PT track and field shows ‘promising start’ to season

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Returning athletes improve on last year’s bests

The Port Townsend High School track and field teams opened their season Saturday, March 17 at the Seattle Academy season opener, held in the West Seattle Stadium.

PT coach Ian Fraser deemed the conditions “pretty decent” for an early-season meet, with light winds, non-precipitating overcast skies, and temperatures rising from the mid-40s to the mid-50s through the meet.

“The track meet was a nice, low-key event, with eight small school teams attending,” Fraser said. “For the Port Townsend team, which was about evenly composed of rookies and returning athletes, it was great to start with approachable fields and friendly officials in a high-quality facility.”

The PT rookies posted what Fraser deemed “some very promising starts” to the season.

Maisie Gould, who launched her javelin 68 feet, 4 inches, and Callay Boire-Shedd, whose discus reached 62 feet, 1 inch, each won the rookie flight of their respective events to place seventh in the field overall.

Similarly, Tucker Booth’s shot put hit the 27-foot, 8.5-inch mark, but was narrowly edged out in the rookie flight of the shot to take eighth place overall.

Freshman Hope Brignoli made what Fraser viewed as “good use” of her gymnastics background to place third overall in the “highly technical” triple-jump event, with a mark of 27 feet, 11 inches.

Fraser also praised freshman Joe Molotsky for running “a very composed race” and remaining competitive through the last half of the 1,600-meter race, to place fifth overall in 5:19.18.

“The returning athletes had good start to the season as well, with every one of them improving their personal bests from last year in at least one event,” Fraser said.

Winners were Eileen Leoso in shot put at 31 feet, 0.5 inches; Dylan Tracer in discus at 104 feet, 0.75 inches; and Aubry Botkin in 100-meter hurdles at 16.65.

Other top finishers included Anika Avelino, coming in fourth in the 800-meter at 2:42.30, and sixth in the 100-meter at 14.56; Aubry Botkin, taking second in the triple jump at 31 feet, 7 inches, and third in the 200-meter at 28.45; and Eileen Leoso, coming in second in discus at 73 feet, 10 inches, and third in javelin at 108 feet, 5 inches.

Nathan Cantrell placed second in the 1,600-meter at 4:53.67; Seamus Fraser took third in the steeplechase at 7:17.82; and Robert Jesionoswki came in third in shot put at 32 feet, 8 inches.

The boys’ 4x100-meter relay team of Kyle Mackey, Luke Absher, Dylan Tracer and Skyler Zabransky placed second at 46.93. The boys’ 4x400-meter relay team of Luke Absher, Nathan Cantrell, Seamus Fraser and Dylan Tracer also came in second at 3:53.

“The steeplechase is an event which is only occasionally run at the high school level, consisting of a 2,000-meter race in which the competitors negotiate five barriers and one water pit during each lap of the race,” Fraser said. “Seamus Fraser broke the school record set last year by Gabe Petrick.”