Catchin up with the OHHS track team

The OHHS track team has been busy and successful these past two weeks.

After the spring break, the varsity team traveled down to Everett for a meet at Mariner High School. If you all remember, it was the day of the storm that produced some 50 mph gusts here on Whidbey Island. As a result, there weren't a lot of new personal records set that day.

There were a lot of wins by Oak Harbor athletes, though.

Going with the girls first, Wildcat women captured 5 of the top 7 places in the 100, 4 of the top 5 in the 200, the top 3 in the 400 and the top 5 in the 800, javelin and long jump and overall won every event except for one, and in that event got 2nd place. When it was all over, the OH girls dominated with 123 points. Mariner was 2nd with 36 and Meadowdale 26.

OH winners were - Naomi Walker (100, 200), Maura McKole (400), Addy Royal (800, 1600), Abby Leete (3200), Allison Duvenez (100 and 300 hurdles), Amanda Alvarado (shot put), Nicki Mowbray (javelin and high jump) and Shantae Young (long and triple jumps). The winning 4x100 relay team was made up of Walker, Young, Christina Alexander and Janessa Ramos, the 4x200 team featured Duvenez, McKole, Katelyn Bristow and Janelle Yoshimoto. In the 4x400 race it was McKole, Duvenez, Royal and Leete.

While the boys weren't quite a successful, they did get a total of four 1st place finishes. Donovan Hunt, back from an injury, won the 100 and long jump, Matt Bolte the 400, and Derrick Clarit the triple jump. There were seven 2nd place finishes as well - Jason Curles in the 200, Chris Opdyke in the 400, Javon Payne in shot put, Clarit in long jump and Andy Haag in triple jump. The 4x100 relay team (Hunt, Curles, Aaron Boesch and Justin Everett) and 4x400 team (Opdyle, Curles, Bolte and Josh Sayre) each earned 2nd place finishes.

On Monday a JV/All-comers meet was held at Snohomish HS. Complete results aren't available at athletic.net (not all the participating school posted results), but the Wildcats did well. On the boys side, Jalen Williams is at the top of the 200m JV race with a time of 25.6 and Josh Crebbin is at the top of the JV 1600m results with a 5:32 (his personal best). In the JV long jump results, list has 7 Wildcats in a row, led by Spencer Matthews who jumped 16-2. Also on that list were Sam Collins, Ian Sinchak, Jalen Williams, Dustyn Bull, Jel Atienza and Brylle Baranda. Bull and Sinchak also are on the JV triple jump list, but that event was headed by Cody Hernkind.

The JV girls team is much smaller than the boys but also had several JV winners. Jalani Bobo topped the 200m, which was an OH sweep. She was followed by Jember Jansen, Ciera Wiser, Brianna Quinn, Chylan Bass, O'Jinae Welch, Melinda Kelly and Bet Riba. Jansen also picked up a win in the 400m dash and Emily Bain captured the 800m JV title. Danielle Teasley put her shot 24 feet 8 inches, winning the JV event and setting a new PR. Wiser threw her javelin 81-6 and Chylan Bass jumped 28-7.25 in the triple jump to post the best JV mark in those events.

On Thursday the 15th, on a absolutely beautiful day for track, OH hosted Snohomish and Lake Stevens at Wildcat Memorial Stadium. As a result there were 40 new personal records (PRs) set by OHHS athletes.

Going with the boys first, Donovan Hunt had to squeak out a win in the 100 meter dash, beating Lake Stevens' Tyler Reside by .01 second. Jason Curles was 3rd with a time of 12.0

Curles went on to earn 3rd place in the 2oo, and although they didn't finish in the top 10, Cody Hernkind, Noel Cheeseboro, Jeshaiah Davis and Ian Sinchak, along with Curles, all set new personal records in that event.

Matt Bolte won the 400, Chris Opdyke was 4th and 8th place Conner Meyer set a new PR.

Bolte also won the 800 with Meyer, Thomas Honeycutt and Lucas Salmons all finishing in the top 10 with new PRs.

John Kartenbach finished 7th in the 1600 and Honeycutt and Salmons set new PRs again.

Nate Miller was the only OH entrant in the 3200 meter run and finished 8th in 11:32.61

Josh Sayre was also the only entrant in the two hurdles races. He finished 5th in the 110 and 3rd in the 300, setting a PR in both.

The 4x100 relay team (Hunt, Curles, Cheeseboro and Derrick Clarit, and 4x400 relay team (Bolte, Curles, Sayre and Rashaad Smith) each finished in 2nd place.

The OH men throwers did OK. Javon Payne was the top OH shot putter, throwing his 12-lb shot 42-1, good enough for 5th place. Jeremy Foster threw 40-0 for 8th place and a PR and Robert Beadles had a PR with a throw of 33-6.

Zach Wallace finished in 12th place in the javelin with a throw of 98-3, but it was an improvement of over 13 feet from his previous PR!

In addition to the sprinters, the jumpers were also a bright spot on the team as Donovan Hunt won both the long and triple jump and Sam Schultz earned 2nd in the high jump. Schultz set a new PR of 5-6 and Derrick Clarit set a new PR in the triple jump of 39-2.5.

For the girls, it was another case of Oak Harbor domination. The girls earned 81 points to The Vikings' 55 and Panthers' 53.

Naomi Walker, Shantae Young and Janessa Ramos finished 1-2-3 in the 100 with Christina Alexander and Jalani Bobo not far behind in 5th and 8th. Walker also went on to win the 200 with a PR of 25.82 with Ramos in 3rd and Bobo in 7th.

Addy Royal again won both her events, the 800 and 1600, setting a new PR in the 1600. Running with her in both events and setting PRs as well were Hannah Kagey and Taylor VonGrey.

Abby Leete completed the near-sweep of the running events by winning the 3200 run in 11:49.14, followed by Emily Bain in 6th.

In the hurdles races, Allison Duvenez finished 3rd in the 100 and 2nd in the 300. Also in both races were Raeanna Wynne, Megan Duhrkopf and Shannon Wolfe who each set PRs in both races.

The 4x100 relay was the only relay race won by the Wildcats. The team of Young, Ramos, Alexander and Walker was untouchable, winning by over 2 seconds. The 4x200 team of Duvenez, Bobo, Ramos and Janelle Yoshimoto earned 3rd place as did the 4x400 team of Royal, Leete, Duvenez and Jessica Denmon.

The throwers won 2 of their 3 events, with Amanda Alvarado winning the shot put and Yoshi winning the javelin. Dominique Jackson (DJ) was the top OH finisher in the discus, finishing 4th with a toss of 87-9.

Jumpers won all 3 events they were entered in and went 1-2 in the long and triple jumps. Nicki Mowbray set a new PR of 4-10 on her way to victory in the high jump and Katelyn Bristow came in 4th at 4-4. Young and Walker were 1-2 in the long jump where Shantae jumped 18-3.5 for a new PR. Walker, in 2nd, jumped 16-2. Young also won the triple jump (35-4.5) but it was Mowbray in 2nd with a PR of 32-2. There were no OH entrants in the pole vault.

The Wildcat track team is at home again this Thursday, April 22nd against Arlington and Monroe. Admission is free and the concession stand will be open with lots of hot chocolate.

92 photos are posted HERE.

A few video clips are posted HERE on YouTube - 3 hurdles races, some shot put, javelin and long jump as well.