For the first time in school history Rainier High School has a team state champion. The Mountaineers boys track and field program accomplished the feat after capturing the Class 2B state track and field championship at Eastern Washington University.
“It really was a special moment,” said head coach Rob Henry. “We’ve had a lot of people reach out to congratulate them. It really means a lot to the Rainier community. This senior class was truly remarkable and not just athletically. In 25 years of coaching, they are one of the best groups I’ve been around.”
As expected, senior Jeremiah Nubbe, the nation’s top discus thrower who is heading to the University of Texas, won two state titles—discus and shot put—and was second in the javelin to lead Rainier to a comfortable win in the team standings over runner-up Davenport (67-55).
The Mountaineers also received state titles from senior Ryan Doidge in the pole vault and junior Chase MacFarland in the triple jump and a second place from senior Dylan Davis in the pole vault.
While Rainier was winning state title No. 1, the Pope John Paul II girls’ team was capturing their first crown in program history, winning the Class 2B state championship. Senior Clare Kondrat was first in the 3200, second in the 1600, fourth in the 800 and ran the final leg of the Eagles’ 4×400 relay team, which placed second in the final event at that meet to clinch the team title.
“It was quite surprising actually,” said Pope John Paul II head coach Larry Weber about his team’s state championship after placing third at the district meet. “I really think everyone outperformed. It was amazing. It was just one of those days where everything came together. We’ve never talk about winning around here. We always want everyone to focus on improving and doing their best. If they do that everything else takes care of itself. The concept has always been to leave nothing at the finish, and that’s what they did.”
Additional local state champions included Northwest Christian junior Asher Ingram, who won the 3200 at the boys 2B state meet, and Pope John Paul II senior Trevor Dugo, who won the 1600 and 3200 at the 1B boys state meet.
Nubbe went out in style during his final high school meet, breaking the all-classification state meet record in the discus with a throw of 203 feet, 7 inches. The previous benchmark was 195-00 set by Chelan’s Jose Padilla in 2016. Nubbe set the state discus mark earlier in the season with a throw of 207-04 to break the 25-year-old record.
“Jeremiah is a big-time performer,” Henry said. “He really got the crowd going. I’ve never seen that many people come over and watch someone throw the discus before, and he put on a show for them. What a way to end your high school career.”
If that wasn’t enough, Nubbe also won the shot put, throwing 56-10.00 to break the 2B record, which was 56-05.25 and established in 2017 by North Beach’s Seth Bridge. He also added a second in the javelin (166-03).
Doidge won the pole vault, clearing 14-00.00, while teammate Davis was second (12-06.00). Rainier also doubled up in the triple jump with MacFarland (43-02.50) taking first and senior Thomas Ronne (40-07.50) placing fourth.
Harbor Lees rounded out the list of Rainier athletes who placed in the top five after the senior collected a fourth in the 100 (11.68).
Ingram won the 3200 title with a time of 9:50.37 and finished fifth in the 1600 (4:36.24).
The Rainier girls had state placers in the shot put with senior Autumn Kenney (third, 35-02.00), the discus with senior Isabella Holmes (fifth, 119-10), the high jump with freshman Acacia Murphy (fifth, 4-10.00) and the pole vault with senior Anna Champlin (7-06.00).
Also at the 2B girls state meet, Northwest Christian freshman Madison Ingram with fourth in the 3200 (12:12.06) and fifth in the 1600 (5:32.42).
Pope John Paul II, which won the 1B/2B girls cross country state title in the fall, added the 1B girls state track and field championship after edging DeSales (65-60) in the team standings.
The highlight of the meet for the Eagles was the 3200 as they had the top three finishers and five out of the top seven in the race, led by Kondrat, who covered the distance in a personal record time of 12:16.63. She was followed by teammates Catelin King (second, 12:30.69) and Ariel Brewer (third, 12:42.21) with Isabella Salvador (12:54.22) and Taylor Ames (13:09.05) finishing fifth and seventh, respectively.
If that wasn’t impressive enough Pope John Paul II also duplicated the feat in the 1600 with Kondrat finishing second (5:32.63) and King placing third (5:35.65) as the Eagles had four out of the top six finishers in the race. Freshman Adeline Hecht (fifth, 5:41.98) and Brewer (sixth, 5:45.26) also placed in the event.
The Eagles received a fourth from Kondrat (2:32.88), a fifth from Hecht (2:34.54) and an eighth from junior Moriah Steinbrecher (2:39.58) in the 800, a fifth from freshman Lindsay King (18.13) in the 100 hurdles and a second from their 4×400 team of Steinbrecher, Hechy, Isabella Friedline and Kondrat.
“We entered the last event knowing we were five points ahead of DeSales,” Weber said. “It all came down to the (4×400) relay. If something happened to us and (DeSales) placed high it could mean the state title, but the girls were so focused. It all started with Moriah. She ran such a great first leg it really set the tone for the entire race.”
The Pope John Paul II boys placed third at the 1B meet.
In addition to winning the 1600 (4:32.75) and 3200 (10:22.84), Dugo placed second in the 800 (2:03.58).
The Eagles also received a fourth from Samuel Rucker and a seventh from Kaden Harley in the 1600, a third from Samuel Rucker in the 3200 and a third in the discus and sixth in the shot put from Noah Braun.
