Full recap from the 2023 Shoreline Invitational at Shoreline Stadium in Shoreline.
After opening his senior season at the Northeast Complex in Seattle, Floyd began nursing a nagging hamstring injury following the meet, holding him out of competition for the last month.
Given the opportunity to return this weekend, Floyd was going to be as cautious as ever in his prime event – the 400 meters.
While he approached it with that mentality, the result was a bit surprising to him.
Floyd cruised through the boys 400 field Saturday at Shoreline Stadium, running a US #6 time of 46.30 to set a new lifetime best.
“To come out and run 46.30 right before postseason, it’s nice,” Floyd said. “I was coming for 45, but I’ll take it.”
On the first warm day of the year in Washington, rising temperatures brought the best out of the competitors with multiple personal best efforts, especially Floyd, who ran away from the field by more than three seconds for the win.
“First warm day in Seattle for a while, I tried to go hard,” Floyd said. “I turned it on at 150 and knew I had to give it all I got.”
Liberty-Issaquah's Jackson Moffit took second to Floyd, running a personal best time of 49.81, with Newport-Bellevue's Cameron Trichel close behind in third at 50.44.
The Seattle Prep star also ran in the boys 4x100 relay earlier in the day to kick start his racing again, anchoring the Panthers to a third-place finish in 42.81.
“Today and next week is about getting repetition back,” Floyd said. "I haven’t been running much meet wise. Being able to hold two events in a meet, 4x100 felt good and I feel good now.”
Bothell's Haedyn Bambolo continued her statewide shot put dominance with another enormous win in the girls competition.
Following Wednesday’s league meet where she threw a US #6 mark of 48-07, the University of Arizona bound thrower threw within two inches of her personal best mark, throwing 48-05 to win by more than nine feet.
“I was really relaxed,” Bambolo said. “I think I could have thrown further. If shot put was earlier in the day, I would have thrown further. I was sitting in the sun for eight hours and I’ve been more comfortable going from ring to ring by trusting myself and catching myself.”
Bambolo threw her best mark of the day during her first attempt in finals. She followed with a second attempt that would have been over 49 feet, but she stepped over the ring. On her last throw, she hit around 45 feet.
Lincoln-Tacoma's Pray'Cesslily Samuta threw 39-00 to finish second to Bambolo, with Olympic's Sara Leasiolagi finishing third with a throw of 38-06.
Earlier in the morning, Bambolo also won the girls discus with a throw of 131-0, winning by almost 18 feet.
Bear Creek's Braelyn Baker took first in both the girls 100 and 200 races, running 12.11 in the 100 through a strong head wind in the morning and later ran 24.23 in the 200.
Behind Baker in both races were Glacier Peak's Jana Willems (12.32, 2nd) and Bellevue's Alex Buck (12.47, 3rd) in the girls 100; Federal Way's Cassandra Atkins (25.08, 2nd) and Mount Si's Hailey Weir (25.12, 3rd) in the girls 200.
Seattle Academy's Reggie Witherspoon III also swept the 100 and 200 races, winning on the boys side in 10.75 and 22.00.
Federal Way's Andre Jordan was second in 10.92 and West Valley-Yakima's Benjamin Pupplo was third in 10.94 in the boys 100. Moffit was second in 22.11 and Squalicum's Teagan Daugthers was third 22.35 in the boys 200.
Curtis' Ava Simms went toe-to-toe with former Washington 3A state champion Meadowdale's Tresley Love in the girls 400, with Simms having the slight edge in the end by a margin of 56.24 to 56.98. Eastlake's Ava Hagwell finished third in 59.42.
Kamiak's Kalia Estes won both the 100 and 300 hurdle races on the girls side, running 15.17 and a personal best 44.23.
Eloise Newman and Arianna Nguyen of Mercer Island finished second and third, respectively, in the 100 hurdles in times of 16.01 and 16.07, while Bainbridge's Claire Hungerford held off Kentwood's Vai Green for second place in the 300 hurdles by a margin of 46.32 to 46.60.
Lincoln-Tacoma's Jonathan Frazier won the boys 110 hurdles in 14.86, besting Seattle Prep's Drew Velling in 14.95. Ellensburg's Joshua Boast took third in 15.23.
Liberty-Issaquah's freshman Sutton Flint ran a personal best 39.71 to win the boys 300 hurdles over Arlington's Ryan Rushton in 40.22 and Rainier Beach's Eyoub Endris in 40.64.
Bellevue's freshman phenom Kalea Hill ran a lifetime best 10:37.62 to win the girls 3,200 by 35 seconds, beating Franklin's Sabrina Colbert in 11:02.50. Katherine Yahn of Issaquah took third behind Colbert in 11:05.10 hours after her winning the girls 800 in a time of 2:18.12.
Lewis and Clark’s Evan Bruce won the boys race in comeback fashion in 9:18.99, outkicking Squalicum's Tyler Nielsen (9:23.84, 2nd) and Kamiak's Jaedyn Chase (9:24.79, 3rd).
Shorecrest’s Luke Schmidt took home the boys 1,600 title in front of the home crowd, coming from behind to win in a personal best time of 4:13.58. Seattle Prep's Jack Henzke finished second in 4:16.84 and Squalicum's Chase Bartlett was third in 4:18.66.
Bishop Blanchet’s girls distance medley relay team set a meet record in a time of 12:31.71. The team of Zoe Louis, Anna Sandnes, Molly Adams and Lily LaPorte bested Shorewood by 16 seconds.
Liberty-Issaquah’s 4x400 team of Ethan Jackson, Nicolas Ruiz, Ben Archer and Moffitt ran a state-leading 3:23.55 to win the boys race over Arlington’s team of Dallas Miller, James Scott, Ryan Rushton and Kellen Langford in 3:23.66.
Kira Angel Marshall, Soukhanya Water, Marina Velasco Bono and Cassandra Atkins led Federal Way WA to the girls 4x100 title in 49.13, besting Curtis' Shelby Duah, Frankie Skipper, Azariah Miller and Lenice Walston in 49.53.
Skyline’s boys 4x100 team, featuring Cameron Weir, Yusouf Elkhawad, Jani’ Weir and Trey Crandall, won in a time of 41.80.
Curtis’ Walston, Miller, Noelle Lordahl and Ava Simms led the Vikings to win the girls 4x200 in 1:43.60.
Ava Enriquez of Shorewood WA cleared 11-09 to win the girls pole vault over Northwest Pole Vault Club teammate and Inglemoor’s Jacqueline Jones in 11-09. Ballard’s Madeline Koening, another Northwest Pole Vault member, was third with a clearance of 11-06.
Federal Way’s Roman Hutchinson jumped a lifetime best 24-03 to win the boys long jump over Garfield’s Tawaf Aboudou in 23-00.5. Andre Jordan collected a third-place finish for the Eagles with a mark of 22-07.25.
Bellingham's Chayce Flick-Williams hit 17-07 for the girls long jump title, taking down Liberty-Issaquah's Paige Bajsarowicz's mark of 17-06.25. Simms finished third with a mark of 17-06.
Mercer Island’s Azah Khan bested Federal Way’s Jaylon Jenkins and Julian Gene Fortin in the boys triple jump, setting a personal best mark of 46-10.50. Jenkins was second at 46-06, with teammate Gene Fortin in third at 46-00.5.
Kamiak's Bella Hasan jumped 35-08 to win the girls triple jump, with Issaquah's Domfo Abekah in second at 35-03.50 and Bellingham's Genevieve Blum in third at 34-11.50.
For more results from the 2023 Shoreline Invitational, click here.