RAYMOND — As it turned out, Raymond coach Mike Tully demonstrated foresight when he forgot to transport the Henrie-Weisel Trophy from his room to trackside for the Willapa Harbor tri-district meet. Had he done so, it would have been wasted exercise.
The host Seagulls handily continued their domination of this meet by sweeping boys and girls team honors Thursday at Raymond.
The Gulls amassed 158 points to finish 73 ahead of South Bend and 116 in front of Willapa Valley in the combined boys and girls team standings.
As expected, Raymond decisively won the boys meet with 112 points, with South Bend placing second with 44 points. Raymond’s girls, with 46 points, edged South Bend by five points and Willapa Valley by 12.
The Gulls have won the combined team trophy all seven years since the tri-district meet was named in honor of the late Jim Henrie and Don Weisel (longtime track coaches at Raymond and South Bend, respectively).
They haven’t always swept the boys and girls team competition. Tully was quick to acknowledge that Willapa Valley’s girls likely would have have prevailed this year had not three Viking standouts (Brooke Friese and the Layman sisters, Emilee and Hallee) missed the meet due to personal and family committments.
Thursday’s meet was contested in steady day-long rain. But mild temperatures and the absence of wind made conditions semi-tolerable.
As it developed, there were a surprising number of good marks, one dramatic race and a moment of low comedy.
Predictably, Raymond standout Karlee Freeman was unfazed by the conditions.
The USC-bound senior broke her own school record in the girls shot put with a 43-foot throw, hit the 126-foot mark in the javelin and also won the 100 meters and the discus. Her 159-11 throw in the latter event was a bit more than a foot shy of her school record, but it was more than 17 feet farther than the state’s second-best all-classification mark.
Raymond’s McCartney Maden won both boys hurdles, taking the 300 lows in particularly exciting fashion.
At least 10 meters behind South Bend’s Ben Byington entering the stretch, Maden closed with a rush and pulled out a razor-thin victory when Byington was slowed by clipping the final two hurdles.
Marcus Anderson (boys 200 meters and high jump), Audison Phimmasone (boys 1,600 and 3,200 meters) and Ricky Robinett (boys shot and discus) were also double winners for the Gulls. Robinett surpassed 100 feet for the first time in the disc.
“We had some good performances despite not having the best weather,” Tully summarized.
The Gulls were thankful they didn’t need additional points from the boys sprint relay. Raymond fielded the only team in that event, but botched the final exchange and was disqualified.
South Bend’s Hannah Byington doubled in the girls long and triple jumps. Teammate Logan Stamos won the boys triple jump.
Tribe coach Steve Lazelle cited the showings of Preston Lawhead, who ran away with the boys 400 meters, and Jessica Sanchez, who established a PR of 110-02 in placing second to Freeman in the javelin.
“We had some good things in the jumps,” said Lazelle. “Overall, for the conditions, I thought everybody did OK.”
Hannah Cook, in the girls hurdles, and Amber Anderson (girls 1,600 and 3,200) were double winners for Willapa Valley. Cook also ran second in her first-ever appearance in the 800.
Bryce Sanaski, who cleared 11-6 in the pole vault, was the lone winner for Valley’s boys.
“The kids went out and competed the best they could,” Viking coach Dave Ege said. “You’re not going to have great times and distances in this kind of weather.”
A few events were scrapped due to lack of entries and a couple of one-person girls races were combined with the boys. That enabled meet officials to zip through the entire proceedings in barely two hours.
BOYS
100 — 11.94 — Byington (SB), Meade (R), Anderson (R). 200 — Anderson (R), Meade (R), Lawhead (SB). 400 — 56.83 — Lawhead (SB), Carter (R), R. Robinett (R). 800 — 2:24.87 — Phimmasone (R), Kirpes (SB), Lenoir (R). 1,600 — 5:30.64 — Phimmasone (R), Kronjaeger (R), Chan (R). 110 H — 16.62 — Maden (R), Byington (SB), Misaengay (R). 300 H — 43.15 — Maden (R), Byington (SB), Stamos (SB). 4×400 R — 4:16.62 — Raymond.
HJ — 6-0 — Anderson (R), Thepsoumphou (R), Strozyk (SB). PV — 11-6 — Sanaski (WV), Carter (R), Minton (WV). LJ — 19-5 — Edwards (R), Strozyk (SB), Lawhead (SB). TJ — 39-1 1/2 — Stamos (SB), Maden (R), Phimmasone (R). Shot — 44-10 — R. Robinett (R), J. Robinett (R), Edwards (R). Disc — 103-10 — R. Robinett (R), Koski (R), J. Robinett (R). Jav — 138-2 — Mora (SB), R. Robinett (R), Kirpes (SB).
GIRLS
100 — 13.44 — Freeman (R), Byington (SB), Quintana (R). 400 — 1:11.89 — Quintana (R). 800 — 2:58.23 — Markwell (SB), Cook (WV), Bucio (SB). 1,600 — 6:33.89 — Anderson (WV), Mora (SB). 3,200 — 14:47.24 — Anderson (WV). 100 H — 17.85 — Cook (WV), Betrozoff (WV). 300 H —50.81 — Cook (WV). 4×200 R — 2:16.72 — Raymond.
HJ — 4-6 — Betrozoff (WV), Byington (SB). LJ — 16-1 1/2 — Byington (SB), Doyle (SB), Markwell (SB). TJ — 32-6 3/4 — Byington (SB), Johnson (SB), Doyle (SB). Shot — 45-0 — Freeman (R), Crow (R), S. Baker (SB). Disc — 159-11 — Freeman (R), Crow (R), Markwell (SB). Jav — 126-0 — Freeman (R), Sanchez (SB), Crow (R).
Raymond’s Karlee Freeman, the USC-bound senior, broke her own school record in the girls shot put Thursday with a 43-foot throw. (Photo by Larry Bale)
