State track and field meets begin Thursday and continue through Saturday and a host of local preps are on hand in each of the four classifications.
Bellevue will take the deepest field of any local school to the state track and field meet at Mount Tahoma Stadium with berths in several sprints, relays, distance and field events with a total of 17 athletes (14 boys, three girls) competing.
“Each of the events has someone with a chance to make that top-eight,” head coach John Hill said, adding that this is largest group he has taken to state in his years leading the Wolverines.
Star Track XXX will be the first taste of state competition for senior John Fowler, who will run in the 3,200 meters for Bellevue.
“It has always been a dream to run at state in track,” said Fowler, who finished 11th at the state cross country meet in the fall. “It should be a lot of fun.”
One of the most anticipated races of the meet will no doubt be the 400 meter relay, where Sea-King champ Bellevue will look to take the rubber match with O’Dea after the two split the first two meetings of the year.
“We know there are other relay teams, but our main competition is O’Dea,” junior Myles Jack said. “There is some pride on the line too.”
Jack was one of several track and field athletes that was with the football team for its 3A state title game win over the Irish and every member of both relay teams will be carrying some gridiron baggage onto the track at Mount Tahoma. No team other than Bellevue and O’Dea in either of the two preliminary heats has sub-43 second time.
Budda Baker will be in the first heat in the 200 meters and will also run on a pair of relays for the Wolverines.
Will Sheeran will be in the 800 and 1,600 while senior John Fowler will be at his first state meet in the 3,200.
Freshman Sam Richmond will get his first taste of state action in the second heat of the 110 meter hurdles.
Baker will team with Reuben Mwehla, Myles Jack and Max Richmond in the 400 meter relay. The group captured the district title and will look to settle a season-long score with O’Dea after splitting the first two match-ups of the year.
Woody Butler and Will Sheeran replace Richmond and Mwehla in the 1,600 meter relay, which also earned a district title.
Blake Erickson will be near the top of the field in the pole vault after winning the Sea-King title and enters the meet with the third best mark.
Max Richmond and Baker will both be in the long jump.
District champ Mike Kneip will be in the shot put field and also the discus, along with Mitchell Stuart.
Matt Gilbert will be in the javelin field again in 2012.
Julia Ellings will run in the 800 meters while Floraine Kameni will be in the long jump and Ayane Rossano will compete in the pole vault.
Will Chang will be in the high jump for Newport and is the only boy in the field for the Knights.
Alisa Poplawski will run the 800 on the girls side and will be joined by teammate Candace Ho, who will compete in the pole vault and Julia Sliwoski, a freshman in the field for the javelin throw.
Jordan Todd will run the 100 and 200 meter dashes for Interlake on the boys side while Ivan Leniski will be in the field for the 800.
Sam Giner will run the 1,600 and 3,200 for the Saints. Todd will be joined by Shane Adriano, Ryan Turman and Evan Turman in the 400 meter relay and Adriano will also be in the long jump.
Pierce Frazier will be in the pole vault field for the Saints.
Summer Hanson, who won a pair of district titles in the 400 and 800 meters, will be in both events at state and will be joined by teammates Niki Waghani and Antoinette Tansley in the 800. Waghani will also be in the field for the 3,200, as will Nadia Lucas.
Hanson, Tansley, Karissa Shapard and Desiree Domini will run the 1,600 meter relay.
Savanna Stern will compete in the pole vault to round out the girls field for Interlake.
The 4A, 3A and 2A track and field meets are at Mount Tahoma Stadium.
Kyle Smit will be in the field in the 800 meters for Bellevue Christian. Michael Antosz and Austin Razor will run in the 110 meter hurdles and Razor will also be in the field for the 300 hurdles. He will team with Smit, Lucas Baker and Tate Razor in the 1,600 meter relay for the Vikings.
Sam Taylor is in the field in the long jump and pole vault and Bryce Oldham will be in the long jump.
The BCS girls are looking for a fourth consecutive 1A state title and have a number of returning state competitors to lead the way.
Meredith Lampe will be in the third heat of the 100 meters and will also run in the 200, where she will be joined by teammate Carly McClintock.
Bree Oldham will try for a third straight 300 meter hurdles title and enters with the lowest seed time by nearly two full seconds. The senior will also run in the 100 meter hurdles. Paige Knight will also run in the 300 and will join Noelle Crosby, McClintock and Alli Vitalone in the 400 meter relay. Oldham will replace Crosby for the 800 meter relay for BCS.
Knight, Crosby, Lampe and Oldham make up the 1,600 meter relay team.
Emily Catlett is in the javelin throw and rounds out the field for the BCS girls.
The 1A state track and field meet is on the campus of Eastern Washington University today and tomorrow.
Contacts and submissions: jsuman@bellevuereporter.com
