Photo Courtesy Larry Bale - Willapa Valley's Beau Buchanan won the shot put at Thursday's meet at South Bend HS.
SOUTH BEND - A decent crowd attended the first track and field meet of the season on a cool, slightly windy, partly sunny Thursday at Don Weisel Oval on the campus of South Bend HS. Raymond won the girls' side and Naselle came away with the boys' team title. A total of five teams competed.
"I was happy with the results from our first meet," Raymond HS head coach Mike Tully told the Herald. "I think we performed as well as can be expected after eight practices.
"Kyra's marks were quite good for this time of year," Tully said. "Her long jump mark was a career best by almost five inches and tied the Raymond junior class record. Her high jump mark was only two inches off her career best, so she's pretty close there as well. I'm looking for her to do some pretty impressive things as the season progresses.
"One surprise was Morgan Anderson in the high jump," Tully said. "He hadn't high jumped in almost three years and hadn't even practiced it this year. He jumped into the event at the last minute because South Bend didn't have a pole vault, and he ended up jumping 5-6 to place second.
"Jolie Dunn also had a nice meet, placing second to Kyra in the long and high jumps," Tully said.
South Bend HS Track and Field Co-Head Coach Tom Sanchez said, "I thought we did fairly well, and I think we will have better results as we get farther into the season. We will also be getting some more kids eligible soon."
Willapa Valley head coach Dave Ege was pleased with his Vikings. "I was really pleased with our overall performances on Thursday. With only eight practices to prepare the first meet came fast. We had a lot of good early season times and distances but no one I'd single out at the moment.
"We have 18 on our roster, so it's a pretty good turnout," Ege added. "We are 1B this year, so we're the new kid on the block, so we'll see some new faces along with a few old given our mixed classification meets. I'm confident our kids compete well."
Girls Team Scoring: 1. Raymond, 132; 2. Willapa Valley, 124; 3. Naselle, 104; 4. South Bend , 56; 5. Chief Leschi, 24.
Boys Team Scoring: 1. Naselle, 204; 2. Chief Leschi, 110; 3. Raymond, 106; 4. Willapa Valley, 88; 5. South Bend, 26.
Raymond heads to Forks at Spartan Stadium for a six-team competition Thursday. The field events start at 3:30 and the track events start at 4. South Bend travels to Hoquiam to compete at the Evergreen 1A/Pacific 2B meet at the Sea Breeze Oval. Seven teams are expected to attend. Willapa Valley, which competes in the Class 1B ranks this season, heads to Ilwaco HS for a five-team meet tomorrow.
Below are some of the more notable local student-athletes at Thursday's meet.
Boys
- 110 high meters: Morgan Anderson, R (first).
- Shot put: Beau Buchanan, WV (first); Austin Snodgrass, R (sixth); Kole Karlsvik, R, (seventh).
- Discus: Robby Stigall, SB (first); Karlsvik, R, (second); Snodgrass, R, (seventh); Kaelin Anderson, SB (eighth).
- Triple jump: Anderson, R (first).
- 1600 meters: Nathan Franks, WV (first).
- Javelin: Joseph Ashlock, WV, second); Stigall, SB, (third); Milton, SB (seventh).
- Boys 100 meters: Guillermo Cruz-Gonzalez, R (second); Judah Milton, SB (fifth).
- High jump: Anderson, R, (second).
- Boys 200 meters: Chris Western, WV (third).
- Boys 400 meters: Austin Snodgrass, R (second); Cruz-Gonzalez, R (third).
- Boys 3200 meters: Neal Heckman, R (first).
Girls
- High Jump: (Kyra Gardner, R (first); Jolie Dunn, R (T-second).
- Long Jump: Gardner, R (first); Dunn, R (second); Elli Capps, SB (third).
- Shot Put: Hannah Hamilton, WV (first); Dayna Estle, SB (third); Esmeralda Mora, R (fourth); Lauryn McGough, WV (fifth).
- Discus: Hamilton, WV (first); Capps, SB (third).
- 300-meter low hurdles: Brooklyn Patrick, WV (first).
- Triple Jump: Brittney Yi, SB (first).
- 1600 meters: Brooke Strozyk, WV (first); Genevieve Sarich, R (second); Betzy Merino, R (third).
- 3200 meters: Sarich, R (first); Alexis Hillock, R (second).
- 800 meters: Emily Wilson, WV (first).
- Javelin: McGough, WV (second); Strozyk, WV (third); Hannah Jewell, SB (fourth); Capps, SB (fifth).
- 100 meters: Patrick, WV (second); Dunn, R (third).