STANWOOD—The weather may have resembled a winter day at the WesCo North Championships Friday evening, but it didn’t seem to cool off the performance of the Oak Harbor track and field team.

The Oak Harbor boys surprised many by taking third place overall in league with 136.5 points. Only Marysville-Pilchuck (156.5) and Stanwood (140.5) finished higher.

“Our boys exceeded expectations again,” head coach Seth Hodges said.

The boys will send 13 individuals to the district meet, with at least one competitor in every event except the shot put.

A major factor in the boys’ success was the performance of their triple jumpers, who swept first through third place. Tim Harasti received first place in the event, setting a personal best of 43-feet-6 3/4 inches. A.J. Wilkins, who took second, also set a personal best of over a foot, jumping 42-feet-9 inches. Top seeded Motrayl Hayes struggled in the cold conditions but was still able to gather third place for the Cats.

“The boys finally put it together on the same day,” Hodges said.

The trio had a combined distance of 128-feet-11 1/2 inches, which places them fifth on Washington State’s all-time list in the triple jump relay.

Aside from winning the triple jump, Harasti also grabbed a second place finish in the high jump and third in the long jump.

“We can’t remember the last time any WesCo jumper put together top three finishes in all three jumps,” Hodges said.

Thrower Matt Constantino turned what could have been disaster into a big day. After purchasing a new javelin for the league meet, he found out it did not meet regulations just before Friday’s league championship. Forced to borrow someone else’s javelin, Constantino, the league-leader, almost didn’t advance to districts. His first two preliminary throws sailed out of bounds and on his third and final toss he nailed a throw to get him into the finals. The finals were a breeze for Constantino, who took first place by over 20 feet, with his second best throw ever of 180-feet-8 inches. He also received third in the discus where he had a personal best of 150-feet-8 inches.

“The discus and the javelin, which require very different throwing motions, are thrown at the same time during the meet,” Hodges said. “Matt’s greatest improvement over the past year has been his ability to shift his focus and concentration between each event as he rotates between them.”

The girls team repeated last year’s performance, taking eighth place out of nine teams. Tina Nicolas was the lone individual to place, taking seventh in the 100-meter hurdles.

“Tina had a very good day, as she wasn’t expected to make the finals in the event,” Hodges said.

The girls’ three relay teams had their best runs of the season as they all moved on to districts. The 4 by 100-meter relay team of ChrisGanna Cooper, La Paris Rush, Nicolas and Gretyl Pruss took sixth with a time of 52.39, the 4 by 200-meter relay team consisting of the same runners took seventh at 1:51.99 and the 4 by 400-meter relay team of Amanda Gordon, Challon Waldron, Keely Smollack and Pruss took fifth at 4:25.98.

“Our focus of this meet was to get the best from our relay teams as we knew that would be where we’d score most of our points,” Hodges said. “The teams didn’t disappoint…”

Also receiving district qualifying marks were Waldron in the 800-meters, Gordon in the 300-meter hurdles and Jessica Gilbert and Audrey Neeley in the shot put.

“It was a great effort by our whole team,” Hodges said. “Several times in the evening I was stopped by fellow coaches and a few spectators and was told—your team really competes.”

The district championships begin at 3:30 p.m., today, May 21 at Shoreline Stadium in Seattle. The finals will be held at 5 p.m., Friday, May 23 at the same location.

Boys Individual Results: 100m: 7. Gary Truman 11.71; 8. Jon Morse 11.81; 200m: 3. Motrayl Hayes 23.21; 8. Lucas Lycksell 23.81; 400m: 3. Lycksell 52.33; 5. Steve Marriott 52.56; 7. Joe Carreras 53.47; 1600m: 6. Derek Wirth 4:30.09; 3200m: 6. Wirth 9:56.66; 110m hurdles: 8. Tim Boyles 18.09; 300m hurdles: 3. Scott Spears 41.51; 4x100m Relay: 2. Oak Harbor (Ryan McCormick, Morse, Truman, Hayes) 44.84; 4x400m Relay: 3. Oak Harbor (Lycksell, Carreras, S. Marriott, David Marriott) 3:32.22; High Jump: 2. Tim Harasti 5-10; t7. AJ Wilkins 5-06; Long Jump: 3. Harasti 20-04.50; 7. Hayes 19-03.25; Triple jump: 1. Harasti 43-06.75; 2. Wilkins 42-09.00; 3. Hayes 42-07.50; Javelin: 1. Matt Constantino 180-08; Discus: 3. Constantino 150-08; Pole Vault: 4. Andrew Bressler 13-00. All placers move on to Districts. Additional DistrictQualifiers: 200m Jon Morse, 800m Derek Wirth, David Marriott, 3200m Chris Wichers. Girls Individual Results: 100m hurdles: 7. Tina Nicolas 17.22; 4x100m Relay: 6. Oak Harbor (ChrisGanna Cooper, La‚Paris Rush, Nicolas, Gretyl Pruss) 52.39; 4x200m Relay: 7. Oak Harbor (Cooper, Rush, Nicolas, Pruss) 1:51.99; 4x400m Relay: 5. Oak Harbor (Amanda Gordon, Challon Waldron, Keely Smollack, Pruss) 4:25.98. Additional District Qualifiers: 800m Challon Waldron, 300m Hurdles Amanda Gordon, Shot Put Jessica Gilbert, Audrey Neeley.