The 2017 Pirates track and field team is comprised of 30 athletes this year: 20 boys and 10 girls with the majority being freshmen and sophomores. At the team’s recent meet held at Charles Wright Academy on Thursday, April 27, the girls team placed third out of six teams with 57 points. On the boys side, Vashon and Cascade Christian were the bookends with the Pirates placing fifth out of five teams scoring 20 points, while the Cougars took first with 97.5 team points.

Highlights for the boys included junior Noah Edmonds winning the 400-meter in a time of 53 seconds flat which is his personal best for the season. Sophomore Alex Lee also set a personal best in the javelin placing fifth with a throw of 114 feet, 4 inches.

Highlights on the girls side included a victory in the mile run from senior Lauren Jenks in 5:35. Jenks also placed third in the 800-meter sprint with a time of 2:31. The top two places in the long jump were taken by senior Kat Andrus with a leap of 15 feet, 5 inches and sophomore Shea Bray setting her personal best with a leap of 15 feet, 25 inches. Andrus also placed first in the triple jump with a mark of 33 feet, 9.25 inches.

Just before the 300-meter hurdles were contested, all five of the Nisqually League schools combined to have a senior recognition day, as more than 50 athletes were brought out to the track to be recognized for their contributions to their school’s programs. Pirate head coach Rob Kearns called up Andrus and Jenks as the two senior representatives for Pirate track and field.

On Saturday, April 29, the Pirates participated in the Bellevue Christian Invitational which was held at Interlake High School. There were 19 other schools participating who represented the 1A and 2A classifications. This was a very competitive meet that challenged many of the Vashon athletes and provided a benchmark to see where the team can build for the future. One athlete that was up to the task on Saturday was Andrus who earned a first-place medal in both the long jump (15 feet, 6.5 inches) and the triple jump (35 feet). The team’s next meet is tomorrow, Thursday, at Charles Wright Academy, then it is onto the district and state competitions.

— Kevin Ross is Vashon High School’s assistant track and field coach.