Bella Mathieson, running in lane 9 in the 3A girls 100 meters Wednesday, focused on one goal.
“I didn’t want to get last,” the Mountain View High sprinter said.
She wasn’t close. In fact, she won the 3A district title, edging the field in a photo-finish at 13.44 seconds. Mathieson was awarded first-place in a three-way tie at 13.44 between teammate Emily Madura and Evergreen’s I’jaynice Harris-Campbell.
Even more impressive for Mathieson since the freshman needed last Friday’s district-qualifying meet just to make districts. She entered the 100-meter field with the slowest-seeded time, and ran out of lane 9.
“I had no idea how this meet was going to go,” Mathieson said. “It was cool just to be able to qualify.”
Now, she’s a three-event district champion. Mathieson also anchored the Thunder’s winning 400 and 800 relays at the opening day of the 4A/3A District track and field meet Wednesday. The top four placers in 3A and top 3 in 4A advance to next weekend’s regional meets. The district meet concludes Thursday starting at noon with the 3A girls discus.
Mathieson said she wasn’t sure if she’d return to track for her sophomore year next spring.
“Now,” she said, “I guess I have to.”
Mathieson wasn’t the only athlete caught off-guard by their performances Wednesday. Fort Vancouver Drew Weber won 3A boys 400 and 1,600 district titles in personal-best times after missing all of last season with injury. The latter came in a 10-second best of 4:22.91. He added the 400 later in the day (52.21).
The 1,600 result came as a surprise, he said, given he’s raced against Kelso’s Colten Jorgensen and Mountain View’s Shun Yamaguchi throughout high school. The senior is a favorite in Thursday’s 3A boys 800 meters.
“I wasn’t expecting it,” Weber said. “I knew the guys in the top three were all really close, neck-and-neck seed-time wise.”
Same can be said for Mountain View hurdlers David and James McAndie.
Transfers from 1A Stevenson, the juniors not only see bigger competition as a way to push themselves, they use each other to push themselves, too. David McAndie, the 1A state runner-up finisher for Stevenson last year, won Wednesday’s boys 100 hurdles district title in 14.98 seconds. James McAndie placed fourth (15.76).
“There’s no bad blood there — it’s all love,” James McAndie said.
Said David McAndie: “We compete together, not against each other.”
Teammate Kate Kadrmas won the girls 100 hurdles (14.89). She’s ranked second in 3A in both hurdle events. Evergreen’s Brandon Abt was a double-winner in the field events, taking the boys shot put (45-6.50) and javelin (157-10).
CLASS 4A
Two-time defending 4A state 800- and 1,600-meter champion Daniel Maton called his 4A district winning time in the 4A boys 1,600 Wednesday the best four-lap race he’s had all spring.
“The others ones I’ve been off for some reason,” Maton said. “Today, I took it hard and didn’t feel too bad.”
Maton, a Washington signee, said he went through a early-season training block of 3,200s and 400s after a brief indoor season at his future college facility. While Wednesday was his first official 1,600 of the spring, he ran in three 1,500-meter races in Oregon plus an official mile time at the Nike/Jesuit Twilight Relays May 3.
Camas shined in the 1,600 Wednesday with the top seven spots going to the Papermakers. Jackson Lyne (4:19.83) finished runner-up to Maton’s winning time of 4:15.71.
That bodes well for regionals, Maton said.
“All the guys are really dedicated and trained really hard,” he said. “We all got after this year and it’s showing.”
Battle Ground’s Trent Thompson won the 4A boys javelin (186 feet, 4 inches), 8 inches shy of tying his lifetime best throw of 186-11 that leads all of Class 4A. Camas’ Matt Williams (169-2) and Union’s Jackson Saylor (165-2), 4A’s second- and fourth-ranked throwers, respectively, finished second and third Wednesday. Union’s Madi Schalk was a double winner in the girls triple jump (34-0) and high jump (5-1).
