Track and Field 4/26, 4/29 and 4/30

It was a very busy week for the Oak Harbor track team as they participated in a total of 3 meets during the week, including back-to-back meets on Thursday and Friday.

The week started with a JV/All-comers meet at Stanwood HS. It was a cool day and towards the end started to rain steadily, but all the athletes enjoyed themselves and worked hard. Results have not been posted so are not available.

150 photos from the meet are posted HERE.

Thursday saw the last regular season track meet of the year with the Wildcats traveling to Everett Memorial Stadium to take on Everett and Marysville. Since most athletes would be competing again the next day, the coaches limited them to just 2 events each, resulting in a lower overall point score than OH would normally get.

Starting with the boys, there was only one OH winner for the day and that was senior Donovan Hunt in the long jump, but there were a number of 2nd place finishers. Josiah Miller was 2nd in the 100m dash, Matt Reith in the 800, Josh Sayre was 2nd in the 300m hurdles, Josh Higbee in the Long Jump and Andy Haag in the triple jump. Hunt is currently has the 14th best long jump in the state in 4A.

In addition to the top finishes above, 13 Wildcat boys set new season or personal records in a variety of events.

Cody Hernkind set a PR in the high jump of 5-4 on his way to a 3rd place finish. Jalen Williams finished just out of the top 10 in the 200m dash but set a PR of 25.51. Jeshaiah Davis set two PRs on the day, running 25.74 in the 200 and 58.03 in the 400. Matt Reith ran the 800 in 2L08.55 and Conner Meyers also set a PR in the race of 2:16.11

Both runners in the 1600 had season bests. Nate Miller had his best time this season with a 5:15.25 and Lucas Salmons set a PR with a 5:17.49.

In field events, Javon Payne threw the javelin 128-8, Dakota Sinchak hit 106-6 and Zach Wallace 99-1. All 3 were all-time bests.

As mentioned above, Josh Higbee was 2nd in the long jump and did it with a leap of 19-9.75, over a foot further than his previous best. In the triple jump it was Andy Hagg with a 38-4.5, nearly a 1-foot PR, and Chase Edwards jumped 33-1.5 for 8th place.

Overall the boys finished 3rd in the 3-way meet with 26 points.

The girls won 8 events and finished 3rd or better in 8. There was a 1-2-3 finish for OH in the 1600 and a 1-2 finish in the long jump. OH winners were Shantae Young in the 100m dash, Naomi Walker in the 200, Addy Royal in the 1600, Allison Duvenez in the 100 hurdles, the OH 4x100 relay, Amanda Alvarado in the shot put, Elizabeth Adkins in the discus and Nicki Mowbray in the long jump. Finishing in second place were the 4x200 and 4x400 relay teams, Dominique Jackson in the discus, Janessa Ramos in the long jump and Mowbray in the triple jump.

16 athletes set season or personal records during the meet: Jalani Bobo ran the 100 in 14.16 and ran the 400 for the first time this season and finished 4th. Jember Jansen set a PR in the 200 of 28.82 and was just .01 second from a PR in the 100 as well. Aimee Kelly ran the 400 for the first time and set a PR by nearly a half-second in the 100m dash. Maura McKole finished 4th in the 200 with a season best 28.19. Also running her first 400 ever was Kelsey Johnson who finished in 5th place. The two Hannahs, Bressler and Kagey, both set PRs in the 1600. In the hurdles races, Megan Duhrkopf broke her PR in the 100 with a time of 19.61 and Shannon Wolfe ran the 300 in 58.03, knocking over a second off her previous best.

In field events, freshman Elizabeth Adkins broke her old PR by nearly 7 feet in the discus and Nicki Mowbray got 33-6 in the triple jump on her way to a 2nd place finish.

The girls didn't win the meet, but came in 2nd with 65 points. MP won with 77 and Everett was 3rd with 43 points.

122 photos from both boys and girls events at Everett are posted HERE.

Finally, Friday evening was meet at Mt. Vernon High School, the "Clash of the Counties". The meet featured a number of Skagit County 2A and 3A schools going up against Marysville, Stanwood and Arlington from Snohomish County and Oak Harbor. While the small schools won some events, the depth of the big schools carried the day. In individual team scoring, the OH girls won by one point over Arlington, 35-34 while on the boys side M-P won with 35 points and OH was 7th with 14.

As is the current pattern, Naomi Walker won the 100 and 200, Addy Royal the 1600 and Shante Young the triple jump. The OH girls also won the 4x100 relay race. On the boys side, only Donovan Hunt was a winner, leaping 21-1-75 in the long jump. One surprise is that Young did not win the long jump - the only time this year she hasn't taken the event.

There was a scary moment in the 300 hurdles race when Allison Duvenez caught her knee on the final hurdle and fell down. She got up and finished the race, earning 4th place, but found out later she broke a bone in her wrist. It's unknown at this time if she'll be able to compete in the WESCO championships.

Even though it was cool and started to rain near the end of the meet, there were a number of PRs set. Raeanna Wynne did well in the 100h and both Hannah's set PRs, but this time it was Bressler in the 800 and Kagey in the 1600. Hannah K. broke the 6-minute barrier for the first time in the mile with a 5:59.2. Also in the 800, Christina Wicker set a PR of 2:33.61, good enough for 8th place.

Over on the boys side, Hunt again was the only winner, taking the long jump and OH produced only three 2nd place finishers - Matt Bolte in the 800, Hunt in the triple jump and the 4x100 relay. Even though Matt finished 2nd in the 800, he was surrounded by his teammates and the coaches were literally jumping for joy as Matt broke the 2-minute barrier and broke it big, finishing in 1:57.57. With Matt in the 800 were Conner Meyer and Josh Crebbin who both set new PRs. Continuing the theme of distance PRs, Matt Reith set a PR in the 3200 and tied his 1600 PR, Nate Miller set season records in both the 1600 and 3200 and Lucas Salmons ran the 3200 in 11:31 for a PR.

68 photos from the 2nd half of the Twilight Meet are posted HERE.

Next up for track is the WESCO Freshman invite Tuesday at Mariner HS and the WESCO JV championships Wednesday at Snohomish HS. The WESCO North championships start on Wednesday, May 12th and finish on Friday the 14th at Arlington HS.

Currently, Naomi Walker had the 5th fastest time in the state in the 100 meter dash with a time of 12.32 seconds. The best time in the state so far is 12.13. Walker's time is the 4th best in 4A and her 200 meter dash time is 7th in 4A. The OHHS 4x100 relay time's best time of 49.74 puts them in 7th place. Shantae Young owns the long jump in Washington state this year. Her jump of 18-3.5 is the best in the state this year by 1.5 inches and her triple jump of 37-0.5 is 3rd best in the state and her 100m time is good enough for 13th in 4A. Allison Duvenez has the 20th best mark in the 300m hurdles in 4A

Matt Bolte has the 20th best 800 meter time in 4A and Donovan Hunt is tied with two others for 14th in the long jump.