The bar for next year’s track and field season has been established. A total of six Thurston County athletes placed at the Class 2A state high school boys’ track and field championships at Mount Tahoma High School. None were seniors.
Black Hills saw two of its athletes place in the top five in a pair of events with junior Pearse Popchock and sophomore Sir Carter.
“The bar is here,” Carter said. “We’re going to go higher next year.”
Carter finished second in the 110 hurdles, covering the distance in a speedy 15.26 seconds. Franklin Pierce senior Tyrell Edge took first with a time of 14.90.
Edge also captured the 300 hurdles crown (38.93) with Burlington-Edison senior Mitch Wesen (39.76) finishing second and Carter getting up for third (39.95).
“It’s been a long year. A lot of hard work,” Carter said. “(Tyrell) pushed me so much. He’s a good guy, fast guy too. It helps so much when you’re out there running against someone like him. (This performance) definitely gets you into the mindset that you want to get first next year.”
Popchock finished third in the 800, stopping the clock in a personal record of 1:55.68.
“(The 800) is really a volatile race. Anything can happen, but that’s why I like it,” Popchock said. “I’ve been tensing up the last 100 and 200 (meters during races) this season. I just kept telling myself to relax and get these guys. That was the plan, just relax. You need a strategy, but a lot of this race is mental. You can’t go out there afraid. You have to be confident in your training and in what you can do.”
Popchock also collected a fifth-place finish in the 1600 (4:22.84). Both of his races were won by seniors, leaving the door wide open for next season.
“I definitely worked harder in the offseason this past year,” Popchock said. “I really had better training and I think that helped me get to a podium position this year.”
Black Hills junior Jordan Claridge became the third member of the Wolves’ squad to notch a top five finish when he placed fifth in the javelin (172-11).
Tumwater also had three individual state placers who will all return next year in Brad Blackburn, Tyler Gilliland and Trent Kibler.
Blackburn, a junior, was third in the 400 (49.87), while Kibler collected a fifth place in the high jump (6-04) and fellow sophomore Gilliland registered a third in the discus (156-10) and an eighth in the javelin (166-02).
Blackburn also joined Rashaun Tate, Dylan Mooers and Brian Le in posting a fourth-place finish in the 4×400 relay. River Ridge took home a medal of its own in the event, getting a sixth place from the team of Drayden Alexander, Tyler Robinson, Isaiah Parker and Dontae Owens.
Olympia junior Chase Suting was the runner-up in the 400 in the 4A classification. Jackson senior Daniel Arias won the race in 49.02. Suting crossed the wire in 49.65 to edge Auburn Riverside’s Jaden Robinson, whose final time was 49.66.
In the 3A meet, Capital received individual placings from seniors John Gerhard (seventh, high jump) and Ethan Au (fifth, pole vault), and a fifth place finish from sophomore Matthew Rosser in the 100 wheelchair.
The Cougars also made it to the podium following the 4×100 and 4×400 relays. The 4×100 team of Oliver Salmon, Clayton Grady, Ryan Guscott and Timothy Fisher grabbed a sixth-place medal, while the 4×400 team of Au, Salmon, Fisher and Zach Willis took fourth.
1B/2B State Boys’ Track and Field Championships
Pope John Paul II High School finished fourth as a team in its inaugural Class 1B state boys’ track and field championships at Eastern Washington University.
The Eagles got a pair of second places from senior Jack Farrell, who was the runner-up in the 800 and 1600, while junior Caden Deutscher finished second in the 3200 and freshman Kobe Deutscher was third in the 1600.
Pope John Paul II finished with 38 total points. Mt. Vernon Christian won the overall team championship with 95 points. Republic (44 points) and Evergreen Lutheran (41) finished second and third, respectively.
Northwest Christian finished fifth at the 2B meet, getting a trio of top five placings from sophomores Garrett McSheffrey and Noah Phillips.
McSheffrey finished third in the 800, fourth in the 1600 and fifth in the 3200, while Phillips collected a fourth in the 800, a fifth in the 1600 and third in the 3200.
McSheffrey and Phillips would also join Will Sinclair and Taehoo Kim to grab eighth in the 4×400 relay.
The Navigators also received a fifth place from Tyler Fox in the high jump and an eighth from Cameron Nielson in the 3200.
Rainier had three athletes medal at the 2B state meet with Ethan MacFarland taking second in the triple jump and 10th in the pole vault. The Mountaineers also got a second from Brody Klein (pole vault) and a 10th from Easton Holmes (shot put).
