A national record for Trey Knight of Ridgefield highlighted a successful weekend for area athletes at the USA Track and Field Junior Olympics Region 13 Championship meet in Seattle.
Knight set a national record in the shot put for boys in the 13-14 age division with his winning mark of 64 feet, 8 3/4 inches during the meet at Southwest Community Center.
“It felt really nice,” said Knight, who broke the record with his final throw of the competition. “It was a big weight off my shoulders because I’ve wanted this for a while.”
He threw the 4-kilogram shot more than 20 feet farther than the runner up at regionals.
Knight, who will be a Ridgefield High freshman, unofficially set a new age-group national record at the state-level meet last month, but on that occasion the facility in Seattle was not certified for records.
Competing for Evergreen Storm Track Club, Knight also won the discus with a mark of 194 feet. His discus mark was 3 feet shy of the national mark for his age division.
He was among 20 area athletes who qualified for the USA Track and Field National Championship Meet. The nationals take place July 25-31 in Sacramento.
Jenna Melanson set a regional record in the girls 2,000-meter steeplechase. A recent graduate of La Center High School, Melanson won the race for girls ages 17-18 with a time of 7 minutes, 4.04 seconds.
She was one of five athletes competing for the Flanagan Clan Girls Track Club of Woodland who qualified for the national meet.
Among the 15 Evergreen Storm athletes who qualified for nationals was Miguel DeLaMelena, who won the steeplechase for boys ages 17-18. His time of 6:37.66 was a personal best by five seconds. Last summer he placed third at nationals in the steeplechase. DeLaMelena also qualified for nationals in the 3,000 meters and as an alternate member of a 3,200-meter relay team that finished second at regionals
The Evergreen Storm also won the boys 1,600-meter relay with a time of 3:28. The runners were Cade Greseth, Micah Kinnunen, Nikko Eria and Brandon Lehto. Lehto ran a 51.26 anchor leg to win a tight race. The same four finished second in the 3,200 relay.
Presley Timmons qualified in three events for the Storm in the girls 15-16 division. She placed third in the 800 meters (2:22.17), fourth in the steeplechase (7:47.45) and fifth in the 400 hurdles (1:09.40).
Lucy George qualified in the girls 13-14 division by finishing third in both the 100 hurdles (15.13) and the 300 hurdles (30.58).
Cody Laxson qualified in the boys 15-16 long jump (19-9 3/4 ) and triple jump (40-9 3/4 ), both fourth-place marks at regionals.
Seven Evergreen Storm boys qualified for nationals in one event:
Daniel Furcron was second in the 15-16 discus (128-1); Garrett Davis was fifth in the 15-16 high jump (6-1); David McAndie was third in the 13-14 high jump (5-7); James McAndie was fourth in the 13-14 long jump (18-3 1/4 ); Tyler Dinh was second in the 11-12 3,000 meters (10:31.44); Xavier Wubbena was fifth in the 11-12 discus (74-8); CJ Plummer was fourth in the 9-10 long jump (13-0).
In the girls 17-18 division, the Storm’s Savannah Kehler was second in the 3,000 meters (12:02.0) and Alyssa Chapin was fifth in the 400 hurdles (1:07.86).
For the Flanagan Clan, Nicole Guthrie won the 13-14 girls high jump by clearing 5 feet, 1 inch. She also qualified for nationals by placing fifth in the discus with a throw of 83-9.
Nikki Willson of Flanagan Clan finished third in the 17-18 girls 2,000 steeplechase with a time of 10:41.68. Also qualifying to represent Flanagan Clan at nationals were Lauren Kaiser in the 13-14 triple jump (fourth, 28-3.5) and Janey McCants in the ages 11-12 80-meter hurdles (third, 13.34) and high jump (4-5).
