Island athletes set the pace at Districts, one moves on to State

Four Vashon athletes qualified to compete at the Tri-District track and field competition, held Thursday and Saturday at King’s High School in Shoreline. Islander Emma Levant moved on to the state competition.

By Kevin Ross • May 23, 2012 3:30 pm

Four Vashon athletes qualified to compete at the Tri-District track and field competition, held Thursday and Saturday at King’s High School in Shoreline. Islander Emma Levant moved on to the state competition.

Julie Wilson and Samantha Clements represented Vashon High School at the Tri-District event. Levant competed for Charles Wright Academy, where she attends school. Graham Peet, also an Islander, competed for the Northwest School, which is located on Capitol Hill in Seattle.

Eighteen schools from across the region competed at the 1A meet. The top five boys in each event, as well as the top six girls, earned spots at State.

Levant, a senior at Charles Wright, qualified for the State track meet in three events. She set a season’s best time of 16.96 in the 100-meter hurdles, placing third, and another season’s best time of 48.75 in the 300 meter hurdles. Levant was also on the 4-by-400 relay team that qualified for State.

The two Pirate competitors were not able to qualify for state. Wilson, a senior, ran a 13.83 in the 100-meter dash preliminary race. However, she missed being in the top eight to qualify for the finals.

Samantha Clements, a junior at VHS who lives in West Seattle, placed ninth in the long jump final with a leap of 14 feet, 8 inches. In the triple jump she placed 12th with a jump of 30 feet, 8 inches.

Peet, a freshman at the Northwest School set a new record for his school in the 1600, which he finished in 4:37. He also beat his personal best by three seconds. Peet placed eighth overall in this very competitive event.

Peet said his goal all year has been to beat his school record in the event.

“I got off to a bad start,” Peet said. “However I was able to make up a lot of ground and relied on my kick to carry me to my personal best time in this event.”

In the 3200 meters, Peet had another personal best of 9:57, missing his school record by one second.

The 1A State track and field meet will be held this weekend at Eastern Washington University in Cheney.

 

— Kevin Ross is a VHS track and field coach.