The Port Townsend High School track and field teams competed in meets April 18 and 21. 

Due to the relatively tight scheduling, PT coach Ian Fraser noted, most of his athletes focused on just one of the two meets.

April 18 saw the Redhawks compete against Chimacum, Kingston and Bremerton, the last of which hosted the event.

“This meet, featuring sunny skies and temperatures up to the low 60s, was one of their first of the season in truly nice conditions,” Fraser said, and suggested, “Maybe the weather allowed the athletes to approach the competition in a more loose and relaxed manner, or maybe it was just a matter of being deep enough in the season that they’re coordinating the pieces of the event better.”

Either way, he admitted to being excited to see “some athletes with tremendous performances, who hadn’t really been getting a lot of attention from their league rivals.”

Fraser praised freshman Devin Harris for his work on the high jump, but noted the student “had yet to get the pieces to work together for him.”

Harris not only cleared his first bars April 19, but also went on to clear four later heights, culminating in a winning clearance of 5 feet, 4 inches, which puts him in second on the Olympic League yearly performance list.

Harris later added more than 4 feet to his triple-jump best, to place third at 34 feet, 10 inches, which also is good for third on the Olympic League yearly performance list.

For good measure, Harris also came back and ran a quarter-second personal record in the 200-meter, to nab a few more points for sixth place.

Fraser likewise lauded senior rookie Maisie Gould, whom he noted has been throwing “respectable” javelin marks in the mid-60-foot range throughout the season, but in Bremerton, “she finally hit some that lined up her arm power with the shaft of the javelin.”

Gould’s best throw of 80 feet, 8 inches was a 12-foot improvement on her previous best, good enough to place second at the meet, and put her in seventh on the Olympic League performance list, which Fraser believes likely secures her a place at the league championship meet.

For the second time this season, senior Robert Jesionowski added a 3-foot stretch to his personal best in the shot put. This time, his best put of 38 feet, 2 inches outdistanced the rest of the field, and Jesionowski got his first career win, putting him in third on the Olympic League performance list.

Freshman distance runner Joseph Molotsky has had what Fraser deemed “a tremendous season,” every race he’s run clocking in at his fastest ever at those distances.

Molotsky continued that trend April 18, bringing his 800-meter best down from 2:18.77 to 2:13.38, finishing fifth at the meet, which puts him in sixth place on the Olympic League performance list. The 4x400-meter relay also saw him knock a few 10ths of a second off his best there, with a 58.6 carry.

Senior Luke Absher similarly continued to improve on his performance of last year, running a personal record of 54.63 for second place in the 400-meter, and a 55.0 carry in the 4x400-meter relay.  

“Unfortunately, though he had no inkling of knee pain through the meet day, Luke woke up the next morning with intense pain and swelling in his knee, and it looks as if he may have run the final races of his high school track and field career,” Fraser said. “Luke has worked very diligently over the winter and throughout the season, overcoming adversity in a thoughtful manner, and leading the team with maturity and by example.”

Fraser described himself as “heartbroken” over Absher’s fate in his final high school season, “after all of his dedicated work, when he’s finally brought the level of his competition to the district level,” and helped put both the 4x100-meter and 4x400-meter relay teams in serious competition for berths at the state championship.

“Luke goes in for an MRI this week, but given the symptoms and limited time remaining in the season, return to competition looks unlikely at this point,” Fraser said.

The Redhawks were among 20 teams competing in the Lil’ Norway Invitational at North Kitsap High School April 21.

Highlighting the day for Port Townsend was junior Aubry Botkin’s 15.39 win in the 100-meter hurdles.

“Aubry turned back her top local rivals, winning by over three-10ths of a second and setting a new meet record,” Fraser said. “Aubry’s drive out of the blocks and first three hurdles were as nice as we’ve seen from her. She drifted a bit over the final hurdles, but her rhythm endurance is progressing nicely, and she could be setting herself up nicely for some impressive performances through the championship season.”

Fraser admitted that sophomore Anika Avelino was “slightly disappointed” in her 400-meter race, in which she placed sixth at 64.96, a few 10ths of a second slower than her best.

“Her 200-meter race more than made up for it, though,” Fraser said. “In her second race of the day, Anika scorched her previous personal best by two-thirds of a second, racing by many runners seeded ahead of her, to place second overall in 27.94 seconds.”

Other top 10 finishes included Botkin in sixth in the 300-meter hurdles at 51.48, Nathan Cantrell coming in fifth in the 1,600-meter at 4:41.59, Seamus Fraser in eighth in the 3,200-meter at 10:47.55, and the girls’ 4x100-meter relay team of Avelino, Botkin, Brenna Franklin and Callay Boire-Shedd in seventh with 55.19.