Coach Larry Royce and his Bellevue Christian girls track and field team cast a lengthy shadow. Royce has led the Vikings to back-to-back 1A girls state championships, taking the title by 12 points last year and seven back in 2009.
Heading into the 1A state championships today on the campus of Eastern Washington University in Cheney, BCS has an opportunity to make it three straight, a feat that was last accomplished by King’s (Shoreline) from 2001-04.
Leading the Vikings’ girls team across the Cascades are a pair of defending state champions in MacKenzie Altig and Bree Oldham. Altig emerged from the pack last season to finish first in the triple jump while Oldham took the 300 meter hurdles.
BCS has three entries in the 300 meter hurdles this season as Altig and senior Bridget Ralston join Oldham on the quest for a title. Ralston and Altig are also both entered in the 100 meter hurdles with Altig’s seed time of 15.81 as the second-fastest in the field and over a half-second faster than her third-place time in the event last year.
Altig looks like a favorite in the long jump as the only particpant with a seed mark that reached 17 feet, but will be challenged by Elise Wilcox of Bush School (16-11.5) and Arielle Walden of Newport (16-10).
Other entries for the Vikings include Noelle Crosby, a sophomore who will run in the 800 meters and freshman Emilie Catlett, who qualified in the javelin throw with a seed mark of 106-05.
With strong representation across a range of events, the opportunity is there for the Vikings’ girls to bring home a third consecutive 1A state title, but coach Ed Sloan said the BCS coaching staff avoids the scores until late in the process.
“It’s always an honor to go and you just don’t know what happens when you get over there,” Sloan said. “We tend to not look at the scores until 2:30 on Saturday afternoon.”
Crosby, Oldham, Ralston and Meredith Lampe look to have a shot at bringing home a win in the 800 meter relay and will run in the first preliminary heat on Friday. The foursome will also team together in the second heat of the 1,600 meter relay, where their seed time of 4:08.44 will be the second-fastest in the field of 16.
The outrageous success of the girls has at times overshadowed the boys, who will actually send one more participant to Cheney than will their female counterparts (11 boys, 10 girls).
Sophomore Jonah Graff will run in the 200 meter dash and has also stepped in for an injured Lucas Baker (concussion) on the Vikings’ 1,600 meter relay team. He will be teamed with Austin Razor, Douglas Close and Nathan Phillips in that event as well as the shorter 400 meter relay. Phillips is also entered in the long jump and 300 meter hurdles for BCS.
Sloan said the 1,600 meter relay team has improved their time by eight-seconds and the 400 meter relay team is moving at an increased clip as well, nearly two-seconds faster than in 2010.
“After Spring Break, they bought into working hard in the workouts,” Sloan said. “A few of the boys improved significantly and all of a sudden, they were equating hard work and personal records.”
Michael Antosz and Jorgen Graff round out the field for the Vikings, with Antosz running in the second preliminary of the 110 meter hurdles and the elder Graff in the triple jump and high jump.
