DyeStat.com – News – Brahe-Pedersen Makes Most Of Her Rare Opportunity To Race Boys At Summit Invitational

Lake Oswego Junior Runs US-Leading Wind-Legal Times of 11.08 and 22.61

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

BEND, Ore. — Mia Brahe-Pedersen gets a thrill out of showing people something they’ve never seen before. 

And Saturday at the Secure Storage Summit Invitational, she showed them:

Running in a varsity final against top-seeded boys, the Lake Oswego junior won a competitive race and produced her fastest wind-legal time, 11.08 seconds. Only two high school girls in history have covered 100 meters faster with allowable wind: Briana Williams (10.94) and Candace Hill (10.98). 

There was a side bet on the line with one of her Lake Oswego teammates, Ethan Park: Loser picks up the dinner tab at next week’s prom. 

Sorry, dude. (Park was fourth in 11.38).

RESULTS/VIDEOS | INTERVIEWS

Brahe-Pedersen was running even with Summit’s Tadhg Brown for about 70 meters, and then pulled away from him late as a grandstand full of spectators erupted in cheers after being slightly puzzled during the pre-race introduction. 

“I am so grateful to the people who put on this meet, because they did everything they could to accommodate me and give me the opportunity to be the best and make history,” Brahe-Pedersen said. “I love to make history. People love to watch history being made.”

Two hours later in ever-shifting weather conditions, the start of the combined boys/girls 200 meters landed just a bit too late. Ominous dark clouds caught up to the track meet and began spitting ice pellets in the final minutes leading up to the race. 

It was hailing by the time the gun went off. In the bleachers and on the track, the ice was coming down from the sky and bouncing off the surface. The temperature plummeted from the upper 50s to 43 degrees. 

And yet, here came Brahe-Pedersen storming around the curve and caught in the middle of a tight race with Garrett Chaffee of Newberg and Treyden Lucas of Bend. She finished third behind them, in 22.61 seconds. Chaffee won it in 22.33, also securing a new personal best. 

That time was another personal best and made her the seventh-fastest high school girl of all-time, bumping ahead of Abby Steiner. 

The bad weather did not dim Brahe-Pedersen’s outlook. 

“Hey, we’re Oregonians,” she said. “We can do anything.”

Bend’s elevation (3,600) was worth something in the performance, possibly canceled out by the pelting hail and cold temperature. 

But the opportunity to race athletes with comparable skills — in this case, boys — was…