Three Pirate girls claimed first-place victories at last Thursday’s track and field meet at Charles Wright, helping the girls team take second overall among five teams at the meet.

Taylor Hernandez finished the 100-meter hurdles in 21.7. Samantha Clements took the long jump with a leap of 14.8 feet and the triple jump at 28.5 feet. Maddi Groen, also a double winner, took first in both the 1600 and 800 meters.

Groen easily won the 800 in 2:45, but the most exciting race of the day was when she ran in the 1,600 meters. Groen came from behind with 250 meters to go and passed Cascade Christian and Annie Wright runners to take the victory in 6:05.

“I went into the race unsure about the competition,” Groen later said. “After the first lap the pack started to settle, so I ran a very smart race and felt great.”

Peri Roberts also had a second-place finish in the girls 3,200 meters.

On the boys’ side, newcomer Olin Nespor took first in the boys 800 meters with a time of 2:24.

Nespor led the race from the gun. Niko Ware from Chimacum put pressure on Nespor by making a surge late in the race. However Nespor fought off fatigue and held his competitor off.

“I was tired, but I stayed ahead and hung on for the victory,” he said.

Other highlights included Elan Peterson’s second-place finish in the boys 110-meter high hurdles and Alex Soriano’s discus throw, which he improved by 17 feet.

The Vashon girls took second place with 58.5 points. Cascade Christian won the girls meet with 106. Cascade Christian also took the win in team scoring for the boys. Vashon took third of four boys teams.

— Kevin Ross is a Vashon High School track and field coach.