Track athletes off to strong start this season
Published 1:30 am Wednesday, April 6, 2016
The Pirates track and field season is off and running, as the modest but mighty 2016 team participated in its third meet of the season last Saturday at the Lil’ Norway Invitational at North Kitsap High School in Poulsbo.
On the heels of two smaller league meets in March, last weekend’s gathering of 13 teams presented the Pirates with strong competition from a host of 2A and 3A schools.
With only 17 VHS competitors in the mix, the boys’ and girls’ teams boasted top-10 finishers in 13 events, with three of the girls’ team members finishing an impressive third place in the following events: the 200-meter sprint, the 3,200-meter race and the triple jump competition.
After enduring several hours of chilling temperatures and periods of fine Northwest mist, the athletes sprang to new life with the afternoon sun breaks. Senior Natalie VanDevanter improved her time in the 3,200-meter distance event by nearly a minute as she gritted her way to third place and a personal record (PR) of 13:40.20. Fellow senior runner Annika Hille finished her 200-meter event in 27.52 seconds, also earning her the third-place ribbon. Earlier, Hille faced the mist and a heat of top racers in the 100-meter race, taking seventh place overall.
The boys’ team highlights included an eighth-place finish for sophomore Gerry Gerrior in the 200-meter dash as he savored a PR of 24.43 seconds, followed by a duo of PRs for senior Sam Cushing in the 800- meter race and the javelin throw. Sophomore Gianno Waller placed seventh in his first-ever event with the Pirate team, the 1,600-meter run. His time was 5:01.81.
On the runway, veteran junior jumper Kat Andrus earned third place on the podium in the triple jump event with her leap of 32 feet, 4.75 inches, and eighth place in the long jump. Junior Marie Kier, an exchange student from Germany, decided to give track and field a whirl this spring. A competitive gymnast in Germany, Kier showed both strength and spunk as she finished in the top 10 in two of her three events: shot put, long jump and girls’ 100-meter relay.
No strangers to the dynamic weather patterns of a Northwest spring, the track team endured a particularly soggy March on the high school’s cinder track. While many competitors were enjoying their all-weather synthetic surfaces, the Pirates were literally wading through large swaths of a submerged track, wondering if drier days would ever allow them to actually run all the way around. Head Coach Rob Kearns expressed his frustration with the track conditions, but looks to the four remaining regular season meets with enthusiasm.
“The start of this season has been tough because our track has been mostly underwater, but I’m looking forward to regular workouts this month. We have really good athletes who, with the proper training, will be very competitive in the weeks ahead,” he said.
Thankfully, the past week has given the team some reprieve, with sunshine and a spirited team workout led by assistant coach Kevin Ross on the Maury Marine Park cliffs.
The Pirates will face league competition in their next meet on Thursday, April 14, at Charles Wright Academy.
— Carrie Van Buren is the mother of a member of the track team.
