Raymond HS three-sport sensation, Kyra Gardner, won three events and finished second in another at the District IV Pacific League Sub-District Championships conducted at Leo Rubstello Track on the campus of Raymond HS Thursday.
Three others won three individual events. Ocosta HS juniors William Idso and Dylan Todd each won three solo events and were on the winning 1600-meter relay squad. Idso won the 100 and 200 sprints and high jump. Todd was first in the 800, 1600 and 3200 races. Skyler Steffen, a senior at Forks HS, won three throwing competitions, including the shot put, discus and javelin.
The Ocosta Wildcats won the boys' title, South Bend was fifth and Raymond placed fifth. The Lady Fishermen of Ilwaco won the girls' team championship, Raymond was fifth and South Bend finished seventh.
"I was very happy with our performance as a team overall," Raymond HS Head Track and Field Head Coach Mike Tully told the Herald. "We had the second fewest entries overall, but we were pretty competitive as a team. We are mostly freshmen and sophomores, and it was good to get them experience in a postseason situation."
"It was a really good performance by all of our kids - we had four boys and three girls who had PRs, and many of them in multiple events," South Bend HS Track and Field Co-Head Coach Tom Sanchez told the Herald. "All you can ask of your athletes is that they do their best, and our kids did that. We qualified seven boys and six girls for the district meet, as well as a couple of alternates, and that is a good amount of participants for us."
Exciting High Jump
In the high jump, Gardner and Devyn Martin, a senior at Ocosta, tied at 5 feet, 8 inches until Martin was declared the winner.
"It was a great high jump competition between the two," Tully said. "It was the first time that Kyra has had someone stay with her in the high jump, and I think it really helped both of them get to 5-8. I'm guessing that there have been very few, if any girls' high jump competitions in state history that have had two girls jump 5-8 or higher.
"Devyn cleared 5-8 on her first attempt," Tully explained. "Kyra cleared it on her second attempt. The first tie-breaker in the high jump is who cleared the last height first, so Devyn got the win because it took Kyra two attempts.
"Kyra had a good day overall despite the second-place finish," Tully said. "She ran a great hurdle race (16:47), and her triple jump mark (34-10) was a season best. I'm looking forward to seeing what she can do at district."
Gardner also won the long jump at 15 feet, 4½ inches. Gardner's second-place effort of 5-8 in the high jump was just an inch off the school record, according to Tully. Gardner had finished first in every event she had competed in until taking second in the high jump Thursday.
Anderson Excels
Raymond sophomore Morgan Anderson was a winner in the 110-meter high hurdles and triple jump (35 feet, 6½ inches) and took second place in the high jump and pole vault.
"Morgan has had a very impressive sophomore season, especially considering it is his first high school track season," Tully said. "His hurdle time (16:83) was a big PR, and he matched his season bests in the high jump (5-8) and pole vault (10-6)."
"Jolie Dunn was another sophomore that did very well on Thursday," Tully said. "She had PRs in the 100 hurdles (19:03), 100 (13:86), and long jump.
Dunn finished second in the 100-meter dash, third in the 100-meter low hurdles and was fifth in the long jump at 13 feet, 1½ inches, which tied her for fifth place and guaranteed her for three events at district. (In the event of a tie, tiebreakers are only used for first place or the last spot to state, Tully informed.)
"They (Anderson and Dunn) both did a great job in their first postseason situation," Tully added.
The top four finishers in the laned events (100 through 800 meters), and the top six in the distance and field events qualified for this week's district meet," Tully informed.
Below are all the winners and all the Raymond and South Bend student-athletes that competed at Thursday's competition. Those bolded qualified for district.
There were 17 boys' events and 18 girls' events.
Boys:
Girls:
Boys Team Scores: 1. Ocosta (128), 2. North Beach (111), 3. Forks (101), 4. Northwest Christian (78), 5. South Bend (50), 6. Raymond (48), 7. Chief Leschi (43), 8. Ilwaco (25).
Girls Team Scores: 1. Ilwaco (135), 2. North Beach (110), 3. Forks (106½), 4. Ocosta (78), 5. Raymond (72½ ), 6. Northwest Christian (56), 7. South Bend (38), 8. Chief Leschi (21).
The top eight placers in the meet scored team points on the following basis: 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1, according to Tully.
The District IV 2B Championships is Thursday at Rainier HS. The field events start at 3:00 p.m. and the track competitions begin at 4;30 pm. The 19 competing teams include Raymond, South Bend, Ilwaco, Ocosta, North Beach, Napavine, Toutle Lake, Kalama, Winlock, Morton-White Pass, Toledo, Onalaska, Wahkiakum, Adna, Northwest Christian (Lacey), Forks, Rainier, Stevenson and Chief Leschi.
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