Spartan relay fourth at Star Track

Taylor, Pierce in top 15 in their events at the state meet in Pasco.

Alana MacWhorter knew it would be a tough run for the girls 4x400 relay team at Star Track XXIV in Pasco last weekend.

Faced with a talented trio of relay teams from their own district in Issaquah, Liberty and Mount Si, not to mention the other teams that made it to the event, the senior said she’s happy with how she and Zena Hemmen, Lindsey Mynatt and Lizzie Brackett did.

“The time that we got was our best time out of the last three years (we’ve been to state),” she said. “I’m definetly satisfied with our running and how we competed.

“I have no regrets. We did awesome.”

Bainbridge qualified for the finals on Friday with a third place finish of 4:02.69 to Liberty and Lynwood, then placed fourth to Issaquah, Liberty and Lynwood with a time of 4:01.51 on the finals on Saturday.

It’s the third straight year that Bainbridge has placed in the top five in the relay at state.

Issaquah was first with a time of 3:59.27, while Liberty was second with a time of 3:59.32.

MacWhorter said the pressure was on, but the time they registered in the qualifying heat pushed them to the outer lanes, which benefited them in the final race.

“We knew it was close with all the teams last year and the year before, because there was a lot of space in between the times,” she said. “(This year) the top six teams were all a second or two within each other.

“The track is so big (at Edgar Brown Stadium) it’s 10 lanes, so it worked really nicely for us.”

MacWhorter, who is a four year state qualifier and has one state title under her belt in the 4x400 relay, had the most experience out of the four, as Brackett, Mynatt and Hemmen are first-year members of the relay team, but didn’t need to say much to her other teammates.

“There are so many variables that could go on, and I gave advice as best I could, but everyone was really confident,” she said. “We handle pressure in a good way and they’re all good runners. They’ll do really good next year.”

Emily Pierce finished her prep career by just missing the podium with her throw of 109 feet, 9 inches in the discus on Saturday, placing 10th.

Violina Vili of Evergreen in Seattle was ahead of her with a throw of 110 feet, 6 inches, while Ashlee Michelson of North central was the state champ with a throw of 132 feet, 10 inches.

Bevan Taylor took 13th in the 1600 meter run finals with a time of 4:28.14.

Abdi Hassan of Nathan Hale was first with a time of 4:17.33.

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