Ravens and Trojans earn state placings at Washington State 4A track and field meet | Track and Field

June 2, 2010 7:42 pm
Auburn Riverside senior Rebecca Turnbow clears the bar in the Washington State Girls 4A pole vault championships at Mt. Tahoma Stadium. Turnbow finished third in the competition with a 12-foot vault.
Auburn Riverside senior Rebecca Turnbow clears the bar in the Washington State Girls 4A pole vault championships at Mt. Tahoma Stadium. Turnbow finished third in the competition with a 12-foot vault.

Coming into the state 4A track and field championships last weekend, the Auburn Riverside boys and girls expected to make a little noise in the long distance events.

And although the runners excelled as expected, the big surprises came in the field events when several Ravens secured state placings at Mount Tahoma Stadium in Tacoma.

In the long jump, sophomore Ali Rodseth and freshman Brandi Williams finished fourth and sixth, respectively. Rodseth jumped 17-0 1/4 feet, while Williams stretched 16-11. Emerald Ridge senior Kayla Stueckle took the long jump title with a leap of 18-1.

“Ali and Brandi were big surprises,” said Auburn Riverside coach Bill Sumner. “As consistent as they’ve been, (posting personal bests) the week before and maintaining that at state, they did what they had to do in their event. They had some good jumps where some of the other kids didn’t.”

In the pole vault, senior Rachel Turnbow stepped it up for the Ravens, finishing third by clearing a personal-best 12 feet.

“She came up big,” Sumner said. “She just looked great.”

In the running events, participants battled stormy, rainy weather as well as the other state competitors. But the Ravens’ Kenny Krotzer, Rachel Atwood and Cassidy Brown came away with state placings.

“The weather kind of slows things down a bit. It made for some real close races,” Sumner said. “If the weather was better, some of those kids would have been able to pull away. But coming down the home stretch the wind was bad, and as a leader you’re breaking the wind for a lot of other runners.”

Brown, a freshman, was seventh in the 800 meters with a time of 2 minutes, 18.89 seconds. Mead’s Baylee Mires took the title in 2:15.46.

In the 3,200, Atwood, a sophomore, was fifth in 11:02.81. Garfield’s Anna Dailey captured the race in 10:28.91.

The Stanford-bound Krotzer, meanwhile, was fifth in the 800 and third in the 1,600, posting a 1:55.63 and a 4:10.94, respectively, in his events.

“Of course, I’m not satisfied. I was hoping to win,” Krotzer said of his finishes. “I was hoping to end on a good note. I’m not disappointed, but I’m not satisfied.”

Krotzer’s times were well below his personal records of 1:52.52 in the 800 and 9:13.51 in the 1,600.

“The wind on the home stretch was pretty bad,” Krotzer said. “But it was more of a mental factor. When you think of state, you think of it being perfect weather. It was just typical Washington weather, though.”

Ferris’ Justin Zimmerman claimed the 800 in 1:54.27, with Central Kitsap’s Shane Moskowitz snagging the 1,600 title with a 4:09.27.

Sumner was pleased with his team’s overall finishes, with the girls coming in ninth with 20 points and the boys grabbing 21st with 10 points.

“For the amount of kids we brought, it was a pretty good group who made it to state and did really well,” Sumner said.

ALSO: Auburn found success in the 4A meet with junior Danny Shelton grabbing fifth in the shot put (55-1) and sixth in the discus (141-6). In the javelin, senior Max Pratt was seventh with a throw of 173-5. Jose Figueroa also placed, grabbing second in the wheelchair discus and shot put events.