MLB All-Star festivities continued Monday evening with the 2025 Home Run Derby at Truist Park in Atlanta.

Raleigh, 28, is the first Mariners player to win the derby since Ken Griffey Jr. won it back-to-back in 1998-99.

Zack Jacobs got up, moved out from underneath comfort of the shade tent, stood in the sunlight and looked around.

What Jacobs saw brought a big smile to his face.

Everywhere the offensive line coach for the Tigard High School football team looked, he saw linemen. And those linemen were running, jumping, lifting, flipping tires and more.

It was all a part of the Metro Area Lineman Challenge, held Saturday under warm, sunny skies at Hare Field in Hillsboro.

“Honestly, it’s for linemen, by linemen,” Jacobs said. “Coach (Ian) Reynoso has a lot of experience doing this, and it’s the one thing that gets the big boys together. I know our guys love it, I love it, all these teams love it. It’s just a day to come out here and compete, not necessarily worrying about football.”

The event featured such events as the 40-yard dash, the shuttle run, vertical jump, standing broad jump, bench press, farmer’s carry, tractor tire flip, two-man blocking sled relay and the team tug of war.

“Oh, it’s awesome,” Sherwood senior-to-be Isaac Bean said. “I love coming out here and being able to compete. It’s a lot more fun than 7-on-7, in my opinion. It gives the big boys a chance to show their athleticism, and, also, in some ways, their physicality, with the strength events.”

Sprague claimed the team championship at the lineman challenge.

“It really shows that linemen are appreciated,” said Sprague junior-to-be Ayden McVey.

This year’s event marked the 15th year for the Metro Area Lineman Challenge, which was started by, and run by, Reynoso, who also is the head football coach at Glencoe. And, like in previous years, this year’s competition seemed to be one of the highlights of the summer for many of the high school linemen who were at the event.

“It’s definitely a big part of our culture at Tigard,” said Tiger senior-to-be Mason Gilliland, who took first place in the heavyweight division in Saturday’s competition. “We really love this challenge. Our linemen, all we do is talk about it until it happens. We love it.”

Jacobs is probably a big reason for that. The 2016 Tigard graduate, who went on to play on the offensive line at Linfield University, fondly recalls his days competing as a Tiger at the Metro Area Lineman Challenge.

“I remember beating (Tigard teammates) Conner (Crist) and Derek (McMurray), those big guys, I beat them in the farmer’s carry,” Jacobs said. “I remember that it was such a fun day. It was great being out here with your best friends, competing and hyping each other up. That’s why I love it. Now, I get to relive it.”

While Jacobs wasn’t out there seeing how many time he could bench press 185 pounds, or how fast he could run the 40-yard dash on Saturday, he did seem to revel in his chance to coach the Tigers at the competition that he once shined in.

“It’s definitely different, but it’s the same thrill,” Jacobs said. “Obviously, my time is done, and I’d give anything to be in these kids’ shoes. But it is so awesome to transfer what I’ve learned, and the experience and the fun I’ve had, and give it back to these kids, who are going through it for the first or second time.”

Looking around the sun-drenched Hare Field turf on Saturday, there certainly didn’t seem to be any lack of fun.

“This is my second year, and I love it,” Lake Oswego junior-to-be Dylan Marquez said. “This shows some love for the linemen, and you get to see everybody compete. It’s good to see your friends from other schools, and get to hang out with your team.”

There’s also plenty of camaraderie to go with all of that fun.

“For sure, there’s a brotherhood,” McVey said. “Teams are teams, and, obviously, you want to beat the guy across from you, but as a whole, we’re linemen, we’re unappreciated, and we need to stick together.”

“The unique thing about linemen is that it’s such a niche group, and that there’s love for everyone,” Jacobs said. “You’re six inches from a kid’s face every play. It’s some kid you don’t know, then you come out here on days like this and you get to know the guys. You work hard, they work hard and it’s a good bonding experience.”

But, don’t get the linemen wrong. Even with all of that camaraderie and brotherhood, the competition on Saturday was very much present.

“We just want to compete,” Marquez said. “We love being out here, we love seeing other teams’ linemen, but we want to win.”

“We’re all rooting for everybody to do well, to do their best,” said Bean, who claimed the lightweight championship. “But we want to do our best, and do it better than all of them.”

When it came to team competition, it was Sprague that did it better than all the rest. The Olympians took the title with a score of 60 points, edging second-place Sunset by just one point.

“This was awesome, it couldn’t have been better,” McVey said.

Senior-to-be Bohdi Jones helped the Olympians claim the team crown, as he finished in fourth place, individually, in the lightweight standings. Sprague junior-to-be Emmett Hunsaker finished in a tie for first place in the heavyweight tire flip event with 12 flips.

Flynn Collins of Jesuit, Braden Krizan of Tigard, Glencoe’s Brock Sahlfeld and Tripp Johansen of Willamette also tied for first place in the heavyweight tire flip competition, each also with 12 flips.

Also in the heavyweight division, Sunset’s Alex Esuk had the fastest 40-yard dash with his time of 5.11 seconds. Esuk also triumphed in the farmer’s carry with a distance of 120 yards. Nelson’s Porter Maciag and Tony Cumberland of Willamette tied for first place in the shuttle run, each with a time of 4.49. Lake Oswego’s Josh Christensen had the top mark in the vertical jump with a leap of 31 inches. Sahlfeld topped the field in the standing broad jump with a distance of 101.5 inches, and he tied Jesuit’s Cooper Wright and Sunset’s Tony Semchuk in the bench press, each lifting 185 pounds 26 times.

In the lightweight division, Sunset’s Justin Duchek had the fastest 40-yard dash with his time of 4.98. Glencoe’s Alex Flores triumphed in the shuttle run with a mark of 4.51. Sherwood’s Charlie Moore had the day’s top vertical jump at 34 inches, and he tied teammate Andres Hernandez for the top mark in the tire flip, each with 12. Nelson’s Eli Escobar had the top distance in the standing broad jump with 109 inches. Eli Escobar was victorious in the bench press with 25 lifts and, in the farmer’s carry, Glencoe’s Porter Braun and Hernandez tied for the top spot, each with 105 yards.

In the team events, Sprague took first place in the two-man blocking sled relay race in a time of 1:12.

Jesuit turned in an impressive performance in winning the team tug of war title, topping Willamette in the bracketed finals.

Rounding out the top 10 team scores in the 27-team,18-school event, Sherwood finished in third place with 48 points, Lake Oswego was fourth with 45, Jesuit was fifth with 42, Willamette was sixth with 29, Sandy was seventh with 21, Oregon City was eighth with 19, Liberty was ninth with 16 and Tigard finished in 10th place with 14 points.

And, at the end, as the competitors were munching on hamburgers while sitting in the shaded grandstands at Hare Field, there were plenty of smiles, and looks of accomplishment, to be seen.

“This day was absolutely the best,” Jones said. “It was amazing.”

“This is really fun,” Gilliland said. “It’s fun to compete. It’s great to be out there with everyone. And there’s just love in the end.”