South Sound athletes shine, prepare for state in bidistrict track meet in Kent
As good as he was in the sprints this week during the 3A/4A West Central/Southwest bidistrict track meet held at French Field in Kent this week, Jaylen McCabe believes his best event contains more obstacles.
Ten more obstacles, be exact.
“I’m mostly here for the hurdles,” McCabe said. “It’s my main spiel. But it’s always a plus to finish this out. Obviously it feels good. I can’t wait to see the time. If the time is good, I’ll be even happier.”
The Silas senior added his third individual bidistrict title on Friday, Day 2 of district meet. He swept around the curve and down the straightaway in Kent, taking his heat and the overall title in the 200 meters with a 22.21 seconds.
That added to the pair of bidistrict championships McCabe won on Day 1 on Wednesday, the 100 meters and his specialty – the 110 high hurdles. The shorter of the two hurdling events, McCabe took up the high hurdles almost from the beginning of his track career, back in the sixth grade.
“I started really getting into it in the ninth grade,” McCabe said. “But it was hard to continue it (hurdles) because of Covid and everything. This is my first full year. It’s great to see how far I’ve come in that.”
McCabe currently has the third-best time in the high hurdles so far this season in the state – a 13.96 achieved on May 4. He won the event at the bidistricts on Wednesday with a 14.04.
The longer hurdle event – the 300 intermediate hurdles – went to another Tacoma Public Schools boy on Friday. Lincoln’s Jonathan Frazier won his finals heat and took the overall individual title in 39.91 seconds.
“Finals are a lot harder to think about here, because it’s more like qualifying,” said Frazier, who ran in the third of the three overall finals heats. (There are no prelim qualifying races at the district meet). “I knew the time I was coming into it with. And I knew my chances of qualifying (for state) were really good.”
But Frazier didn’t necessarily get to run against all of the best in the field as those competitors were drawn into different heats. That will change next weekend at the state meet that begins on Thursday and runs through Saturday at Mount Tahoma High.
It will be the first state track meet since 2019. Spring was the only season completely wiped out from the 2019-2020 school year when the Covid-19 pandemic shut everything down the second week of March that year. The WIAA then canceled all district and state-level playoff events over the 2020-21 school year.
That makes this time around the only opportunity for many seniors like McCabe and others to finish high school as a champion. The bidistrict team champions were dominated by South Sound schools.
Yelm won the 3A boys team title, 96-76, over runner-up Gig Harbor. The 3A girls went to Capital, 76-66 over Central Kitsap, thanks in large part to a big Friday from sisters Hana and Amanda Moll, who accounted for fully a third of those points.
The sisters finished first and second in their specialty event, the pole vault, becoming the only two vaulters to clear 14 feet at the bi-district meet. Amanda Moll, who leads the state with a vault earlier this year of 14-9.25, also added a second-place finish in the long jump with a leap of 17 feet, 7 inches.
“I was definitely a little more tired than I usually am,” Amanda Moll said. “Definitely my legs hurt.”
While Moll will compete in both events at state, she won’t need to worry about the tight turnaround in Tacoma next weekend. The 3A pole vault is scheduled for Friday morning while the long jump won’t happen until Saturday.
That could bode well for she and her sister as they assault the state meet record of 14-0 set the last time the state meet was held, in 2019, by West Seattle’s Chloe Cunliffe.
In 4A, Curtis enjoyed its week on both sides. The boys won the team title, 95-84 over runner-up Emerald Ridge. The girls were second to Tahoma, 103-93. The Bears got a 200 meters title from Brooke Lyons in 24.86 seconds.
And there were other big performances.
Kentridge’s Saydi Orange already led the state in the javelin, having thrown a 154-9 during a tri-meet at French Field back on April 28. On Friday, she raised the mark to 157-0.
In the boys long jump, Evergreen’s Jonathan Landry popped a personal record 23-0, equaling the state-leading mark set on May 14 by Walla Walla senior Dash Sirmon at the MCC Championships. In doing so, Landry beat bidistrict favorite in the event, Kyler Ronquillo of Yelm.
The Tornados’ junior also advanced to state with his second-place leap of 22-6, which also equaled his best so far this spring.
“He peaked at the right time,” Ronquillo said. “My last jump, I was feeling good. Lined up. I’ve got to control what I can control. I got a big headwind gust, and I flopped straight down.”