Treyton Marty was one of the only athletes in any of the six WIAA classifications who would feel disappointment with a third-place finish at the 2B state championship meet at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco on Saturday, Nov. 9.
After all, he finished third at state last year, and one of the two competitors in front of him graduated. Marty also sliced his average time from 17.3 minutes last year to 16.5 minutes this year, and he set a personal best of 15 minutes and 48 seconds on Oct. 5, which would have been three ticks off the state-winning mark in 2023.
The 2024 Central 2B League and District 4 1B/2B champion pushed himself to the brink in races where he led wire-to-wire to prepare himself for his final shot at a state title. Nevertheless, back-to-back third-place finishes is still a proud moment for Marty and Toledo.
“Today started out a little bit slower, so it was really good to go out hard at districts and figure out how it’s going to feel because the first mile at districts was harder than today,” Marty said of pushing himself in the first mile of districts last week. “It feels great. Last year, I felt a lot better. I had really high expectations today, and that’s fine because I expect high of myself. Usually, I don’t hit my goals because I set them so high, but it does feel really good to be third again.”
Marty was neck and neck with Liberty Bell’s Dexter Delaney, the 2023 2B champion, and Chewelah’s Emmitt Warren for the majority of the race, with Delaney holding a slight lead for the first half. Marty’s proximity to his two opponents, Warren in particular, slipped away from that point.
“I felt the separation about halfway through. He PR’ed by like 20 seconds, so I didn’t really expect 20 but more like 10,” he said of Warren. “I thought it was a really bold move and so I thought, ‘OK, I’m gonna back off a little bit and then I’m gonna gain on him. He just never came back at that point. Dexter really killed it, and so did Emmitt.”
Marty’s teammate, freshman Conner Hill, was one of only two freshmen to reach the podium in the race, finishing 13th with a time of 17:17.80 — his second-best mark of his young career. The Riverhawks took 12th as a team with 292 points.
“The goal for Treyton and Conner, as well as with our entire team, was to run their best race at state, and that’s what they all did,” head coach Kyle Askin said. “Treyton knew he had a hard road to the state title, but he gave it all he had, and that’s all I could ask for. Back-to-back third-place finishes don’t come easy.”
Askin said that Marty has taken Hill under his wing this season and was a role model for the entire team.
“I put a lot of responsibility on Treyton to lay the groundwork for the entire team. When I started coaching Treyton three years ago, he wished for one thing: to have a boys team make it to state his senior year,” Askin said. “We’ve worked hard on making that possible. He led the team in every warmup all season long, cheered and encouraged his team during every hard workout, and strategized every meet to help improve results for every member of the team. His legacy is now a part of our roots as we look to continue growing the team.”
Morton-White Pass was the top team from the Central 2B League in the state meet, finishing 10th for its first top-10 mark in 15 years when it took eighth back in 2009. With a time of 17:20, senior Hunter Brackett narrowly clinched the final spot on the podium by three seconds. Junior Vanson Armstrong wasn't far behind him with a 19th-place run of 17:27. Juniors Noah Gilstrap (46th), Aiden Kampa (54th), Jevan Austin (87th), and sophomores Owen Loucks (100th) and Braeden Lyon (101st) helped the Timberwolves to their strong conclusion to the season.
Rainier’s Zach Hamilton improved from a tough districts performance to finish 55th at 18:24. The junior battled injuries late in the season but was the first Mountaineer to cross the finish line in Pasco, as Rainier clinched the 14th rank at state. Senior James Meldrum finished his career with his best time in Pasco yet at 18:57.70 to finish 80th.
Adna’s Treven Willis (62nd) and Brady Morgan (67th) made huge leaps from their Pasco trip last year when they both were buried into the 100s. Morgan set a new PR at 18:42 in the process to help the Pirates finish 15th with 358 points.
Winlock’s boys qualified as a team and finished 16th, with senior Xavier Sancho-Carrillo completing the race first in 75th place in his state debut. Napavine’s Landon Engelbertson earned 109th, and Onalaska’s Austin Sturza (104th) and Logan Sturza (110th) represented the Loggers well in Pasco.
