It’s time.

When the league season hits the stretch run, it’s time for the Lakers to step up – so that’s just what the Lake Oswego girls track and field team did.

The Lakers — the two-time defending state champs hosted West Linn in Three Rivers League action on Tuesday, April 29 – broke through in the distances, dominated the throws and held their own in the jumps to beat West Linn 75-60 at Lake Oswego High School.

“I think today for sure we wanted to win. We were looking to win,” said Lake Oswego senior Raquel Pihlstrom, who set a new personal best to win the 1,500 meters and also ran on her team’s runner-up 4×400 relay. “We’ve really been consistent so it’s been good for most people.”

With the win, the Lakers snapped their one-meet losing streak and improved to 2-2 in the Three Rivers League. West Linn, meanwhile, saw its one-meet winning streak snapped and fell to 2-2 in TRL action.

“I think it was a good start to my season,” said West Linn senior Emersen Ruppe, who won the 100 in her first race back from a minor injury. “I’ve definitely got a lot of errors to improve on and I want to get back to running the 400, so the 100 is a start to getting there.”

For Lake Oswego, Pihlstrom set the pace in the 1,500, racing to victory in a PR of 5 minutes, 1.89 seconds, while senior teammate Noelle Plasse took second at 5:06.08.

“I was just hoping to PR,” Pihlstrom said. “I just wanted to go even splits and I think I did that. It feels really great. … I wanted to run five flat and I think I ran 5:01 or 5:02, so basically, I did it.”

Lake Oswego’s other winners included: sophomore Calla Cross in the 400 at 1:03.08; junior Cordelia Megowan in the 3,000 with a PR of 11:20.95; sophomore Addie Rodriguez in the 100 high hurdles and 300 intermediate hurdles, winning the hurdles with a PR of 17.52 and the intermediates with a PR of 46.85; junior Esther Conrad in the shot put, discus and javelin, topping the shot at 29 feet, 7.5 inches, the discus with a PR of 99-6 and the javelin at 85-1.5; freshman Cora Zadow in the high jump with a PR of 5-0; and freshman Davina Barber in the triple jump at 29-3.

For West Linn, Ruppe – the reigning TRL champion in both the 100 and 200 – made her 2025 debut a keeper, topping the 100 with a time of 12.64.

“I definitely was a little delayed getting off the line,” Ruppe said. “It wasn’t quite what I was hoping for, but (it was my) first race of the season. … I’m hoping I’ll get to run a 400 out here soon because that was my main thing in (the indoor season) so I’ll be excited to get back to that. … I’m just taking it super cautious because all the first meets of the season aren’t worth district and state.”

West Linn’s other winners included: junior Reese Jensen in the 200 with a PR of 25.12; freshman Eleanor Wyatt in the 800 with a PR of 2:12.72; the 4×100 relay team of sophomore Viktoria Norman, junior Claire Lenarduzzi, junior Kali Daniels and freshman Mado Kouame at 53.13; the 4×400 relay team of senior Hayden Williams-Downing, senior Sabrina Noce, Wyatt and Jensen at 4:00.81; junior Tayanah Balensifer in the pole vault at 11-0; and Daniels in the long jump at 14-1.25.