6 hours Ago
The wind blew fast at the Chehalis Activators at W.F. West High School Saturday afternoon, but the Tumwater Thunderbirds’ sprinters were faster.
Tumwater handily won the team title, totaling 137 points to runner-up Capital’s 85, and took home nine individual event wins, two of which set meet records. Junior Blake Kirkpatrick stole the show in each of the four events he competed in and had a hand in both record-setting performances. He won the 100-meter crown in record-breaking fashion and was the only sub-11-second finisher with a time of 10.
96 seconds. Kirkpatrick earned the top prize in the 200-meter race by over a second, and he was the closer for both the 4x100 and 4x400 relay championship quartets. A 43.
21-second finish in the 4x100 relay stands alone as the best time in the meet’s history, with seniors Jaylin Nixon, Cash Short and David Malroy stamping their names on the record, as well. “My goal was to get those meet records. It means a lot.
I’ve been preparing all season for it, and I enjoy it, so I take pride in that,” Kirkpatrick said of setting two meet records. Junior Zane McAferty broke a lifetime best mark in the 1,600 meters with a 4:59.06 finish, his best lap coming in the fourth and final to win the event.
While he doesn’t have many mile races under his belt, Saturday was his first sub-five time. Senior Reid Crumley snagged the 300-meter hurdles title, and the reigning fifth-place state finisher in the event did so with his best time of the season at 41.26 seconds.
Fellow seniors Malijah Tucker and Malroy won the individual championships in the shot put and the long jump, respectively. Additionally, Short tacked on a victory in the 400 meters and was part of the winning 4x400 team with Kirkpatrick, Nixon and senior Josh Schlect. Saturday’s dominance is just another step for a team looking for postseason hardware.
Head coach Jordan Stray said the team, led by its seniors, has a drive that is different from what the coaches have seen. “A lot of our seniors are multi-sport athletes, and this is their last thing. They want to end on a top note,” Stray said.
Sprinters coach Mark Sullivan concurred with Stray’s evaluation of the team’s boosted mentality this season. He said the difference between last year’s team versus this year’s is “pretty noticeable.” “They are working really, really hard.
They’re more tight-knit as a group, and it’s a lot more fun to see them all cheer each other on and push each other to new levels,” Sullivan said. “This is just the start of where they want to be.” The Onalaska Loggers impressed at the Chehalis Activators with a third-place team finish, thanks in large part to its throwers.
Senior Justice Werner placed first in the discus with sophomores Morgan Allen and Ethan Thayer finishing right behind him. Werner added a third-place medal in the shot put to his day, and his two sophomore running mates clinched top-10 performances. Freshman standout Brodey Triana set a PR in the 400-meter race at 51.
77 seconds to come in fourth, and junior Luke Barrick took home an easy win in the pole vault with a jump of 14 feet. He attempted three jumps at 14-7 but could not convert. W.
F. West, the hosting squad, rounded out the top five teams with a fifth-best 31 points. Senior Ryan Hilliker finished behind Barrick in pole vault with a PR vault of 11-6, and Max Mishler and Damian Carroll earned seventh and eighth, respectively, with their best leaps of their careers.
Junior Hayden Niemi shined in the 300-meter hurdles with a second-place time of 42.53 to add to three previous first-place finishes in the event this season. Rainier, 29 points, was led by senior Zander Peck’s javelin title to place sixth as a team.
Junior Zach Hamilton’s PR 1,600-meter time of 4:45.62 was good for fourth and his third straight improved time in the event this spring. Rochester senior Gunnar Morgan continued his impressive streak of 1,600-meter runs so far with a third title this season at 4:36.
51. He finished third in both the 800 meters and 3,200 meters and provided 22 of the team’s 28 points to place seventh. Junior Le’Shawn Hines was responsible for the other six thanks to a fifth-place, PR triple jump at 39-7 and a seventh-place high jump at 5-6.
Morton-White Pass, which took eighth out of 22 teams, matched his PR in the 100-meter race at 11.44 to take eighth, and third-place medals in the 200 meters and the long jump added to the Timberwolves’ point total. His 21-foot, 1-inch long jump was good for the third-best leap in school history.
Centralia junior thrower Sam Volavola battled the wind to earn top-six finishes in the shot put and discus, the latter of which setting a PR at 141-9. Napavine’s Austin Lyons starred in the triple jump and both hurdle events to take home a trifecta of top-seven marks..
