Eighth-grader at Oregon’s Lake Oswego Middle School wins three individual titles, anchors 4x200 relay to victory; Green produces dominant mile effort, with Dwol and Helms also setting meet records

By Landon Negri for DyeStat

NAMPA, Idaho – Mia Brahe-Pedersen said she set her expectations low entering this weekend’s Nike Boise Indoor at the Ford Idaho Sports Center.

Her performances, however, suggested something far, far different, and far, far better.

Just an eighth-grader, Brahe-Pedersen took the meet by storm, winning individual titles in three events – the 60-meter dash, 200 and 400 meters – and adding an anchor leg to a winning 4x200 relay for the Step Ur Game Up club.

And she’s still months away from high school, at Lake Oswego Middle School in Oregon.

INTERVIEWS

“I was on the bus, and I was telling my friend, ‘I just hope I place better than last year,’” Brahe-Pedersen said. “I did pretty good last year, but I wanted to do better because I feel like I’ve worked harder for it.”

Brahe-Pedersen was born in Mission Viejo, Calif., before moving to Oregon around a decade ago, her mother, Pam Cosper said. As a seventh-grader a year ago, Brahe-Pedersen stepped in and helped Step Ur Game up win a relay, along with placing in the top eight in all three individual events.

Cosper said Brahe-Pedersen prepared for Boise by going vegan for the week. Asked if she ever gets tired of hearing how she’s just an eighth-grader, she simply replied, “It’s kind of reassuring to know that I’m on the right track.”

After winning the 200 on Friday by more than a second in a time of 24.85 seconds, she outlegged club and relay teammate Sophia Beckmon – Friday’s long jump winner – to win the 60-meter dash in 7.74.

She followed that up with a win in the 400 in 57.93, the event she said was the toughest to win, even though she prevailed by nearly two seconds over runner-up Harley Daniel, another Step Ur Game Up teammate.

“The 400, it takes a totally different type of person to run that successfully,” Brahe-Pedersen said.

Brahe-Pedersen said her next move might be to go to New York in March for New Balance Nationals Indoor.

While she spent a weekend looking like a proverbial blur on the track, she also said the weekend was a blur.

“I don’t really believe my times,” she said. “They don’t really settle in until I see them on Athletic.net.”

Other times shined, Saturday, too. Three meet records fell, the most impressive belonging to miler Nathan Green of YMCA Team Idaho and Borah High in Boise.

Green, the 11th-place finisher at the Nike Cross Nationals in December, ran aggressively from the start in the mile and finished in 4:09.45, breaking former Poctaello standout Elijah Armstrong’s meet record by nearly four seconds.

That sense of history meant a lot to Green.

“It feels pretty great,” he said. “Some of the greatest runners in Idaho history have run through here, like Elijah Armstrong and Michael Slagowski. They’ve paved the way for Boise running, and it just feels good just to be a part of that momentum shift.”

Green, who plans to go to Simplot Games next week and New Balance Nationals Indoor after, opened with a 60-second first 400 meters and a 60-second last 400 meters. The middle 800, he said, was 2:09, where he sees room for improvement, even if he did win by 15 seconds over Anchorage Christian AK junior Tristian Merchant, who won the 2-mile Friday.

“We wanted to be more even and clean,” said Green, who plans to focus on the 1,600 during outdoor season, “but we got sub-4:10, and that’s what we wanted.”

Landon Helms of Dragila Vault Club and also of nearby Emmett High School won the pole vault by clearing 15-11 (4.85m), one height farther than club teammate and friend Logan Hammer.

“It was really fun to have one of my friends to go neck and neck with,” Helms said.

He missed his three attempts at 16-4.75 (5.00m), but vowed after missing that “we’ll get it at Simplot” next week. He also broke Connor McLean’s meet record of 4.80m set back in 2014.

Agur Dwol of Mile High Track Club and Mullen CO had the day’s other meet record, winning the triple jump in 40-9.50 (12.43m). That beat the former mark of 39-3.25 (11.97m) set by Silver Creek CA graduate Arianna Fisher of South Bay Track Club two years ago. It also won the event by more than two feet.

“It’s always just to PR,” said Dwol, when asked what her goal was coming into Nike Boise, “and do better than I did before.”

The Max sisters of Mondo Track Club and Summit High in Bend, Ore., swept distance events Saturday, rebounding after Friday night’s loss to Menlo i Greyhounds in the 4x800 relay. Fiona Max won the mile Saturday morning in 5:08.93; Izzy Max followed up hours later with an 800-meter win in 2:16.72.

“Her race definitely inspired me to get out there and get it done,” Izzy Max said. “It’s always nice to see my sister and my teammates run before me and run well.”

Caleb Hagan of Step Ur Game Up came close to a meet record, winning the 60 meters in 6.88 seconds, two hundredths off the 2015 meet record set by another Step Ur Game Up athlete, Harrison Schrage.

Hagan, fatigued a bit after winning the 200 the night before – and setting a record 21.75 in that event – opted out of the 400 and a 4x200 later.

“It was a good race,” Hagan said of the 60. “I was dealing with fatigue and stuff after the 200, so I just came out and I did what I had to do.”

Luke Tapp of Rigby ID may have been a benefactor. Tapp just missed a personal best but still won the 400 in a time 50.22 seconds.

Step Ur Game Up capped a terrific meet with a win in the 4x200, as Daniel, Gemma Pleas, Beckmon and Brahe-Pedersen won in 1:44.48. On the boys side, Spokane Speed Academy and the team of Jacob Schnatter, Logan Allen, Pedro Sandre and Teagun Holycross won in 1:31.13.

Other winners included Kamloops’ Ryan Jacklin of F.E. Madill in Ontario, Canada, in the shot put at 57-2.50 (17.43m), Mile High Track Club’s Carson Campbell of Thomas Jefferson CO in the triple jump at 43-9.25 (13.34m), Idaho Falls’ Zac Bright in the 800 at 1:59.16 – he let out a fist pump to celebrate breaking 2 minutes – and Bonners Ferry’s Victoria Rae in the shot put at 37-1 (11.30m).