With state meet just around the corner, Valley Catholic's Henry Tierney gets 'confidence booster' with dominant 1,500 performance at Jesuit Twilight Relays

The University of Portland commit has an 11½-second gap on his nearest 4A competition in the 1,500.

René Ferrán | May 1, 2022

With state meet just around the corner, Valley Catholic's Henry Tierney gets 'confidence booster' with dominant 1,500 performance at Jesuit Twilight Relays /

By René Ferrán

Henry Tierney had quietly put together a solid senior season before coming to Cronin Field on Friday for the 20th annual Jesuit Twilight Relays.

The Valley Catholic distance ace opened the spring by breaking the school record in the 800 meters while winning the Laker Classic Invitational. Last Saturday, he set another school record — this time in winning the 1,500 at the Willamette Falls Invitational.

On Friday, though, on the biggest stage he’d trod in his career, he came up with a career performance, taking the lead midway through the 1,500 final and steadily pulling away to a 2½-second victory in 3:53.97 — moving to No. 3 on the state’s all-time list for Class 4A runners.

“This is a very fast state. There have been a ton of people running very fast times this year, and all props to them,” Tierney said. “But I was hoping to get my name into that pile. I would have loved a sub-3:50, but I’m very happy with this.”

Tierney, who has committed to run for the University of Portland, has opened an 11½-second gap on his nearest 4A competition in the 1,500 with the state meets coming up in three weeks at Hayward Field.

“This was a big confidence booster,” he said. “This was by far my best competition of the year, and so yeah, I’m excited for finishing the season strong and then running in college.”