CHEHALIS — Tawni Blankenship soared to unprecedented heights for one of five Twin Harbors district 2B track titles.

For Karlee Freeman, however, two of those triumphs were offset by future concerns.

North Beach’s Blankenship established school and meet records in the girls pole vault at the District IV Class 2B Track &Field Championships Friday night at Chehalis High School.

She’ll join district champions Freeman and Luke Hamilton, both of Raymond, and North Beach’s Seth Bridge in leading a sizeable Twin Harbors contingent at the state 2B meet next weekend at Eastern Washington University at Cheney. The top seven in each event advanced.

Freeman’s anticipated victories in the girls discus and shot put, however, came at a price.

After capturing the girls shot put with a fine mark of 36-7 1/4, the multi-talented Raymond junior aggravated (while throwing the javelin) an injury to her surgically-repaired knee that she had tweaked in the same event at the Pacific League championships last week.

She failed to qualify for the finals in the javelin and was called for a false start that took her out of the 100 hurdles (an event in which she was the reigning state champion). Adopting an ultra-conservative approach, she earned a crack at defending her state discus title by nabbing district in that event. Her winning throw of 126 feet, however, was some 33 feet below her personal best.

“I think there’s a good chance she’ll compete (at state),” Raymond coach Mike Tully said. “At what level, I don’t know.”

Northwest Christian swept the boys and girls team championships, with Raymond’s boys and North Beach’s girls each placing third.

Blankenship provided arguably the meet’s highlight in the first girls event to be completed.

The state 2B leader in the pole vault, the North Beach junior cleared 11-1 on her third attempt to break her own school record and the meet mark of 11 feet established by Willapa Valley’s Alicia Smaciarz last year.

Since she barely made the 11-1 standard, an attempt at 11-6 seemed overly ambitious. But Blankenship made that height as well, brushing the bar but not dislodging it as she landed beaming in the pit.

“That was the day of days for her,” Hyak coach Peter Fry said. “She really committed herself to (the event) and, in the offseason, has trained for it as well.”

The reigning state champion and state leader this year in the boys discus, Bridge uncorked a a throw of 170-8 to beat his nearest rival by 33 feet.

Raymond’s Hamilton, however, had the satisfaction of outdueling Bridge for the second consecutive week in the shot. His winning mark was 48-3.

Despite a slew of personal bests in other events, those represented the sum of Twin Harbors triumphs in an ultra-competitive meet.

The level of competition was best demonstrated in the boys pole vault. North Beach’s Brenden Chaney and Raymond’s Jace Duckworth each broke their respective school records with a height of 13-6 (Duckworth cracking Ken Shortt’s school mark from the 1970s). Both, however, were beaten by Kalama’s Tucker Wetmore, who also cleared 13-6 and won on fewer misses. Chaney settled for second and Duckworth third.

Raymond’s Angel Evans, incidentally, also re-set her own school record in the girls pole vault with a 9-foot mark that earned her fourth.

Raymond senior Sean Sath came the closest to a Twin Harbors victory in a running event by narrowly coming up short in a terrific duel with Pe Ell’s Tyler Justice in the boys 110 hurdles.

The possessors of the state’s top two 2B times in the short hurdles, the two ran stride for stride throughout, but Justice outleaned Sath at the tape to prevail in 15.22. Sath’s 15.28 time represented a personal best.

North Beach freshman Lorin Cox ran a strong second to Kalama’s Jasmine Cooper in the girls 100.

The Twin Harbors coaching contingent were happy with their state representation.

“I’m pretty elated,” North Beach’s Fry said. “I came in today with 20 kids and we’re taking them all (some as alternates) to state.”

“We had some really good marks and kids on the bubble stepped up and secured berths,” Tully observed. “Even the kids who didn’t qualify did well.”

He cited Marcus Anderson, Mikayla Collins and McCartney Maden for excellent all-around performances.

South Bend coach Steve Lazelle singled out Ben Byington, Jacob Strozyk and A.J. Sanchez (the latter still afflicted with a virus) for particularly good performances in a solid team outing.

“Just about everyone had PRs or stepped up really big,” Lazelle said. “Overall, I thought we did really well.”

Ocosta’s Matthew Hart and Kathryn Anderson, who each qualified in two events, were among the Wildcats drawing coach Aaron Anderson’s praise.

Willapa Valley’s Hannah Cook and Brooke Friese qualified in multiple events.

Twin Harbors state qualifiers:

North Beach: Miguel Eastman — seventh, boys 100 meters, sixth, 200; seventh, 400. Boys 4×100 relay — seventh. Seth Bridge — first, boys discus (170-8); second, shot. Ryan Louderback — third, boys shot. Ben Poplin — fifth, boys shot. Hunter Dianovich — fifth, boys discus. Rodney Washington — fifth, boys high jump. Brenden Chaney — second, boys pole vault. Lorin Cox— second, girls 100; sixth, 200. Mariah Vogler — seventh, girls 800; sixth, triple jump. Brooklyn Neal — sixth, girls 100 hurdles. Girls 4×100 relay — fifth. Girls 4×400 relay — seventh. Natasha Fruh — fourth, girls shot; third, girls discus. Nannette Fruh — second, girls discus. Tawni Blankenship — first, girls pole vault (11-6); fourth, long jump.

Raymond: Sean Sath — second, boys 110 hurdles; McCartney Maden — sixth, 100 boys 110 hurdles; fourth, 300 hurdles. Boys 4×100 relay — sixth. Luke Hamilton — first, boys shot (48-3); third, discus. Ricky Robinett, sixth, boys shot. Marcus Anderson — tie third, boys high jump; third, long jump; second, triple jump. Jimmy Thepsoumphou — tie third, boys high jump. Jace Duckworth — third, boys pole vault. Aubree Gardner — fifth, girls shot. Mikayla Collins — fifth, girls high jump. Angel Evans — fourth, girls pole vault.

South Bend: Ben Byington — fifth, boys 110 hurdles; third, javelin. A.J. Sanchez — third, boys 300 hurdles; second, long jump. Boys 4×400 relay — third. Jacob Strozyk — tie for fifth, boys high jump; fourth, long jump.

Ocosta: Matthew Hart, second, boys javelin; seventh, pole vault. Alex Bailey — fifth, boys pole vault. Kathryn Anderson — fourth, girls 800; third, 1,600. McKenzie Ballo — fifth, girls 3,200.

Willapa Valley: Hannah Cook — fourth, girls 100 hurdles; fifth, 300 hurdles; seventh, girls triple jump. Brooke Friese — fifth, 100 hurdles; second, girls pole vault. Hailee Layman — seventh, girls shot.