Port Townsend High School’s track and field teams went on the road to compete twice in one week.

The teams traveled to Port Angeles on Thursday, April 20, along with teams from Coupeville, Sequim, Neah Bay and Clallam Bay. Then, on Saturday, April 22, PTHS competed in the 38-team Bellevue Invitational, alongside teams of all sizes from Washington, Oregon and British Columbia.

“By normal spring standards, we would have been somewhat disappointed in the weather conditions at the meets, but these were about the best conditions we’ve seen at a meet so far this year,” said PTHS coach Ian Fraser. “While we were rained on at both, the winds were not large factors at either, and the temperatures were well into the 50s. It’s hard to believe that, one year ago, we were competing in the 70s and 80s.”

The Thursday league meet ended with another set of split wins for PT, as the girls were beat out by Port Angeles, but came out ahead of the rest of the teams, while the boys beat Port Angeles and the “B” schools, but came up short against Sequim and Coupeville.

Fraser reported that most of PT’s April 20 highlights occurred on the track.

“The boys’ 3,200-meter race near the end of the meet was a particular highlight, with the pace starting a bit on the slower side, but ratcheting up every lap in to an exciting race of attrition, bringing each runner to test their limits,” Fraser said. “Murray Bingham of Sequim won the race in a close finish with PT freshman Nathan Cantrell, but [Cantrell], sophomore Gabe Petrick, and freshmen Seamus Fraser, Kincaid Gould and Ian Linn-Glasgow placed second, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh, respectively, improving their personal bests by an average of nearly 14 seconds apiece.”

According to Fraser, Cantrell’s time of 10.24 is the fastest of any freshman or sophomore in Washington 1A so far this year.

In the sprints, 14 of PT’s 17 entries ran new personal bests, with the other three running their second-best lifetime marks. Top sprint finishers included Berkley Hill (second in the 200-meter at 24.19), Anika Avelino (second in the 400-meter at 66.64) and Ari Winter (third in the 100-meter at 13.67).

In the hurdles, Fraser credited Aubry Botkin with continuing to improve on the technical aspects of her hurdles, dropped nearly a half second off her 100-meter hurdles time at 15.50 to win by a full second, while Tate Munich placed second in his first 110-meter high hurdles race.

“While the track was conditions weren’t bad, the field was subpar, with wet, muddy and generally slippery conditions, leading to dramatic inconsistencies across all competitors,” Fraser said.

HIGHLIGHTS

The PT field highlights included wins in the discus by Brenna Franklin (91 feet 2 inches), and Erik Pokorny (110-10), Sira Wines in the javelin (92 feet) and Botkin again in the triple jump (32-2 1/2).

At the Bellevue Invitational April 22, Fraser opined “the most impressive finishes in my book” were Pokorny’s 11th place in the discus, with a 13-foot improvement to his personal best (123-10), and the boys’ 4-x-200 meter relay (Kyle Blankenship, Gerry Coker, Hill and Seren Dances) finishing second, behind 6A Oregon City High School in 1:34.25, only 0.11 of a second off PT’s school record.

PT’s Dances also came away from the meet with two new school records. Dances improved his own school long jump record by an inch, winning the event with a jump of 22-5. He also placed third in the 200-meter, with a time of 22.67, to break Kolby Riley’s 2001 school record.

“The boys’ distance crew also continued their fabulous week in the 1,600-meter run, this time each improving their personal best times by an average of 8 seconds,” Fraser said.

Other top PT finishers at the Bellevue meet included Botkin (fourth in the 100-meter hurdles at 15.48) and Avelino (10th in the 400-meter at 65.46), and both the boys (Blankenship, Coker, Hill and Isaiah Mason coming in eighth at 45.40) and girls (Franklin, Winter, Botkin and Avelino coming in 11th at 53.63) 4-x-100 meter relays.