No joke: Stepper, Woodland come up big at 2A district track

“Honey sticks, that’s my secret,” she said. “And chocolate milk.”

And like Stepper, Woodland as a team came up big despite being one of the smallest schools in the 14-team meet.

The Woodland boys won the district team title and girls placed second Friday in their first year as a Class 2A school.

Eli Whitmire won the long jump, triple jump and placed second in the 100. The Woodland 1,600 relay also clocked the 8th fastest time by a 2A school this year, winning in 3 minutes, 28.14 seconds and pulling four points ahead of R.A. Long on the meet’s final race.

“It’s pretty exciting that even though we moved up to 2A, we’re still excelling,” said Nathan Patterson, who ran the third leg on Woodland’s 1,600 relay. “I’m always excited when the four-by-four relay comes up and the team title is on the line.”

The top three finishers in each event qualified for the state meet next week in Tacoma.

Among them is Ridgefield’s Raigan Page, who has a love-hate relationship with her best event, the 400 meters. Friday, last year’s sixth-place finisher at state broke 60 seconds for the first time this season, winning in 59.94 seconds.

Asked what she thinks of the 400 meters, considered by many the most painful track race, Page said “it’s terrible.”

“I have no idea why I’m good at it,” Page said. “I have asthma, I have bad feet and I hate it so much. But if I run fast it will be over quicker.”

Hockinson’s Quentin Sills is taking aim at a state javelin title. Friday, the senior threw a personal best of 177 feet, 7 inches for the second-farthest mark in Class 2A this season.

Ridgefield’s Silas Griffith is another athlete who set a personal-best on Friday. The sophomore easily won the 3,200 in 9 minutes, 36 seconds. That’s sixth fastest among 2A runners and his fastest by four seconds.

Griffith stuck with Aaron Brumbaugh of Mark Morris for the first mile, then broke away at the midway point.

“I felt like I needed to go,” Griffith said. “That was my exact time I wanted to hit, 9:36. I had studied the splits that my mom had written down.”

Washougal ruled the throwing events as Aubrey Kraft won the shot put, Joshua Bischoff won the discus and Anna Sharp won the girls javelin.

Hudson’s Bay had two individual district champions. Erykah Weems won the 300 hurdles in 46.75 seconds, the sixth-fastest time in 2A this season. Danea Lee won the high jump, clearing 5-foot-2.

BOYS TRACK AND FIELD

Class 2A District Meet

At Ridgefield High School

Top three qualify for state

Team scores – Woodland 76, R.A. Long 72, Black Hills 66, Tumwater 50, Mark Morris 44.50, Hockinson 39, Washougal 38, Ridgefield 34, Centralia 31, Aberdeen 29, WF West 29.50, Aberdeen 29, Hudson’s Bay 15, Rochester 3..

100 meters – 1, Mark Melendres (BH) 10.92; 2, Eli Whitmire (Woo) 11.05; 3, David Causey (Rid) 11.18.

200 – 1, Aaron Pullin (Cen) 22.58; 2, Mark Melendres (BH) 22.76; 3, David Causey (Rid) 22.85.

400 – 1, Jason Underhill (BH) 50.30; 2, Eric Braun (WFW) 50.93; 3, Thomas Harshaw (Hoc) 51.01.

800 – 1, Dustin Nading (RAL) 1:56.14; 2, Matthew Young (Woo) 1:57.10; 3, Nathan Patterson (Woo) 1:57.31.

1,600 – 1, Aaron Brumbaugh (MM) 4:25.71, 2, Dustin Nading (RAL) 4:25.91; 3, Kyle Hurd (Abe) 4:29.20.

3,200 – 1, Silas Griffith (Rid) 9:36.64; 2, Aaron Brumbaugh (MM) 9:47.91; 3, Austin Beasley (MM) 9:47.96.

400 relay – 1, Aberdeen (Kaleb Bell, Miles Devine, Connor Quinn, Austin Floch) 44.05; 2, Black Hills (Christian Williams, Jordan March, Jason Underhill, Mark Melendres) 44.25; 3, Ridgefield (Nathan Eggleston, Jacob Burggraff, Anthony Bruno, David Causey) 44.27.

1,600 relay – 1, Woodland (Tim Nahring, Dillan Bonamigo-Wear, Nathan Patterson, Matthew Young) 3:28.14; 2, R.A. Long (Karsten Rentner, Nolan Plank, Ethan Sterkal, Dustin Nading)n 3:29.36; 3, W.F. West (Justin Wendling, Terek Thornburg, Nolan Camlin, Eric Braun) 3:29.85.

110 hurdles – 1, Aaron Pullin (Cen) 14.61; 2, Daniel Dickason (Tum) 15.51; 3, Stephen Chan (HB) 15.54.

300 hurdles – 1, Daniel Dickason (Tum) 41.20; 2, Nolan Camlin (WFW) 41.31; 3, Jacob Davis (Woo) 41.68.

Shot put – 1, Aubrey Kraft (Was) 50-10; 2, Matt Fugleberg (RAL) 50-9; Joshua Bischoff (Was) 45-8.

Javelin – 1, Quentin Sills (Hoc) 177-7; 2, August Shulda (MM) 166-9; 3, Cameron Berndson (BH) 165-4.

Discus – 1, Joshua Bischoff (Was) 151-9; 2, Eisley Earnest (RAL) 137-2; 3, Kurtis Patterson (Woo) 129-9.

High jump – 1, Gerald Riley (BH) 6-1.5; 2, Kedrick Johnson (Hoc) 5-11.5; 3, Aaron Pullin (Cen) 5-11.5.

Long jump – 1, Eli Whitmire (Woo) 22-0.5; 2, Easton Trakel (Tum) 21-2; 3, Ethan Trakel (RAL) 20-1.

Triple jump – 1, Eli Whitmire (Woo) 43-1; 2, Trevor Davis Jr. (Tum) 42-7.5; 3, Kedrick Johnson (Hoc) 41-11.

Pole vault – 1, Joey Weiler (RAL) 15-0; 2, Gabe Adamson (BH) 13-6; 3, Aaron Pullin (Cen) 13-0.

GIRLS TRACK AND FIELD

Class 2A District Meet

At Ridgefield High School

Top three qualify for state

Team scores – 1, Tumwater 125, Woodland 79.50; Ridgefield 61, WF West 48, Mark Morris 48, Washougal 48, R.A. Long 33, Rochester 32, Black Hills 26.5, Hudson’s Bay 23, Hockinson 13, Aberdeen 12, Centralia 8..

100 meters – 1, Julia Stepper (Woo) 12.59; 2, Lauren Furu (BH) 12.64; 3, Alyssa Pittman (RAL) 12.87.

200 – 1, Julia Stepper (Woo) 25.72; 2, Raigan Page 26.42; 3, Jamie Crews (Tum) 26.67.

400 – 1, Raigan Page (Rid) 59.94; 2, Sharon Smith (Roc) 1:01.67; 3, Amber Malik (Woo) 1:02.17.

800 – 1, McKenna Moon (WFW) 2:22.80; 2, Berhanie Knutzen (Tum) 2:23.30; 3, Aislynn Hansen (Tum) 2:23.47.

1,600 – 1, Isabelle Buckingham (MM) 5:12.37; 2, Lauren Ericks (Tum) 5:13.58; 3, Berhanie Knutzen (Tum) 5:18.34.

3,200 – 1, Isabel Buckingham (MM) 11:41.45; 2, Courtney Owns (Was) 11:47.77; Emma Moon (WFW) 11:50.27.

400 relay – 1, Woodland (Kayla Fredricks, Julia Stepper, Cierra Massey, Amber Malik) 50.79; 2, Black Hills (Tarynn Bianco, Jewel Bender, Kyla Clark, Lauren Furu) 51.37; 3, Ridgefield (Cami Pickett, Brooke Potter, Paige Smith, Kaylene Brink) 51.42.

800 relay – 1, Ridgefield (Paige Smith, Kaylene Brink, Chloe Lindbo, Raigan Page) 1:46.62; 2, Tumwater (Sydney Smith, Peyton Russell, Codi Short, Jamie Crews) 1:46.72; 3, Rochester (Kendra Sanford, Alexa Black, Brianna Tomtan, Sharon Smith) 1:49.89.

1,600 relay – 1, Ridgefield (Brooke Potter, Kaylene Brink, Chloe Lindbo, Raigan Page) 4:11.36; 2, Woodland (Sarah Retter, McKenna Flanagan, Kenya Byrnes, Amber Malik) 4:17.70; 3, Tumwater (Sharlee Fine, Aislynn Hansen, Lauren Ericks, Berhanie Knutzen) 4:18.10.

100 hurdles – 1, Sharlee Fine (Tum) 16.34; 2, Kary Sathre (Cen) 16.45; 3, Kendra Sanford (Roc) 16.60.

300 hurdles – 1, Erykah Weems (HB) 46.75; 2, Kayla Church (RAL) 47.40; 3, Sharlee Fine (Tum) 48.07.

Shot put – 1, Anna Kast (WFW) 33-4; 2, Morgan Rodgers (Was) 32-7.5; 3, Meeri Gummerus (BH) 32-4.

Javelin – 1, Anna Sharp (Was) 113-8; 2, Keeli Demers (Roc) McKenna Flanagan (Woo) 111-2.

Discus – 1, Kate Cochran (Woo) 113-0; 2, Morgan Rodgers (Was) 111-8; 3, Annabelle Jiganie (Hoc) 104-4.

High jump – 1, Danae Lee (HB) 5-2; 2, McKenna Moon (WFW) 4-10; 3, Chloe Lindbo (Rid) 4-10.

Long jump – 1, Peyton Russell (Tum) 17-9.75; 2, Ema Furth (Tum) 17-0; 3, Julia Stepper (Woo) 16-10.5.

Triple jump – 1, Peyton Russell (Tum) 37-10.5; 2, Emma Furth (Tum) 36-0.25; 3, Keara Bennett (MM) 34-4.25.

Pole vault – 1, Abby Weiler (RAL) 12-6; 2, Anna Chartrey (Tum) 11-0; 3, Bridget Kelly (MM) 11-0.