TUMWATER — The Aberdeen High School track and field team will be well represented at next week’s state meet after eight Bobcats qualified in their respective events at the 2A District IV Championships on Friday at Tumwater District Stadium.

Aberdeen head coach April Meissner said she was impressed with the athletes that she brought to districts.

“We have some kids going to state that we kind of thought were going to be on the bubble,” she said. “We brought 16 kids and almost every one of them has placed sixth or higher (at districts), so that’s a pretty good day for the Bobcats.”

Meissner was pleased to see her athletes step their game up late in the season, but the Bobcats were also able to rely on established seniors Faith Cardenas and Brian Sidor.

Cardenas won the 200 meters (26.26) and the 400 meters (59.79). She also finished second in the 100-meter dash with a personal-record time of 12.92.

The University of San Francisco-bound speedster also anchored the 4×200 relay team that grabbed the silver medal with a time of 1:50.90.

Sidor came up with two personal-record times in his victories, running a 22.06 to win the 200 meters and a 49.27 to claim victory in the 400.

Sidor said the extra work he put in leading up to the event helped give him an edge.

“I was a little more active in the days leading up to the meet,” he said. “We had a pretty hard day on Monday and I think that helped me.”

Cardenas said experience has helped her to feel more comfortable heading into districts compared to when she was a freshman.

“When I came here as an underclassmen, there were a lot more nerves and a lot more pressure,” she said. “I came in today as a senior and I was like, ‘I’ve been here before.’ I know what I needed to do and I did it.”

While Cardenas and Sidor were both expected to do well, the performances of Wyatt Johnson in the long jump (21-3.75) and Madi Niemi in the 400 meters (62.79) gave the Bobcats a lift in some unexpected places.

Aberdeen will also send a thrower to state with Patricia Bates hitting a new personal best in the discus (110-06).

Personal records were broken despite some rain sweeping through the area during the field events. The track was still a little wet by the time the gun sounded for the start of the 100-meter dash.

Meissner said the weather and track conditions made her athletes feel at home on Tumwater’s track.

“That was Aberdeen weather,” she said. “They don’t care, they love running in the rain. The hot weather actually bothers them so you can’t get better weather than what we got Friday.”

Aberdeen’s athletes will have a little less than week to get ready for the state meet and Meissner thinks having her top short-distance runners lead by example will help all of their state qualifiers get prepared.

Meissner added she is going to miss Sidor and Cardenas when they graduate at the end of the season.

“We’re going to miss their leadership, enthusiasm for track and their hard work,” she said. “You can never really replace people but those are two people who are definitely irreplaceable.”