TIM ADAMS
Sports editor
What a difference two days make.
Friday’s running of the WesCo North championship finals track meet at Wildcat Memorial Stadium was 110 percent different than Wednesday’s preliminaries had been.
Blustery winds, chilly temperatures and driving rain made conditions on Wednesday far less than ideal but by Friday, the sun was out and fans had traded in their umbrellas for sun block.
As a result times were fast, throws were long and many personal records were eclipsed.
The Oak Harbor boys team qualified eight individuals in six events and two relays, while the girls qualified in 10 individual events and two relays.
Shantae Young was the only Wildcat winner, recording victories in the 100-meter dash at 12.79 and the triple jump at 36-02.50.
She also finished second in the long jump at 16-04.75.
Adrianna Royal made a powerful run down the home stretch in the 800 to place second. Coming out of the final turn she was in fourth, but put on a burst of speed to pass two other competitors and finish in a time of 2:24.53.
“I tried to push myself there at the end,” the winded sophomore said.
Allison Duvenez also finished second in the 300 hurdles, but said she did poorly.
“I almost tripped on a hurdle going into the corner and fell on my face,” she said. “I’m excited to finish second, though, and I hope to break the school record at the district next week.”
Duvenez is also a district qualifier in the 100 hurdles.
For the boys, Stephen Lewis finsihed second in the 100 with a time of 11.23 and captured third in the 200 at 22.81.
Team wise, Lake Stevens won the boy’s title with 180 points and Marysville-Pilchuck checked in with 142 points to be crowned girl’s champion.
The Oak Harbor boys finished in eighth place with 46.50 points and the girls were ninth in the nine-team field with 66.50 points.
After finishing in fifth place, Greg Goebel said the boys 4×100 relay team has to pick up their speed.
“We had good handoffs, they seemed pretty clean,” Goebel, who runs the leadoff leg, said. “Overall, I don’t know what happened, we just have to go faster next week if we want to go to state.”
The Wildcat girls 4×100 relay team finished in third place and leadoff runner Janelle Yoshimoto said all their handoffs were smooth.
“I thought we did real well on our exchanges,” Janessa Ramos said.
Ramos qualified in the 200, Maura McKole in the 400 and Claire Trepanier is district bound in the 800.
Senior Josh Duhrkopf ran hard to finish fifth in the 800 in a time of 2:00.85.
“I went out pretty fast and then slowed down a little on the second lap,” he said. “I should have stuck with it, but next time we’ll see.”
Duhrkopf also qualified in the 1,600 and teammate Cody Klauer will be making a trip to the district in the 800.
Dejon Pruitt is headed for district in the high jump and Oak Harbor will be sending four competitors to district in the triple jump with Goebel, Rashaad Smith, Michael Mack and Dillon Peterson all qualifying.
Hope Thompson qualified in the triple jump and Amanda Alvarado and Becky Freeman will compete at district in the shot put and the discus, respectively. Alicia Christianson rounded out the Oak Harbor district team, placing eighth in the pole vault.
The 4A District 1 district meet will be held Wednesday and Friday in Shoreline.
