TACOMA — He felt the pressure all year and Saturday, the final day of the state track and field championships, Daniel Maton put it to rest — finally.
Maton, a Camas High junior, repeated as state champion in the Class 4A boys 800 meters, completing his title defense at Mount Tahoma Stadium of his two state title wins last year — the 800 and 1,600.
Maton also anchored the Papermakers’ fourth-place 4×400 relay, helping Camas capture a share of the Class 4A boys team title with Bothell, Chiawana and Issaquah. All four teams finished with 37 points.
Saturday, the Papermakers scored 26 of their 37 team points from Maton, David Connell (3200), William Sun (300 hurdles) and Blake Deringer (100, 200) plus its final-event relay quartet of Mason Gross, Bryce Leighton, Will Schultz and Maton running in 3 minutes, 24.51 seconds.
Maton was one of two Clark County athletes to win two individual state titles over championship weekend. Ridgefield’s Trey Knight took the 2A boys shot put and discus titles to account for 20 of the Spudders’ 41 team runner-up points. Cheney, using its strengths in the sprints, captured the team title. The Blackhawks and Ridgefield were co-state champions in 2017.
In the 4A 800 Saturday, Maton led from the first lap, and delivered his final kick with 300 meters to go on Issaquah’s Luke George, solidifying his first-place finish with a time of 1 minute, 51.02 seconds. That came two days after he repeated as 4A 1,600 champion.
“I had a lot of expectations; people expected me to win both,” Maton said. “I was a little more nervous this year, but I got the job done.”
Heritage’s Ryan Cibart finished third in 1:52.42 a year after not making it out of state preliminaries.
Cibart’s year of significant improvement included setting Heritage records — in the 1,600 and the 800 — and is now capped with a top-three finish at state.
“I’m happy with the way it played out,” Cibart said. “I totally would have loved to have put myself in the perfect position to kick and end up with Daniel put I’m happy with third.”
Ridgefield’s Tavera, Knight take home titles
Bryan Tavera jumped a personal-best, then kept on jumping.
The Ridgefield junior elevated with elation even before the first of two jumps past 46 feet Saturday were measured. He knew he set a personal-best jump by more than a foot.
His next jump, he bettered the mark to 46-6 1/2 — a distance that won the junior his first state title.
Tavera, a two-time district triple jump champion, never considered having the day he did. Yet he knows not every athlete experiences what he go to Saturday — a big performance to end his season as a state champion. That’s why he let his emotions carry over to the entire field.
“I like to share it with everyone,” he said. “It’s state … you have to have a really positive attitude and I made friends with those jumpers. It was awesome.”
Ridgefield picked 16 of its 41 team points in the event. Teammate Nick Jenkins also had a personal-best day, placing third (44-8). Woodland’s Isaac Hall was fourth (43-7.25)
While Tavera’s triple jump picked up his first title, teammate Trey Knight got his second in as many days. Knight, a sophomore, won the 2A discus title in a top throw of 176-10. Two of his six throws Saturday were 176-footers.
Knight stood atop the top podium step fora second time in as many days. He won Friday’s 2A shot put competition, too; his 61-11.50 throw is the best state title-winning mark by a 2A thrower since Steven Ayers’ 64-7.50 throw in 2007.
“I’m pretty pumped,” Knight said.
Of his two events, Knight said he was more anxious for the discus, which featured reignings tate champion MJ Ale of Fife since “it’s so easy to PR (personal record).”
“MJ is so big,” the 6-foot-2 Knight said of the Ale, a 6-6, 350-pound offensive lineman bound for the University of Washington.
Runner-up finish feels like first for Hockinson relay
Hockinson’s boys 4×100 relay team has broken its school record multiple times this spring, and Saturday’s championship final was no different.
The quartet of Davis Baker, Tony Richardson, Makaio Juarez, and Micah Kinnunen broke it for the final time — 42.50 — to place second behind Cheney’s 42.37 in the championship final.
“It felt great for sure knowing that it’s going to be up there in the books for a while,” Richardson said.
Kinnunen, who finished just shy of Cheney’s anchor, Charles Johnson, and went onto place second in the 200 and third in the 100 finals, said: “We wanted to leave a huge mark.”
Hockinson had little certainty who its top-four would even until mid-season. In the first few weeks of the season, they were still undecided on a second leg. And injuries forced alternates in and out of the lineup, changing four or five times.
In its qualifying race on Friday, Hockinson beat its own record running its first sub-43-second time of the year (42.78).
AROUND THE TRACK: Washougal distance runner Amelia Pullen’s time of 11:01.29 in the 2A 3200 shed 11 seconds off her previous-best time entering state. “I was not expecting that,” she said. “That’s really exciting.” Pullen’s highlighted four Clark County 3200 runners who ran personal-best times to place among the top 7 in their 3200s. Fort Vancouver’s Emily Phelps’ 10:54.37 time in the 3A 3200 placed her fourth and future Washington State runner Emma Jenkins of Camas closed out her prep career running a 10:51.86 in the 4A 3200 final to earn seventh. On the boys side, Ridgefield’s Kyle Radosevich placed sixth (9:29.24). … In addition to Kinnunen for Hockinson in the 2A short-sprints finals, Prairie’s Nolan Mickenham added points with top-8 placings in the 100 and 200 and anchoring the Falcons’ fifth-place 4×100 relay. Mickenham’s top finish was fourth in the 3A 100. Teammate Valerie Schmidt reached the podium in both hurdles; she placed eighth in the 300 final. … Skyview’s 4×100 relay placed seventh (43.88) which featured 4A 400-meter finals fourth-placer Jack Thomas. … Union and Skyview each had fifth-place finishers in field events: Zion Faaopega (discus) and Ethan Gould (high jump).
