‘This is a reward.’ Sheldon has no regrets after making long trip north for Metro Area Lineman Challenge

By Dan Brood

It’s said that you always want to make a good first impression. 

Well, the Metro Area Lineman Challenge certainly seemed to make a good first impression on the Sheldon football squad.

And Sheldon made a heck of a good first impression at the Metro Area Lineman Challenge — a competition that featured such events as the 40-yard dash, shuttle run, vertical jump, standing broad jump, bench press, farmer’s carry, tractor tire flip, two-man sled relay and team tug of war — on Saturday, July 16, at Hare Field in Hillsboro.

The Irish, competing at the challenge for the first time, battled their way to third place in the final team standings, out of the 22 squads at the event.

Not only did the Sheldon team make a strong first impression, but the Irish players also seemed to have a good time during the initial appearance at the event.

“It’s good. It’s nice to be here with all the teams, competing with everybody,” Sheldon senior-to-be David Manstrom said. “It’s like our coach said: This is a reward. We’ve been working hard in the weight room and out of the field, so this is kind of a fun way to reward us. We want to come out here and go up against some pretty good teams.”

“This is super awesome,” Irish senior-to-be Noah Snyder said. “It’s a reward. It’s cool to be out here and check out all of these other guys and see what’s going on.”

“It’s a really good bonding moment for us,” said Sheldon senior-to-be Tanner Thomas, who was a second-team all-Southwest Conference pick as an offensive lineman last year. “We’re coming out here, competing and having fun. We’re growing closer together as an O-line and D-line group.”

“It’s been great,” said Sheldon senior-to-be Josh Merriman, a first-team all-conference selection on the defensive line last fall. “We’re here with the team, grinding.”

As opposed to most teams which had quick trips to get to the event, the Sheldon team came all the way from Eugene, taking an 119-mile trek to get from Sheldon High School to Hare Field. 

But, the Irish said, that’s what they wanted to do.

“It’s definitely worth the trip,” Manstrom said. “It’s fun to compete with all of our friends and grow closer as a team. It’s definitely a bonding thing.”

“It’s awesome to be out here and see how we stack up with everyone else,” Snyder said. “It was absolutely worth it.”

“We felt like we had a good group of guys this year, and we were like, ‘Let’s go get better and let’s spend the weekend together,’” Thomas said.

Sheldon took third place in the team standings with a score of 49 points, putting the Irish three points ahead of fourth-place Jesuit.

“We wanted to do this. We wanted to come here and put our best foot forward,” Merriman said. 

Sophomore-to-be Brody Thomas helped lead the way for Sheldon, placing fifth in the lightweight individual standings.

Thomas had the top mark of all competitors in the standing broad jump with a distance of 110 inches. Thomas also tied Manstrom for the team-best mark in the tire flip, each with 15.

Manstrom finished right behind Thomas in the lightweight individual standings, placing sixth.

“Definitely the bench (press),” Manstrom said of his favorite event at the competition. “The team, we competed really good in that. We’re not the biggest team, but I say we’re definitely one of the strongest.”

Manstrom and Merriman paced Sheldon in the bench press, each lifting 185 pounds 15 times.

Junior-to-be Will Haverland, who finished in 12th place in the heavyweight individual standings, also had a big performance for the Irish. Haverland led the team with a time of 5.13 seconds in the 40-yard dash. He also paced the Irish with a time of 4.53 in the shuttle run, with a vertical jump of 30 inches and with a distance of 56 yards in the farmer’s carry.

Sheldon also powered its way to second place in the team tug of war competition.

But most of all for Sheldon, the day was about getting to compete as a team with and alongside other traditional powerhouse squads such as Jesuit, Tualatin and West Linn.

“It feels different. It’s nice we’re looking at things more as a team, instead of one-on-ones. You can really see the strength here,” Tanner Thomas said. “It’s been really fun. I enjoyed the tire flip. That was a lot of fun.”

“It’s motivation, but we don’t really let it get to us,” Manstrom said. “We’re just out here to compete and get better.”

“This will help us come together as a team,” Snyder said. “It’s a bonding thing, absolutely.”

Sheldon, coming off a 9-2 season that ended in the second round of the Class 6A state playoffs, is looking forward to what should be a big 2022 campaign — at least according to the competitors in the Metro Area Lineman Challenge.

“We’re looking good. We have a good chance if we keep working hard,” Manstrom said. “I think we’ve got the best D-line. Our O-line is pretty good, too. We’re excited about everything.”

“We’re looking great,” Snyder said. “We’re looking to make a good run.”

Westview won the team title at the challenge, with Tualatin placing second. Tualatin senior-to-be Bodan Griffith was the lightweight individual champion, and Westview senior-to-be Gunner Jorgensen was the heavyweight champion.