD), 2:28.27. 3, Emma Baeth (Baker), 2:28.29. 200 — 1, Katherine Petsch (Kam), 25.90. 2, Camryn Dezember (Han), 26.55. 3, Amanda Fraga (Han), 26.84. 3200 — 1, McKinzi Teeples (Kam), 11:46.27. 2, Carli Jones (Kam), 12:18.40. 3, Emily Johnson (TD), 12:36.73. 4×200 relay — 1, Kamiakin (Rachel Harper, Britney Donais, KaiLi Knapp, Katherine Petsch), 1:47.25. 2, Hanford, 156.97. 3, Moses Lake, 1:57.62. 4×400 relay — 1, Hermiston (Jayden Ray, Amanda Nygard, Sydney Seavert, Abigail Sharon), 4:19.29. 2, The Dalles, 4:20.61. 3, La Grande, 4:25.09. HJ — 1, Kierstin White (Dufur), 4-11. 2, Britain Hartley (Nys), 4-10. 3, Sianna Iverson (Chi), 4-10. LJ — 1, Madisyn Hartley (Nys), 17-2 1/4. 2, MaKaylee Young (Herm), 16-4. 3, Amanda Fraga (Han), 15-6 3/4. Shot put — 1, Paige Palzinski (Herm), 38-0. 2, Katelynn Gelatin (Han), 35-9 1/2. 3, Juanita McBride (Han), 34-5. Discus — 1, Katelynn Gelatin (Han), 118-5 1/4. 2, Lacy Johnson (ML), 108-5 1/2. 3, Suzanne Gelatin (Han), 108-0. PV — 1, Abigail Winstead (Kam), 11-0. 2, Rachel Harper (Kam), 10-6. 3, Graison Oberman (Han), 9-6. TJ — 1, Brooke Thorne (Chi), 32-7. 2, Lindsey Marske (Han), 31-9. 3, Lacey Moser (ML), 31-7 1/4. Javelin — 1, Jazlyn Romero (Herm), 136-7 1/2. 2, Samantha Moore (Nys), 120-0 1/2. 3, Salee Westermeyer (Kam), 117-9 1/2.