Jacob Farmer / jfarmer@yelmonline.com
The Rainier High School girls track and field team won their District 4 1B/2B League meet at Rainier High School with a total score of 194.5 points on Thursday, April 3.
The girls secured 1-2 finishes in four events.
Rainier junior Jazzlyn Shumate placed fifth in the 200-meter dash, achieved a season-best, second-place time of 18.38 in the 100-meter hurdles, and won the 400 with a season-best time of 1:02.90. Shumate also won first as part of the 1,600-meter relay team.
“That one actually is the best one that I’ve had in a while,” Shumate said of her 400-meter performance.
“Going into the season, I had really high hopes,” Shumate said. “Last year at state, I ran a 1:01. And so I’ve been striving to go hit 59s and break the school record. Wasn’t in the ones quite yet, but ran a 1:02, so I dropped two seconds (from) my previous one.”
Shumate embraces the workload that comes with league meets.
“It’s a lot, but I like it,” Shumate said. “I like to keep myself busy. And all of it gives me, like, adrenaline. So, it kind of keeps me going throughout all my events and kind of keeps me locked in.”
Fellow sprinter Acacia Murphy placed fourth in the 100-meter. She also earned top marks in the high jump at 5 feet, tying June Miller of Naselle.
Rainier distance runners Madison Ingram and Komaire Robles went 1-2 in the 1600; Robles had a personal best time of 5:43.12. Kinsley Barlow finished first in the 3200 with a time of 13:51.01, while Rayanna Wisner took first in the 800 with well over a second to spare.
Rainier distance coach Robert Ingram spoke to the Nisqually Valley News about the young season.
“I think they’re off to a good start, and we’ve got a lot of time left, and everybody’s putting in good effort, good work daily, to try to get faster, so increasing distance, increasing speed in some of our workouts,” Ingram said.
Ingram said he currently has five girls and seven boys competing in distance events. He’s happy with what he’s seen so far and said he’s looking forward to bigger events that will help drive competition.
“On the girl’s side of things, in particular, there’s really a culture here. The younger girls really look up to the older ones, and the older girls historically here at Rainier — this year, last year, the years before — have done a really good job of mentoring their younger peers.”
Ingram continued, “It’s come naturally, I think, for some of the more senior girls and guys to take the lead at practices daily, (and) at meets.”
Ingram gave insight into preparing his athletes for individual events while still recognizing team victories.
“We’re looking at it from both aspects,” Ingram said. “Everybody shared with me, personally, their goals for the season, and almost everybody’s goal was to make it to state and to place at state as a team. I don’t think a single person mentioned individual placement at state. It was about getting there and placing as a team. It’s track and field, so there’s the field aspect of the two, and I have encouraged our runners to be engaged with their teammates who are doing very different events, you know, throwing, jumping, and that sort of thing. In the end, you’re all one team, even though you’re doing dissimilar events. Scores get all combined.”
Rainier High School got plenty from its field athletes on Thursday. Janess Blackburn took first in both the shot put and discus, while Katelyn Eckroth achieved a personal record javelin throw of 99 feet, 3 inches. Ella Marvin finished second in the javelin while continuing her dominance in the pole vault. Anika Plowman won the long jump at 14 feet, 11 inches.
For the Rainier boys, Josh Meldrum finished second in both the 100 and long jump. Christian White hit a personal record with his fourth-place 400-meter time of 56.64, and Ean Viik and Willie Mendoza finished 1-2 in the 800, with Mendoza hitting his own PR.
Zach Hamilton achieved season records of 4:49.40 in the 1,600 and 11:02.32 in the 3,200. Jake Hanson scored a PR in the 1,600, finishing fifth.
In the javelin, senior Zander Peck scored a personal best, an event-winning throw of 169 feet, 10 inches.
The Rainier boys finished third overall out of eight teams with a score of 98.5.
The Rainier track and field teams will compete in the Chehalis Activator at W.F. High School on Friday, April 18, and Saturday, April 19.
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