By CARRIE VAN BUREN
For The Beachcomber

At the WIAA State Track & Field Championship in Cheney last weekend, there was something for everyone. Akin to a circus but with just one large oval ring of entertainment, the meet featured nonstop competitive action and feats of athleticism in 17 different events sprinkled with random acts of inspiring sportsmanship.

Eastern Washington University’s eye-popping red turf infield and big-screen replays of photo finishes provided a dramatic backdrop for the 1,400 1A, 2B and 1B high school athletes who came to give it their all in the 80-degree heat.

Five islanders competed in eight different 1A events over three days, and three of them came home with multiple medals, which are given to the top eight finishers in each event.

Sprint races required a day of preliminary heats followed by a day of finals, while the distance and field events wrapped up prelims and/or finals in the same day. In addition to the stream of award announcements for podium winners in each event, the WIAA recognized team scholarship in each classification and a variety of sportsmanship awards were granted throughout each day.

Island teen Abi Kim, who attends Seattle Christian, seized the day and the finish line as she held onto her first-place State title in both the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes for the third consecutive year. A significant headwind prevented any record-setting times to be set in either event, but Kim managed a winning time of 12.77 seconds in the 100 and 25.64 seconds in the 200. In the girls’ long jump, Kim leaped to an impressive 18 feet, 6 3/4 inches, but it wasn’t quite enough for first place as her Linden Christian competitor added 1.5 inches for the win and gave Kim the second-place honors. In the final event of the championship weekend, Kim’s 4×400 meter relay team grabbed seventh place with a time of 4:23.48, setting a new school record in the process.

Watching another Vashon teen, Northwest’s Graham Peet making his third appearance at State in the distance events, felt like it was déjà vu all over again as he had an outstanding finish in second place in the 3,200 meters and fourth place in the 1,600 — the same spots he won at the 2014 State meet. In the 3,200, Peet set the pace and led the pack of 17 racers with confidence for the most of the race, but in the final lap his Port Townsend competitor turned on the afterburners and forced Peet into second place, which he held with guts and grace to the finish line.

Pirate Annika Hille, also in her third round at State, had a repeat performance in the long jump on Friday as she missed the cut for the final flight of jumps by only  a half an inch and took 10th place with a jump of 15 feet, 11 inches. She finished 10th in that event at last year’s championships. However, Hille’s resolve to make the podium after narrowly missing a sprint berth by hundredths of a second the past two years was evident, as she did just that. With only one-tenth of a second separating the blitz of five bodies in fourth through eighth place in the 100 meter race final, her time of 13.16 earned seventh place and gave her that sought-after first State medal. Later, Hille closed her participation with a strong sixth-place finish in the 200 meters, in another close match-up, with a time of 26.38 seconds.

Teammate Emily Browne had her first experience in a State triple jump event on Saturday and took it in stride by leaping to a new personal record of 33 feet, 1 inch in the last of three jumps in the preliminary round. After the sorting, she was elated to learn that she made the cut and had another three jumps to better her score in the final flight.  Though Browne completed several excellent leaps, she settled with her personal record jump and finished in a  successful ninth place.

Also in her first appearance at State, Eva Anderson blasted off from the starting line in the 800 meter preliminary race, which tested all of its participants with the late afternoon heat. Anderson needed a big personal record to snag a top-three spot in her heat and make the cut. She passed several competitors and finished strong in 2:34.62, but it wasn’t quite enough to move ahead to Saturday’s final race. Anderson took 12th place in the event and was delighted to be a part of the action. Judging from the abundant smiles and camaraderie on the track and in the field, so were the other high school athletes in attendance at State this year.

— Carrie Van Buren is the mother of a Pirate track athlete.