When the Pirate track and field team showed up at Renton Memorial stadium for the West Central 1A District championship, they had their sights set on qualifying a few athletes to compete at the 1A State track meet, to be held at Eastern Washington University in Cheney this weekend, where runners hoped to set personal records in their events.
To qualify for the State meet, runners needed to finish in the top two places in their event or achieve a predetermined qualifying time or mark in their event. The Pirates accomplished all of those goals.
The boys 4×100 meter relay team, consisting of Kalen Cunningham, Sol Dehnert, Evan Stephananich and Noah Edmonds, finished second in the time of 45.45 to book a trip to compete at the state meet. From the start, the team had to play catch-up for most of the race as they took advantage of good handoffs and speed, between Stephanic running the third leg and Edmonds in the anchor leg to move from fourth to second in the final 150 meters of the race.
Senior Edmonds, in addition to the boys 4×100 relay, secured his own spot for state in the boys 100 meter dash with a fourth-place finish in 11.41. In this ultra competitive district championship meet, five of the top 10 competitors in the state were featured in this race. Edmonds was able to meet the standard qualifying time along with three other competitors to book their trip to the state meet.
This race had its challenges, as there was a false start and then the gun misfired, causing three competitors to sprint for the finish while everyone else remained in their blocks. This forced the race to have to be suspended and then contested at the end of the meet so it would be fair to the athletes who had left their blocks. Edmonds also competed and finished fifth in the 200 meter dash in 23.23. Stephananich finished seventh with a time of 24.25 in the same event.
Freshman Grace Christie just missed a trip east of the mountains to State by one spot in the girls’ long jump as she finished third overall with a leap of 15 feet. Grace has been very competitive in this event all season. Her teammate Analeah Olson claimed fourth place in the same event with a jump of 14’8. Sophomore Logan Higuera finished sixth in the boys Javelin by setting his own personal record with a throw of 128’11. Higuera has consistently improved at every meet this year.
The girls 4×100 relay team, consisting of Maya Gould, Olson, Ava Bostock and Jaquelyn Bostock finished fifth in a time of 53.96. Sophomore Bostock also competed in the girls 100 meters and finished seventh in a time of 13.52. Junior Nick Nuxoll finished sixth in the boys long jump with a leap of 16’3. Sophomore Brigit O’Rourke ran a time of 6:27 to finish eighth in the girls mile. In the overall team scoring, Coupeville took the district title for the boys and Bellevue Christian took the title on the girls side. The State track and field championships will be Thursday through Saturday at Roos Field at Eastern Washington in Cheney.
— Kevin Ross, Assistant Track and Field Coach
