Summit's Barrett Justema uses snub as motivation, charges to 1,500 victory at Jesuit Twilight Relays

“I felt like this is a good opportunity for me to go out and prove myself for next year and prove what I thought I was capable of doing.”

By René Ferrán 

Summit junior Barrett Justema felt a bit jilted after being left out of the field for the Elite Mile at Friday’s 20th annual Jesuit Twilight Relays. 

Instead of dwelling on her disappointment, she used it as motivation for the afternoon’s 1,500-meter run.

She moved up from fifth to second as the lead pack hit the bell lap, caught Tualatin’s Lauren Ayers with 200 meters to go, then held off a final charge from the sophomore to win in 4:35.72.

“Yeah, I was pretty upset about it,” Justema said. “But I felt like this is a good opportunity for me to go out and prove myself for next year and prove what I thought I was capable of doing.”

One of the first people to congratulate Justema after the race was meet director Tom Rothenberger, the longtime Jesuit coach who retired a couple seasons ago.

The Crusaders and Storm have been rivals in the distance running world for some time — a rivalry that intensified when Summit moved up to Class 6A four years ago — but it didn’t surprise Justema to get a high-five from Rothenberger, with whom she’s been exchanging emails.

“It’s a friendly but fierce competition,” Justema said. “There’s no bad blood between us. Obviously, both teams want to win and go as hard as they can, but it doesn’t come from a mean place. We’re all really friendly, and some of the Jesuit girls are super nice to us. It’s just what comes out of competition.”

Ayers broke the school record with her second-place run, finishing in 4:35.80.

Girls 1,500 Meters Podium

1, Barrett Justema, Jr., Summit, 4 minutes, 35.72 seconds.

2, Lauren Ayers, So., Tualatin, 4:35.80.

3, Kenzie Bigej, Fr., Canby, 4:38.76.

4, Faith Martinez, Sr., Tahoma, 4:39.97.

5. Sara Sanders, Jr., Tahoma, 4:43.00.

6, Claire McDonald, Jr., Summit, 4:45.19.

7. Zoe Rector, So., Central Catholic, 4:45.74.

8, Jennifer Tsai, Sr., Marist Catholic, 4:45.89.

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Best photos from 2022 Jesuit Twilight Relays

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