Brandt-Sims owns sprints at Class 4A state championships
DOUG PACEY
Someday, maybe next year or the year after, a sprinter might beat Wenatchee sophomore Isaiah Brandt-Sims at the Class 4A state track and field championships.
It didn’t happen Saturday at Mount Tahoma Stadium as the sophomore defended his state titles in the 100- and 200-meter sprints at Star Track 30.
“Pretty good day, I guess,” Brandt-Sims said. “I won the 100 and 200. I’m pretty excited about that.”
Brandt-Sims’ winning times were 10.82 seconds (100) and 21.74 (200).
No big-school athlete in state history has won four consecutive state titles in the 100 or 200, let alone both. Brandt-Sims could be the first.
“I’ve thought about it a little bit,” Brandt-Sims said. “It just depends who comes up. There could be a freshman – just like me last year – that comes up and smokes me.”
Until that happens, Brandt-Sims appears to be the benchmark all other sprinters will measure themselves against.
A week ago, Gig Habor’s Justin Browne expressed his desire to race Brandt-Sims at state in the 100. Browne got his chance in the final and led a majority of the race.
“I was hoping for first and I was in the lead for a little bit,” Browne said,” but he’s a great competitor.”
Browne showed his own competitiveness about an hour later in the 4x100 relay. The top-seeded Tides were in third place when Browne took the baton on the last leg. He blazed past runners from Federal Way and Mead, crossing the line with a state-leading time of 41.43 seconds.
Browne added a long jump state title in the afternoon that gave the Tides the boost they needed to claim the boys team championship. Gig Harbor totaled 62 points to runner-up Mead’s 58.
Curtis claimed the girls team title, thanks to strong performances in relays and sprints. The Vikings tallied 62 points and were followed by Auburn Riverside (55), Kentwood (45) and Gig Harbor (36).
Curtis junior Kennadi Bouyer swept the girls 100 and 200, with times of 12.10 and 24.95, respectively. Like Brandt-Sims, the junior will have the opportunity to defend her titles next year, too. And she knows just how to prepare but might have difficulty executing her program.
“Train with people who are faster than me,” she said.
Bouyer was part of Curtis’ championship 4x100 and 4x200 relays, too.
In the 4x200, anchor-leg Kira Perkins vaulted the Vikings to victory. The junior took the baton in third place and was forced to the outside. As she rounded the curve and popped into the home stretch, she was nearly even with the leader when a familiar voice pierced through the crowd’s noise.
“I heard my mom yelling ‘Come on Kira! You got her!,’ ” Perkins said.
Perkins kept going, powering to the line for a winning time of 1:42.29.
When Perkins got the baton as the fourth leg in the 4x100, all she had to do was maintain the lead her teammates had given her. She extended it, and Curtis won in 48.31 seconds.
Bellarmine Prep’s state-leading girls 4x400 relay won the event for the second consecutive year. Hannah Derby chased down Issaquah’s Madison Callan on the final lap, and the Lions challenged the meet record before finishing in 3:51.80 – one-tenth of a second off the record set in 1983.
Derby repeated as champion in the 400, too. Her time of 55.51 is the fastest in 4A this season.
AROUND THE TRACK
Heritage’s Sean Keller broke the javelin state-meet record he set last year when he won with a throw of 227 feet, 11 inches. … Wenatchee’s Nick Boersma set a meet record in the 800 in a time of 1:49.87. … Federal Way’s boys won the 4x400 in 3:19.08. … In the boys 1,600, Mead’s Andrew Gardner beat Gonzaga Prep’s Conor McCandless by one-hundredth of a second, winning in 4:09.71. … Mount Rainier’s Jordan McPhee won the girls 1,600 in 5:01.27. … Federal Way freshman Mariyah Vongsaveng was first in the girls 300 hurdles in 44.79. … The boys and girls pole vault events were dedicated to former Federal Way coach Jean Licari, who lost a battle with cancer in January. Licari was a longtime Eagles track and field coach.
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