EJ track and field teams earn seven medals at state

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The best of the best in 1A track and field came out for the WIAA (Washington Interscholastic Activities Association) State Championship event, held in Cheney, as the East Jefferson Rivals teams left with an astounding seven medals in the meet.

Coming out with the most qualifying athletes ever fielded between Port Townsend and Chimacum high schools in the modern era, EJ left with an even more impressive benchmark.

The Rivals earned seven medals at State, representing the greatest haul in either schools’ recent history.

Held from May 26 through May 28, a plethora of events were separated into three days of 1A track and field competitions.

The Rivals wasted no time getting athletes on the medal stand as Sebastian Manza took seventh  in the boys 1600-meter race with a personal best time of 4:30.56.

Max Allworth-Miles followed in the 1600-meter race in 13th  place, while Camryn Hines was 14th  in the girls 1600-meter run.

On Friday, Tusker Behrenfeld started off the day with the Rivals’ top placing of the meet with a third  place medal in the boys javelin after a throw of 163 4. Addy Asbell followed up in the throws venue with a personal best of 32 7.5 in the girls shot put to place 10th.

Behrenfeld also placed 13th  in the boys discus at 121 2.   

On the track the girls 4x200-meter relay team (Aurin Asbell, Stephanie Sanchez, Audrey Matthes, and Addy Asbell) placed 15th, and the same quartet came back later in the day to place 13th  in the girls 4x100-meter relay.

The boys 4x100-meter relay team (Austen Hammer, Jerome Reaux Jr., Alex Harvey, and Gage Barry) were unable to finish their race after a stumble and fall in their second  exchange.

The Friday action on the track wrapped up with Hines qualifying for the finals in the girls 800-meter race with a personal best of 2:25.35, while Allworth-Miles placed 13th  in the boys 800-meter run preliminary heats.

Finally, Kay “The Alternate” Botkin took home the state laser-tag title with an impressively viscous showing at Spokane’s LaserMaxx as the Rivals took on the local ninja dance squad.

Saturday’s action started off with EJ success once again on the javelin runway with Ellise Gardner placing eighth  with a throw of 101 8 to just secure a place on the medalist stand.

Anson Jones followed in the boys shot put with a personal best mark of 43 10 to place 11th.

Lia Poore, EJ’s lone jumper of the championship meet, took home a fifth-place medal in the girls triple jump with a nearly 1-foot personal best mark of 33 11.

Hines placed sixth  in the girls 800-meter finals, improving her personal best again to 2:23.63. Aliyah Yearian collected a matching sixth-place medal in the 3200-meter run with a time of 11:35.12. 

In the final race of the day for the Rivals, Manza finished fourth  (9:52.50), and Soare Johnston came in 14th  for the boys 3200-meter.