W.F. West’s Lucas Hoff earned a top-5 finish in the javelin on Thursday, headlining local results from Day 1 of the 2A/3A/4A State Track and Field Championships at Mt. Tahoma High School in Tacoma.
Hoff’s throw of 162 feet, six inches put him at fifth in the boys javelin throw, six inches ahead of Woodland’s Hayden Clark, who finished sixth.
It also marked a season-best throw, and his best throw since last season’s state meet, when he threw 169 feet, nine inches to win the state title.
Hoff was the only area athlete to medal on Thursday in a field event, but a few others made it to the finals.
Black Hills’ Ezra Harris finished 13th in the javelin throw with a throw of 147 feet, eight inches, and Tumwater’s Xaiver Bunn placed 15th in the triple jump with a mark of 37 feet, nine and a half inches.
On the girls side, Tumwater’s Lily Abigail Krause finished 12th in the shot put with a throw of 33 feet, eight and a half inches.
In the running events, the Tumwater girls 800-meter and 1,600-meter relay won their respective preliminaries. Cassidy Hedin, Ava Jones, Reese Heryford, and Annabelle Clapp won the 800 with a time of 1:43.11, and they broke a 30-year old school record with a time of 3:59.77 in the 1,600.
The Tumwater boys 1,600-meter relay team also made it through the preliminaries, as Josh Schlecht, Reis Howell, Jaxon Budd, and Blake Kirkpatrick posted a time of 3:24.66. It was the second best-time of the day.
Among other area athletes that qualified for state was W.F. West’s Emily Mallonee, who finished in 17th in the 100-meter hurdles preliminaries with a time of 18.81 seconds.
Tumwater’s Reid Crumley finished 11th in the 110-meter hurdle prelims with a time of 16.40 seconds, while W.F. West’s Maddox Sampson placed 13th in 16.52 seconds and Hayden Niemi finished in 16.77 seconds to take 16th in the same race.
In the girls 1,600-meter run preliminaries, W.F. West’s Ashlen Gruginski took 11th with a time of 5:24.02, and Tumwater’s Alexandra Broome finished 17th in 5:30.45.
In the boys 1,600 prelims, Rochester’s Gunnar Morgan placed 17th with a time of 4:38.17.
The 2A/3A/4A State Track and Field Championships continue on Friday and Saturday at Mt. Tahoma High School in Tacoma.
