Even though the Port Townsend High School track and field team ultimately made it to this year's state championships, the team's coach described the season overall as “a lean year” for his athletes, right up to their final performances at state.

“The state championship meet went about how the season had gone,” PTHS Coach Ian Fraser said of the Olympic 1A WIAA State Championships at Eastern Washington University May 24-26. “Some kids did alright, and some underperformed.”

The only state medalist for PTHS was junior Aubry Botkin, who had what Fraser described as “a rough race” in the 100-meter hurdles finals, finishing sixth place.

“Being one of the smallest of the 100-meter hurdlers, she tends to be affected by headwinds more than her peers,” Fraser said. “After one misplaced step out of the blocks, she wasn't able to overcome the wind to get back on pattern.”

Fraser credited Botkin with being able to go right from the “emotionally taxing” hurdles race immediately to the triple jump venue, where she outperformed her seeding by five places, finishing 12th of the 17 competitors.

The PTHS girls' 4x100-meter relay team of Botkin, Brenna Franklin, Anika Avelino and Sierra Ruegg traveled to the state championship meet without their anchor leg from the district championship meet, as Eileen Leoso had a chronic knee issue, which Fraser reported had become more inflamed.

“With Sierra running in Eileen's stead for the first time this season, the 16th-seeded girls team could have been expected to finish a distant last, but they were able to take advantage of mistakes by a couple of other teams to take 14th place out of the 16 teams,” Fraser said.

PTHS sophomore Dylan Tracer likewise outperformed his seeding in both of his events.

Tracer narrowly missed making finals in the 300-meter hurdles, finishing 10th out of 17 entrants.

And while he was seeded last in the discus, Tracer finished 13th out of 16 entrants.

“Dylan even beat the discus competitor from Coupeville, who had beaten him the previous week at the district championship meet,” Fraser said.

Fraser noted that PTHS sophomore Nathan Cantrell “jumped in with the lead pack from the start” in the 3,200-meter race, but his coach added that “he ended up paying for it in a painful way” by the end.

“After three laps, the hot pace and hot weather started to erode away at Nathan,” Fraser said. “He fought back several times with game surges, but ultimately his legs just weren't able to run with full coordination.”

Cantrell fell back six places over the final 600 meters, finishing 17th out of the 20 entrants.