South Sound programs sweep girls team titles at 4A/3A/2A track and field state championships
When the third and final day of the rain-soaked Class 4A/3A/2A track and field state meet was complete Saturday evening in Tacoma, three girls team champions were crowned — and the South Sound reigned.
Curtis jumped ahead late in the 4A girls team race to secure the program’s first title in a decade, while Capital won its first team title in 3A and Tumwater its first in 2A.
The Vikings, after trailing in team points earlier on, assured their victory in the final race run during the meet to complete the South Sound sweep in the girls team races.
Curtis finished with 68 points, and edged 4A South Puget Sound League rival South Kitsap (65) to secure its first team title since 2012, while also besting three-time defending champion Tahoma (46) and Redmond (45).
“The team effort was absolutely amazing,” Curtis junior Ava Simms said. “We all kind of went into this knowing that we had a chance to win state, but we didn’t win districts, so we had a lot more to prove at this meet.”
The Vikings made their run late in the afternoon, breaking what was at one point a tie with the Wolves when sophomore Eliza White edged Bellarmine Prep’s Ella Borsheim for the 3,200 title (10:29.66).
White’s win gave Curtis a 10-point lead heading into the 4x400, and all but guaranteed a team victory.
The Vikings needed a single point in the final race to avoid the possibility of a tie, and they delivered three.
South Kitsap added 10 points with a win in the final race, but Curtis’ sixth-place finish — Noelle Lordahl, White, Abigail Klein and Simms combined to run 4:04.34 — was enough to lift the Vikings to a title.
“We wanted to leave it all on the track,” Simms said.
Simms also added an individual title in the 400 (57.1), as well as a third-place finish in the 200 (25.75).
White also added another podium finish, taking second in the 1,600 (4:54.23), while Hazel Gaspaire finished third in the high jump (5-4).
Klein added three individual podium finishes in the 100 hurdles (sixth, 16.03), 300 hurdles (fifth, 46.13) and high jump (sixth, 5-0), while Azariah Miller added a fifth-place finish in the triple jump (36-2).
Curtis also placed in each of the three relays. Kylie Lamarre, Lenice Walston, Miller and Gaspaire combined for a fourth-place finish in the 4x100 (49.79) and Walston, Gaspaire, Miller and Simms finished third in the 4x200 (1:42.94).
Curtis’ team championship was the fourth in program history.
“Our team has worked really hard,” White said. “I’m really proud of all of them.”
In 3A, Capital won its first girls team championship behind two track event titles and two field titles — including three individual championships from Amanda and Hana Moll.
Amanda Moll, the top-ranked girls pole vaulter in the nation this spring, secured her first state championship in the event Friday afternoon (overall meet-record 14-6), while Hana Moll, ranked second nationally in the event, placed second (14-0).
Amanda Moll also added a long jump title (17-8) and Hana Moll a 100 hurdles championship (14.66).
The Cougars also posted a pair of podium finishes in the relays, including a title in the 4x100 race, with Kora Landers, Amanda Moll, Lucy Heminway and Hana Moll combining for a winning time of 49.24.
Landers, Karina Greenlee, Heminway and Addison Harrington added a sixth-place finish in the 4x200 relay (1:47.18) and Landers another sixth-place finish in the 100 (12.63).
Capital won the team championship with 54 points, ahead of Garfield (47), Kelso (44) and Hazen (38).
Tumwater ran away with the 2A girls championship, winning the first girls team crown in school history with 78 points, well out in front of defending champion Bellingham (51), Sehome (45) and Ellensburg (43).
Natalie Sumrok won an individual championship in the javelin (126-2) and Alyssa Duncan won a triple jump title (37-2 1/4), pacing a T-Birds group that also reached the podium sev more times in individual events.
Ava Jones added points in the 100 (fourth, 12.57) and 200 (third, 25.9), Annabelle Clapp placed in both the 200 (eighth, 26.92) and 400 (second, 59.24), Duncan also had two more podium finishes in the 100 hurdles (third, 15.65) and long jump (second, 18-1) and Sumrok also placed in the shot put (sixth, 35-7 1/2).
Tumwater boosted its winning team score with top-four finishes in each of the three relay races.
The T-Birds won the first race run on the track Saturday morning, besting the field in the 4x200 when Mariah Jett, Clapp, Reese Heryford and Jones combined to post a season-best 1:44.67.
Jett, Sumrok, Heryford and Duncan secured a fourth-place finish in the 4x100 (51.51), and Jones, Jett, Heryford and Clapp wrapped up the weekend with a third-place finish in the 4x400 (4:08.02).
Three more local programs reached the podium in the boys team competition in Tacoma.
Federal Way (51 points) held the lead in 4A until the final race of the evening, when Lake Stevens (58) secured 10 points and the title with a victory in the 4x400 relay. Olympia (49) ended the meet third in team scoring ahead of Central Valley (39).
Yelm (54) also finished third in the 3A team race behind champion Walla Walla (66) and Arlington (57), while Mount Spokane took fourth (47).
Bellingham schools won three of the four podium spots in 2A, with Sehome (88) securing the title ahead of Aberdeen (51), Bellingham (50) and Squalicum (49).
Elsewhere at Eastern Washington University, two local programs in Rainier (2B boys) and Pope John Paul II (1B girls) won team championships at the 1A/2B/1B state meet.
Pope John Paul II also placed third in the 1B boys team standings and Evergreen Lutheran finished fourth.
Connell (1A boys), King’s (1A girls), St. George’s (2B girls) and Mount Vernon Christian (1B boys) also won team championships in Cheney.
