Shoreline, WA - Lake Steven's Taylor Roe finishes off her last high school district meet with two wins in the 4A 800 and 3,200 meter races at Shoreline Stadium this past Friday.
The Oklahoma State commit and 5-time state champion ran 2:12.9 in the 800 and 10:42.83 in the 3,200 to tally up her district championship total to 10.
She also won the 1,600 meter in a new 4A-leading time of 4:51.04 on Wednesday completing the distance sweep.
In the 800, Roe was challenged by Glacier Peak's Brooke Wallace, who placed second in 2:16.26, on lap one but began to crawl away with under 300 meters to go and would end up winning by about four seconds.
"I haven't raced a ton of 800's this season," said Roe. "So, just trying to get another solid one out and make sure I qualified for state. The goal was to get the job done."
This is Roe's first appearance in the state 800 since her sophomore year as she missed out on qualifying last season.
The 3,200 was a different race as Roe was able to work with two other girls, Glacier Peak's Aviry Stratton and Kamiak's Alicia Anderson, with the idea they could run under 11 minutes and qualify for the state meet.
"Before the race, I talked with the girl's asking what the standard is and what we have to hit," said Roe. "We were making sure we kept an honest enough pace to where we know we can break 11 so it was making sure everyone could benefit from it and not just sit and kick."
Stratton finished in second behind Roe with a time of 10:49.64. Although there were only two automatic bids to state, Anderson was able to qualify for next weeks final as she was third in a season best time of 10:50.14.
On the 3A side, Shorecrest's Lauren Block and Livia Glascock went first and second for the Scotties in the 800 running season best times of 2:16.53 and 2:22.33.
Just like the previous season, Block went out quick for her first lap with the idea she could come within breaking the school record.
"Last year, I was .7 seconds off my school record," said Block. "So, I really was hoping to beat that this season. Either way, I am excited to compete next week and hopefully get that school record."
Oak Harbor's Natalie French (2:22.69, 3rd) and Lynnwood's Christiana Savenkova (2:23.01, 4th) were among the top four to also qualify for next weeks state meet.
Ellie Baxter of Snohomish will make her first state meet appearance in the 3,200 as she beat Shorecrest's Lillian Visser on the final 100 meters in a time of 11:23.25.
Baxter lost to Visser by three seconds on Wednesday in the 1,600 race but was still able to qualify for state because she finished in the top four running 5:14.23 for second place.
With no intentions of winning, Baxter had no other plans in the race but to qualify for state.
"The first few laps went out like I expected which is close together," said Baxter. "Once we started to break apart from each other, I started to realize I might be able to outkick all the other girls. It eventually came down to the last 300 meters and I was still feeling pretty good, so I just went for it the last 100."
Visser, who ran 5:11.85 in her 1,600 win on Wednesday, ran a season best time of 11:25.29 to finish in second.
Also going to state in the 3,200 are Arlington's Anne Louise Fernandez and Marysville Getchell's Jasmine Nguyen. Fernandez ran a personal best time of 11:30.13 and Nguyeb ran 11:30.47.
The 3A/4A State Track and Field Championships begin this week on Wednesday, March 23, through Saturday, March 25, at Mount Tahoma High School in Tacoma.