The McMurray Middle School girls track and field team placed first of seven teams at the West Sound League meet on May 31. With results not immediately available, the girls just recently learned of their big win.

Coach Marilyn Oswald said that in the past decade the team has never placed higher than third.

“This is a real accomplishment,” Oswald said. “These are big schools with over 150 athletes each that we compete against.”

The athletes earned a combined score of 131 points at the meet. The next closest school only had 89 points. Virginia Miller earned 20 points with two first place finishes; Annika Hille earned 17, Audrey Benner 8, Jane Oswald 8, Katrina Heffernan 10, Kat Andrus 12, Delaney Anderson 6, Jessica Merritt 4, Lauren Jenks 1, and Kate Atwell 1.

Oswald said the MVP award for the meet should go to Abigail Kim, who earned 30 points individually, and then anchored the girls 4×200 to victory for another 10 points. This team also set a McMurray record with a time of 1:52.

Based on encouragement from her coaches, Kim went on to compete in an Amateur Athletic Union-sanctioned track meet in Renton last weekend. There she placed second in the 100 and 200 meters and had a personal best long jump of over 17 feet to qualify for the national Junior Olympic track meet in Houston, Texas in August. Kim also qualified to compete in the USA Track and Field qualifier at Chief Sealt