The VHS Pirates’ track and field team competed in its last regular season meet this past Friday at West Seattle Stadium. There were 10 schools at the meet, from both the 1A Nisqually League and Emerald City League.
The boys as a team placed fifth overall, and the girls placed fourth overall in team scoring. Highlights for the boys started off with Schuyler Ricks placing second in the 110-meter high-hurdles, with a time of 20.01. Alex Macomber-Straight placed fourth in that same event with a time of 20.30. Ricks also placed fifth in the 300-meter hurdles, stopping the clock at 48.99. In the 100-meter dash, Kalen Cunningham set his personal best, placing fourth in a time of 12.13. Cunningham, along with teammates Sol Dehnert, Jess Leysath and Evan Stephanick, helped the 4×100 meter relay team take fourth with a time of 46.11.
Taking first place out of 33 other competitors in the javelin was Logan Higuera with a personal best throw of 141 feet 3 inches. Finian Long placed third in the high jump with a leap of 5 feet 6 inches, which is his personal best Dehnert placed third in the long jump, stretching the tape out to 19 feet 2 inches.
Highlights on the girls side were Jacquelyn Bostock sprinting to a personal best time in the 100-meter dash and finishing fourth in 13.31. Phoebe Wilke placed second in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:04.38, setting her personal record. Challenging Wilke and right behind her in the same event was her teammate Ava Bostock, placing third in 1:04.53, which was her personal record.
Jordan Bezoenik placed second in the javelin with a throw of 80 feet 11 inches. Grace Christie cleared 4 feet 6 inches in the high jump, which was good for third place. Payton Venturi also had a third-place finish in the triple jump with a distance of 30 feet 10 inches. Venturi also placed fifth in the long jump at 14 feet.
Another highlight for the VHS track program this season has been the reinstatement of the boys’ and girls’ pole vault event, that now can be contested because of the stadium upgrade. The new pole vault pit is located behind the west endzone, and can be set up with the mats facing the grandstand or away from the grandstand, depending on the weather conditions. George Murphy, Ursa Medeiros, and Alex Lee have all cleared the bar in meets for the boys’ team.
Next up for the Pirates is the post season, and Vashon Island High School Stadium will be the host site for the Nisqually League 1A track & field championship meet, which will take place at 3:30 p.m. this Friday, May 9, with the last event scheduled for 6:45 p.m. On Saturday the actions starts at 11 a.m. with the last event set for 3:15 p.m. Sixteen athletes representing the six schools from the league will compete in prelims and finals in all events — except for distance races, relays and field events, which are only finals — to see who moves on to Districts.
Admission prices are $6 for adults and students without an ASB card, $4 for students with an ASB card, and senior citizens, and children under 6 are free. The Nisqually league championship trophy will be presented to the school with the highest team points total for both the boys and girls at the conclusion of the meet. The top four individual finishers for the boys, and the top five individual finishers for the girls from each event will advance to the 1A West Central District 3 championships to be held at Bremerton High School the following Friday and Saturday, May 17 and 18.
— Written by Kevin Ross, assistant VHS track coach.
