BHS track team storms Metro

Published 7:55 am Saturday, May 23, 2015

SEATTLE – The Bainbridge High varsity track and field team competed in the Metro League Championships last week at the Southwest Athletic Complex in West Seattle at Chief Sealth High School and there were many strong efforts that resulted in season-best results.

The top nine athletes in each event will move on to the District 2 Championships.

All athletes in this meet met the qualifying standards by being in the top 24 in their event in the 17-team Metro League, a notoriously competitive bracket.

In the boys 400-meter dash, both James Payne (53.15) and David Kimmerlein (53:21) will race again this week; as will Lindsay Wienkers (60.32) in the girls 400.

Also in this event were Robert Lafferty for the boys and Aerin Amore, Jackie McVay, Audrey Weaver and Julia Brooks for the girls.

In the 800-meter race, Wyatt Longley (2:01.09) qualified for the district meet as did Mikelle Ackerley (2:16.34) and Natalie Ackerley (2:21.65). Audrey Weaver gave a good show, but just missed the cut.

In the distance races, the 1600-meter finishers were Naomi Von Ruden and Kellie Miller. In the 3200-meter race, the top finishers were Allison Murphy and Naomi Von Ruden. All ran very well and were in the mix in a very tough field.

The boys 110-meter hurdles saw Ben Scott and Charlie Hanacek have strong performances, as did Makaila Deen, Amanda Siefert and Jianna Kauffman in the girls 100-meter hurdles.

For the Spartans in the 300-meter hurdles, Casey Brink tied with a Nathan Hale hurdler in 43.64. The two speedy students were slated to have a runoff before the start of competition Wednesday to see who will run in the meet later in the day.

Also running in the 300 hurdles were Scott and Hanacek for the boys, and Deen and Siefert for the girls.

For the relays, the boys 4×100 meter team of Eric Jung, Ben Olliffe, Brink and Payne had their hearts broken by Ballard for the last spot to districts by the slimmest of margins (45.31 against 45.38).  They are the first alternate.

The girls team of Kauffman, Siefert, Sarah Rice and Taylee Undem were also very close, only .6 off the last spot.

The 4×200 meter girls team of Wienkers, Amore, N. Ackerley and Weaver had a time of 1:48.25, which was good for third place and a spot in the event this week.

The 4×400 meter boys team had their best race of the season (3:33.79), which was good for the fifth-place spot, and Kimmerlein, Lafferty, Payne and Longley will be racing at districts.

Also, having performed very well, and racing again this week, was the girls 4×400 meter team of Wienkers, Amore, Natalie Ackerley and Mikelle Ackerley (4:02.80), who trailed only Holy Names.

The field events saw some top quality marks as well. Sarah Lucioni had a high jump of 5-00, which placed her in second.

Connor Evans placed sixth with a jump of 6-00, and will join Lucioni this week at districts.

In the girls shot put, freshman Grace Hall was one spot away from advancing and is the first alternate. Maya Rovelstad had some of her season’s best throws, as well.

Taylee Undem placed seventh in the girls long jump (15-10) and will jump again this week.

Deen, who placed 10th, will be the first alternate.

In the triple jump, both Hall (33-07) and Rice (31-06) moved on after placing third and sixth, respectively.