Port Townsend High School’s track and field teams did well at home April 28, and distinguished themselves at the Shelton Invitational April 29.
PT coach Ian Fraser noted that the Friday home …
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Port Townsend’s Aubry Botkin leaps to a personal record of 32-10 1/2 in the triple-jump event of a meet at Blue Heron Middle School April 28. Photo by Steve Mullensky
Port Townsend High School boys’ 4-x-200 meter relay team (from left) seniors Gerry Coker, Berkley Hill, Seren Dances and Kyle Blankenship broke the school record that was set in 1971 by Don Sandvig, John Minish, Kurt Holmes and George Sutherland. Photo by Richard Hill
Port Townsend High School’s track and field teams did well at home April 28, and distinguished themselves at the Shelton Invitational April 29.
PT coach Ian Fraser noted that the Friday home meet “had some trouble getting off the ground,” with one of the teams suffering delays on its way from the other side of the Hood Canal Bridge, and the person responsible for bringing in the meet’s timing system experiencing a similar “late start” coming from Port Angeles.
“Luckily, athletes and fans had fabulous weather to enjoy while waiting for the meet to begin,” Fraser said. “After shuffling the early events around, PT’s athletes got the meet off to a roaring start.”
In the first event on the track, freshman Ian Linn-Glasgow got his first career win, dominating the 3,200-meter race.
Next up, the boys’ 4-x-200 meter relay team stepped on the track, with Fraser reporting that the boys were hoping to take one last crack at the school record, which they narrowly missed the previous week at the Bellevue Invitational.
Kyle Blankenship took lead-off duties against Coupeville’s defending 100- and 200-meter district champion, and in Fraser’s estimation, “more than held his own, on every step of the leg.”
Fraser conceded that Gerry Coker and Berkley Hill had “a little confusion” about the passing zone at the second exchange, leading to “an awkward deceleration” of the baton, but they managed to get it off safely.
“Though they were well clear of second-place Coupeville, they put everything out on the track,” Fraser said.
Anchor Seren Dances was a little slow off the acceleration mark, but in Fraser’s assessment, “when he got going, he put out a much better leg than he had in the previous week’s race” and brought the baton home in 1:33.49, shattering the previous school record of 1:34.14, shared by the 1971 and 2015 teams.
On the girls’ side, Fraser cited “particularly standout performances,” including Sira Wines’ double wins in the high jump (4-8) and javelin (98-3), and Aubry Botkin’s double wins in the 100-meter (13.35) and triple jump (32-10 1/2).
Other event winners included Erik Pokorny (discus, 129-9), Hill (high jump, 5-4), Nathan Cantrell (1,600-meter, 5:08.77), Luke Absher (400-meter, 57.68), Dances (100-meter, 11.44) and the boys’ 4-x-100 meter relay team (45.13).
The following Saturday saw a small contingent from PT heading down to the prestigious Shelton Invitational, during which, out of the 45 schools in attendance, only the top 16 entrants in each event are accepted into the meet.
Dances continued adding to his season highlights by winning the long-jump competition with a jump of 23-1 (improving his own school record by 8 inches), taking second place in the 200-meter (22.63, also an improvement on his own school record), and third in the 110-meter high hurdles (15.39).
Botkin (100-meter hurdles, 15.55) and Cantrell (freshman mile, 4:50.37) also brought home third-place medals.
Other PT athletes at the meet included Dylan Tracer (seventh, 400-meter, 57.04), Botkin (13th, triple jump, 31-5 1/4), Ari Winter (15th, 800-meter, 2:36.77), and Pokorny (15th, discus, 113-10).
