Full recap from day three of the 2023 Washington State Track and Field Championships.
TACOMA - Small-town Yelm had plenty to celebrate this school year.
In the fall, the Tornados capped off a historic football season with the program's first state championship, defeating Eastside Catholic thanks to Kyler Ronquillo's miraculous rip away resulting in the go-ahead touchdown.
Six months later, the school had plenty more to celebrate at Mt. Tahoma High School in Tacoma on Saturday, winning another state title at the Washington State Track and Field Championships.
Behind four first-place finishes, including Trevontay Smith's record setting triple jump effort on Thursday, Yelm scored 59 points to win the program's first 3A track and field state team title since 2002, defeating Mt. Spokane with 51.5 points.
“For us, we built everything on the foundation that was established by the coaches that came before us,” Yelm coach Chris Stovall said. “For us to be able to do it and win it with amazing field events team, couldn’t have been any better. Everybody did their job.”
Brayden Platt took home the fourth state individual title for the Tornados in the boys shot put to cap off the busy weekend for Yelm, with Platt throwing 61 feet, 10 inches to win by over six and a half feet.
Platt, along with Smith, Jordan Lasher and Isaiah Patterson, who all won state individual title this weekend, were all members of the state championship football team. Ronquillo was a key member of the track team but failed to make state due to an ankle injury from football.
"We didn't have one person let us down," Stovall said. "Everybody hit their absolute best, their peak performance the last three days. That's what you expect as a coach, that's what you want as a coach. That's what we worked for all year."
Bishop Blanchet's Vincent Recupero bounced back in the win column in the 3A boys 3,200-meter final, taking the state championship over Lakes' Cruize Corvin by a margin of 8:58.61 to 9:00.00.
Seattle Prep's Jack Henzke was a close second, finishing third at 9:00.22, with Walla Walla's Brody Hartley trailing in fourth in 9:01.22, Mercer Island's Owen Powell in fifth in 9:01.33 and Mt. Spokane's Parker Westermann in sixth in 9:01.66.
Bellevue freshman Kalea Hill held off Bonney Lake freshman Latham West in the 3A girls 3,200 in a margin of 10:29.19 to 10:30.31.
Arlington's Kellen Langford broke the Eagles' school record to win the 3A boys 800 state title, running 1:51.67 to beat Mt. Spokane's Ben Sonneland in 1:53.34.
Auburn Riverside's Julia Couch won her second consecutive 3A girls state title in the 800, running 2:10.78. Mead's Charlotte Cullen was second in 2:11.39, with Lake Washington's Alexa Matora in third at 2:12.92.
Lincoln-Tacoma's Jonathan Frazier out leaned Walla Walla's Jake Hisaw for the 3A boys 300 hurdles title, with Frazier running 37.27 and Hisaw running 37.89.
Kelso's Josie Settle ran 43.59 to win the 3A girls 300 hurdles over Mercer Island's Arianna Nguyen in 43.89. Settle led the Hilanders to the 3A team title with 53 points behind her four podium finishes.
Bellevue's Alex Buck repeated as champion in the 3A girls 100 and 200, running 12.12 in the 100 and 25.49 in the 200.
Mead's Dominick Corley ran 21.30 to win the 3A boys 200.
Snohomish's Avery Keith ran 48.00 to edge out Mt. Spokane's Bode Gardner in 48.04 for the 3A boys 400 title. Interlake's Elaine Hudacsko won the girls 400 in 56.19, defeating reigning champion, Meadowdale's Tresley Love.
Capital's girls 4x200 and 4x100 relay teams won both of their respective races, with the Cougars running 1:42.54 in the 4x200 and 48.13 in the 4x100. Walla Walla won the boys 4x100 in a time of 41.99.
Mt. Spokane's boys 4x400 relay team set a new state meet record in a time of 3:18.34 to win the state title. Mead' girls redeemed its second place 4x400 effort from last year, winning it this spring in 3:54.45.
Kelso's Ruby Sereday threw an 11-foot PR in the 3A girls javelin to win the state title with a throw of 130-4.
Stanwood's Elisa Caniglia cleared 6-6 to win the 3A boys high jump.
Silas' Addison Kelly jumped 37-10.25 to win the 3A girls triple jump.
Gero-Holt leads Jaguars to 4A title
JaiCieonna Gero-Holt scored 38 points between four events, including 8 on the final day of competition, to lead Emerald Ridge to the 4A girls state team title, scoring 67 points.
After winning three state titles the first two days, Gero-Holt earned a second-place finish in the 4A girls long jump, hitting a personal best 18-11.25. Federal Way's Cassandra Atkins won with a jump of 19-3.75.
"I beat myself, which was my main goal," Gero-Holt said. "Every time I step on that line, every time I step on that runway, every time I stepped up to go up for that bar, to throw the jav, throw the shot...I'm always competing against myself. That's what I did today."
Contributing to Emerald Ridge's scoring on the final day was Emme Bates in the 800 (2:12.60, 2nd); Mikayla Gardley in the 300 hurdles (44.18, 2nd); and Addison Ogden in discus (124-10, 7th).
"It was so balanced," Emerald Ridge coach Bob Frey said. "We had contributions from everywhere. We brought over 20 athletes which is something we haven't had in our program for a long time, and we were excited about that. We knew we were in a good position."
Led by Ava Simms, the Curtis girls won both the 4x100 and 4x200 relay races, running 48.07 in the 4x100 and 1:42.47 in the 4x200.
Kentridge's boys 4x100 team won the 4A title in a time of 41.93.
Skyline's Anna Callahan won her second state title of the weekend, winning the 4A girls 800 in a time of 2:10.75, West Valley-Yakima's Max Hutton won the boys 800 in 1:53.65.
Alex Conner of Kentridge leaned at the line to win the 4A boys 300 hurdles over Kamiak's Jaquan Means by a margin of 38.10 to 38.15. Kamiak's Kalia Estes won the girls race in 44.17.
Richland's Keenan Kuntz ran 10.80 to easily win the 4A boys 100. Glacier Peak's Jana Willems knocked off Tahoma's Brooke Lyons in the girls race in a time of 12.30.
Lyons bounced back in the girls 200 and 400, winning in times of 24.72 and 54.13.
Lake Stevens' Grant Buckmiller won the 4A boys 200 and 400 races, running 21.34 in the 200 and 46.62 in the 400.
Skyline's Rebecca O'Keefe won her first state championship, taking the 4A girls 3,200 title in a time of 10:39.01. Kamiak's Jaedyn Chase ran 9:17.88 for the boys title.
Lake Stevens' boys 4x400 team repeated as champions, winning the 4A title in 3:20.64. Camas's girls 4x400 won their respective state title in 3:58.
Curtis' Andrew Shirley completed a much-improved season with a 4A boys pole vault title, clearing 15 feet.
Federal Way's Roman Hutchinson won his second state title of the weekend, winning the 4A boys long jump in a mark of 23-9. The Eagles also won the boys team title, scoring 79.5 points behind three state individual titles.
Bothell's Haedyn Bambolo capped off her illustrious throwing career with a massive personal best throw of 146-11 to win the 4A girls discus.
Andrews, Munson win six races combined to lead Sehome boys back-to-back
Sehome's Jake Andrews and Zack Munson combined to win six individual races to lead the Mariners to score 73 points and back-to-back 2A boys state championships.
Andrews swept the 100-400 races, running 10.56 in the 100 and two meet record times of 21.21 in the 200 and 46.89 in the 400. Munson swept the 800-3,200 races, running 1:54.59 in the 800 and 9:07.38 in the 3,200 on Saturday and 4:13.64 on Thursday.
"The boys really brought it," Sehome coach Kevin Ryan said. "Jake went in there with that amazing relay comeback, and Zack, we think, might be the first upper classification guy to sweep all three distance events. We were really excited about that."
The Mariners also picked up a first place run in the 4x100, anchored by Andrews in come-from-behind fashion in a time of 42.53, and a sixth-place finish from Sklyer Gillham in the 3,200, running 9:22.37, to tally all of Sehome's points on the final day.
"We had other guys really competing well," Ryan said. "For our distance guy to get sixth in the 3,200 and the 4x100 boys add in, it was really great."
Tumwater also brought home the 2A girls state title for the second year in a row behind some strong performances in relays, including the girls 4x200 and 4x400.
The Thunderbirds won the 4x200 in a time of 1:43.55, then the 4x400 with the same team hours later in 4:02.40.
Annabelle Clapp picked up the lone individual win on Saturday for Tumwater in the 2A girls 400, running 59.10, with a third-place effort in the 800, running 2:17.88. Ava Jones earned two medals, adding to the Thunderbirds scoring in the 200 (26.08, 2nd) and 100 (12.80, 6th).
Lynden's Faith VanBrocklin ran 45.31 to win the 2A girls 300 hurdles over Orting's Myquela Pride in 45.75.
Rogers' Ellabelle Taylor won the 2A girls 100 in 12.46 and anchored the Pirates' 4x100 team to victory in a time of 49.46.
Ephrata's boys 4x400 team edged out Lynden for the 2A title in a margin of 3:22.30 to 3:22.69.
Evergreen's Matthew Fiso hit a mark of 45-08.25, winning the 2A boys triple jump.
Shadle Park's Josie Anselmo and Abi Caprye won their respective 2A titles, with Anselmo taking the girls pole vault at 11 feet and Caprye in the high jump, clearing 5-3.
1A/2B/1B
Bear Creek's Braelyn Baker lowered the Washington all-time girls 300 hurdle record for the second time, running 41.02 to win the 1A title. The junior also won the 100 in 11.92 and the 200 in 23.55.
Seattle Academy's Reggie Witherspoon III won both the 1A boys 100 and 200 titles, running a meet record 10.83 in the 100 and 21.45 in the 200.
Lynden Christian's Andrew Luce set a 1A boys 800 meet record with a winning time of 1:52.76.
Garfield-Palouse's Kennedy Cook ran 25.47 and 57.30 to set 1B state meet girls records.
Bodie Thomas of Vashon Island ran a 1A state meet record time of 9:13.84 to win the boys 3,200 over Medical Lake's Reid Headrick in 9:15.87.
DeSales' Morgan Thomas completed her career in an Irish uniform with another 1B state meet record performance, throwing 131-11 in the girls discus.
Zillah's Mia Hicks jumped 37-5.25 for the 1A girls triple jump state title.
Mary Walker's Tomeko Cates won the 1B boys high jump and long jump with meet record marks of 6-9 and 22-1.
The boys team champions were Seattle Academy (1A, 66 points), St. George's (2B, 52) and Evergreen Lutheran and Mary Walker (1B, 56). The girls team champions were King's (1A, 52), St. George's (2B, 118) and Garfield-Palouse (1B, 98).