The Port Townsend High School boys’ and girls’ track and field teams both finished third in the Olympic 1A League championship meet at Coupeville May 4, with PT coach Ian Fraser quick to note his athletes’ individual achievements at the meet.

“We did put up eight conference champions and had 17 athletes qualify onward to the district championships in 23 different events, on the strength of 15 personal-best and five seasonal-best performances,” Fraser said.

The May 4 meet served as both a championship meet and a qualifying meet for the district championships, May 18-19 in Renton.

The top three in each event automatically qualified for the district championships, and the fourth-place finishers are set to be measured against the marks produced by the fifth-place finishers at the Nisqually League championship, with the superior marks serving as the final qualifiers. 

“The best story of the meet was the shot-put victory by senior Robert Jesionowski,” Fraser said. “Last year, Robert came out for track and field for the first time, with some interest in the throwing events.” Fraser recalled how Jesionowski started out putting the shot 25 feet, for 32nd place in his first meet, but steadily improved to a distance of 32 feet, even as he came up just short of qualifying for the league championship meet last year.

“He put in a lot of work over the off-seasons and came into this year with greatly improved strength,” Fraser said. “As well as continuing to add power and skill throughout the season, Robert has become a very thoughtful athlete, eager to analyze his performances and look for patterns.”

Coming into the May 4 meet, Jesionowski was seeded third, but was “just a whisper” behind second, in Fraser’s words.

“Robert took advantage of a slightly subpar day by the top-seeded Coupeville shot-putters, and put the shot out to 39 feet, 9 inches to win the event by 7 feet, adding a foot and half to his personal best in the process,” Fraser said. “Now, a year away from not even qualifying for the league championship meet, Robert is the Olympic League champion.”

Going into the district championships, in which the top two qualify for the state championships, Jesionowski has the no. 3 personal best in the field, and just beat the no. 2 head to head.

Other PTHS league champions were sophomore Nathan Cantrell in the 1,600-meter and 3,200-meter; sophomore Dylan Tracer in the 300-meter hurdles; junior Eileen Leoso in the shot put; and senior Aubry Botkin in the 100-meter hurdles, 300-meter hurdles and triple jump.

Other PTHS athletes finishing in top four spots, potentially qualifying for the district championships, include:

• Junior Callay Boire-Shedd, third in the long jump.

• Sophomore Ally Bradley, third in the 3,200-meter.

• Freshman Hope Brignoli, fourth in the triple jump.

• Sophomore Anika Avelino, second in the 200-meter and 400-meter.

• Junior Brenna Franklin, second in the discus and fourth in the 200-meter.

• Leoso, third in the javelin and fourth in the 100-meter.

• Sophomore Sierra Ruegg, fourth in the 100-meter hurdles and third in the 300-meter hurdles.

• Sophomore Seamus Fraser, third in the 3,200-meter, and fourth in the 110-meter hurdles and 300-meter hurdles.

• Sophomore Devin Harris, second in the high jump and fourth in the triple jump.

• Freshman Joe Molotsky, third in the 1,600-meter.

• Tracer, fourth in the discus.

The top four spots also included second-place finishes by the boys’ 4x100-meter relay team of Kyle Mackey, Tracer, Harris and Cantrell, and the girls’ 4x100-meter relay team of Franklin, Avelino, Botkin and Leoso.

Third-place finishes were scored by the boys’ 4x400-meter relay team of Molotsky, Kincaid Gould, Seamus Fraser and Cantrell, the girls’ 4x200-meter relay team of Franklin, Brignoli, Boire-Shedd and Bella Lusk, and the girls’ 4x400-meter relay team of Boire-Shedd, Bradley, Lusk and Ruegg.