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Sports

Bellevue, Interlake Represented at State Track and Field

Bellevue's Tanner Lien and Matt Gilbert each finished in the top four of the boys javelin throw at the WIAA state track and field championships at Mt. Tahoma High School in Tacoma.

Tanner Lien and Matt Gilbert each finished in the top four of the boys javelin throw to lead at the WIAA state track and field championships on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Mt. Tahoma High School in Tacoma.

Lien finished second in the javelin throw with a throw of 184 feet, five inches, while Gilbert took fourth with a distance of 178 feet, 2 inches.

Bellevue picked up eight team points from Addison Woolsey in the 800 meter run. Woolsey entered the preliminaries seeded seventh overall in the race, but finished second overall with a time of 1:55.80. Bellevue boys finished in a tie for eleventh overall.

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The Bellevue girls team picked up its only team points with a sixth place finish by Floriane Kameni in the 3A girls long jump. Kameni posted a distance of 16 feet, 9 ¼ inches.

The Interlake girls team finished eighth overall in the 2A division, led by a strong showing in the track portion of the tournament.

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Summer Hanson won the 2A girls state title in the 800 meter run, posting a time of 2:15.32 to easily outdistance the field. Hanson also picked up fourth in the 400 meter dash with a time of 58.60 seconds.

Freshman runner Nikita Waghani put together a strong showing for Interlake in her first state appearance. Waghani, who only picked up competitive running earlier this year, finished third in the 3200 meter run and fourth in the 1600 meter run.

“I knew I could run this fast, I thought so, I just needed some competition to push me a little bit,” Waghani said of her high finishes.

also picked up some points in the field competition, getting a seventh-place finish from Brenda Agus in the 2A girls discus throw. Agus posted a best throw of 113 feet, 3 inches.

The Interlake boys were paced by Ryuji Kawashima in the 2A boys pole vault. Kawashima finished fifth overall in the event with a best height of 13 feet, 6 inches.

The tournament was hampered the first two days by inclement weather that brought rain in droves, casting a cloud over certain competitions. Nonetheless, a number of records were broken and several reigning champions repeated in their respective divisions.

Kasen Williams of Skyline provided highlights in the boys 4A division, taking home three state titles to cap off his remarkable senior season. The future University of Washington football player swept the long, high and triple jump competitions, setting a new state record in the triple – an event his father once owned the state record in – with a jump of 50 feet, 9 ¾ inches.

“Me and my dad kept saying, ‘it’s got to come back in the family,’” Williams said of his record-setting jump. “So I threw something out there…and just gave it a shot.”
Perhaps the highlight of the three-day event came in the final field activity, the 4A boys long jump. Williams took home the win, but not before a spirited battle with a field that included Edmonds-Woodway’s Alec Fellows, Kentwood’s BJ Arceneaux and Justin Browne of Gig Harbor.

The Renton boys track team dominated the 2A field behind, taking first place behind a combined five state titles between P.J. Benedictus and Justin Bennett. Benedictus repeated as the triple-jump champion and finished second in the long jump and high jump, while Bennett took first in the 100 and 200 meter dashes, as well as anchoring the first place 4X100 meter relay team.

Alanna Coker of Juanita High School repeated as the 3A girls triple-jump champion and finished second in the 100-meter dash. Coker was seeded second in the 200-meter dash following the preliminary round, but finished fifth after suffering a minor leg injury in the triple-jump competition.

Overall team winners were as follows: 4A girls – Kentwood; 4A boys – Kent-Meridian; 3A girls – Holy Names Academy; 3A boys – North Central; 2A girls – Sehome; 2A boys – Renton.

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