State track makes long-awaited return after three-year hiatus
TACOMA - It's taken four years, but Olympia's Ethan Coleman can now call himself a state champion.
Battling the rain at Mt. Tahoma High School on day one of the 4A/3A/2A state championships on Thursday, Coleman finally got his moment to shine at the biggest of meets in Washington, winning the 4A boys 1,600-meter title in a personal best effort of 4 minutes, 6.28 seconds.
"Coming out today, I just had a completely different mindset," Coleman said. "I was really reassuring myself knowing no matter the result, I put the work in. We're all worthy competitors out here, so coming away with a win in a field of guys like this was really amazing."
This was Coleman's race from the start. Never losing sight of first place, Coleman sat right in front of Kamiakin's Isaac Teeples, who finished second in a time of 4:10.57, for three laps running conservatively out front up until about 300 meters to go when he finally broke away and won the race from there.
Coleman took second at last fall's 4A state cross-country championships, falling to Teeples after being the No. 1 guy all season long in Washington. He left that race with a bitter taste in his mouth.
On Thursday evening, Coleman was the underdog this time coming into the meet behind Teeples, who had run a time of 4:05.55 in a true mile in late April. He had nothing to lose and everything to gain when he stepped out on the track.
"My race plan I think went exactly as I really wanted to intend," Coleman said. "I was thinking of kicking a little bit later on, but I felt good coming through with 500 to go and I decided just to go for it."
Newport's (Bellevue) Sam Jacobsen placed third overall in a time of 4:12.41, just running a second off his personal best time from his win at Shoreline in April.
Rogers' (Puyallup) Isaac Briggs lowered his time down by six second to 4:13.58 placing fourth overall in a big personal best effort. Kamiakin's Grayson Wilcott rounded out the top five, running 4:13.82 for fifth.
Just three years after racing at the state track championships as a freshman, Bellarmine's Ella Borsheim made her return to claim the 4A girls 1,600 title, running a time of 4:54.17 as she edged out Curtis' Eliza White at the line.
"It feels so great to be back," Borsheim said. "It feels so long ago since I've raced at Mt. Tahoma High School for state as freshman, so it makes it really special to be back here given the time away."
Much like the boy's race, the 4A girl's race was ran very tactical with a group of around 10 girls bunched together for 1,200 meters before the race really began the final 400.
White, who finished second in 4:54.23, and Eisenhower's Isabela Alvarado, third in 4:55.76, really picked things up on the backstretch opening up the pack with under 300 meters to go. Trailing not too far behind in fourth was Borsheim.
Coming around the bend on the final turn, the Bellarmine senior whipped out front with under 100 meters to go speeding past White, holding on till the end to cross the finish line in first by the smallest of margins.
"I think our last lap was a 64-65, so it definitely heated back up," Borsheim said. "It was definitely fun. Eliza's a good competitor and she's got a great kick too. It was good to get the win, but she definitely made me work for it."
Skyline's Rebecca O'Keefe took fourth in a time of 4:56.59, followed by Tahoma's Sara Sanders in fifth, running a personal best time of 4:58.10.
The upset of the day came in the 3A boys 1,600 as Bishop Blanchet's Will Schneider took down the classification's top runner in Arlington's Aiden Emerson in a personal best effort of 4:07.65. The two both leaned at the line making it a photo finish that had Schneider ahead of Emerson (4:07.67) by .02 hundredths of a second in the end.
"We just wanted to go out there to compete and give it our best shot," Schneider said. "We felt great going into it and trusted our training, so I'm just really happy with the result."
Bishop Blanchet freshman Vince Recupero lowered his time down by four seconds to run a new personal best time of 4:07.94, which is the fastest time in the nation for freshman boys this season. Recupero also broke the Washington state freshman boy's record earlier this season when he ran 4:11.80 at the Shoreline Invite.
Walla Walla's Brody Hartley ran a personal best 4:10.31 to place fourth overall breaking the Blue Devils school record held by Cooper Cortinas from the 2019 season. Central Kitsap's Blake Reynolds was fifth in personal best time of 4:11.23.
Bishop Blanchet freshman Lily LaPorte battled back to win the 3A girls 1,600, beating out Kennewick's Macy Marquardt on the final 50 meters to run a personal best time of 4:57.71. Marquardt, the 3A state cross-country champion, was second in a personal best time of 4:58.37.
Two more freshman girls broke five minutes as Auburn Riverside's Julia Couch ran 4:59.57 to place third, and Peninsula's Elektra Higgins was fifth in 4:59.99. Holy Names' Maisie McManus was fourth, running a personal best time of 4:59.94.
Selah's Cooper Quigley used an incredible surge with 300 meters to go to open the gap up in the 2A boys 1,600, coming away with the win in a new 2A state meet record time of 4:08.89. The previous meet record was held by White River legend Marcus Dickson from 2012 when he ran 4:10.79.
Sehome's Zack Munson took second behind Quigley, running 4:13.95. Columbia River's Daniel Barna (3rd, 4:15.77), Aberdeen's Julian Campos (4th, 4:16.49), and Port Angeles' Jack Gladfelter (5th, 4:17.89) all came away with personal best efforts.
The 2A girls 1,600 race went wire-to-wire with Shelton's Alauna Carstens coming out with the win in a personal best effort of 4:58.34, edging out Ellensburg's Kate Laurent time of 4:58.48, which is a school record for the Bulldogs.
East Valley's (Spokane) Logan Hofstee ran a gutsy race, finishing third overall in a personal best time of 5:00.49 after leading the majority of the race.
Sequim's Riley Pyeatt was fourth in a personal best 5:03.91. Anacortes' Jessica Frydenlund, the 2A state cross-country champion, was fifth in 5:05.06.
1A/2B/1B Meet
Klahowya's Kelton Gagnon held off Lynden Christian's Andrew Luce for the 1A boys 1,600 title at Roos Field on the campus of Eastern Washington University in Cheney as day one of the 1A/2B/1B meet concluded.
The Weber State commit ran a personal best time of 4:14.01, lowering his PR down by three seconds from earlier this season. Luce ran a second-place personal best time of 4:16.72. Medical Lake's Reid Headrick was third in a personal best 4:20.09.
Seton Catholic's Alexis Leone, the 1A state cross-country champion, pulled away from Meridian's Kayla Aalpoel to win the girls race in a personal best time of 5:06. Aalpoel also ran a personal best for her second-place effort in 5:10.06.
South Whidbey's Naomi Atwood took third overall in a personal best time of 5:11.01.
Chewelah's Zeke Crockett and Goldendale's Alden Williams battled down it out in the 2B boys 1,600 with Crockett taking the win in a personal best time of 4:28.97. Williams crossed the tape in 4:29.16, a personal best effort as well. Liberty Bell freshman Dexter Delaney was third, running a personal best time of 4:31.59.
St. George's freshman Josie McLaughlin defeated defending 2B state cross-country champion and Asotin's own Chloe Overberg in the girl's race, running to a personal best time of 5:13.25. Overberg ran a season best time of 5:17.20.
Dragons' eighth grader Regan Thomas took third in the field, running a personal best time of 5:21.29.
Pope John Paul II's Trevor Dugo won the 1B boys 1,600 easily by seven seconds, running a personal best time of 4:32.75. Lopez freshman Ethan Patrick took second in a personal best 4:39.37, followed by Riverside's Christian's Isaac Immel in third running 4:40.83.
DeSales Emmalyne Jimenez won the 1B girls race in a personal best time of 5:26.79. Pope John Paul II's Clare Kondrat (5:32.63) and Catelin King (5:35.66) finished second and third in personal best efforts.