Ritualo, Jacobson lead track team to win

Published 5:00 pm Saturday, May 7, 2005

West Seattle goes home in second, as the Spartans excel

in relays and jumps.

It looked like Angelo Ritualo was down and out during the 4×400 relay.

Behind by several lengths, the senior appeared to be relegated to a second place finish.

Instead, he kept up on the back straightaway, then turned on the jets in the curve and blew by West Seattle’s Chris Silvernale in the homestretch to win by a few seconds.

The victory was the exclamation point for the Bainbridge Island Spartans boys track team on Thursday, as they finished first with 90.5 points over the Wildcats and the Seattle Prep Panthers.

“He’s always been a solid relay contributor and he’s a great anchor,” head coach Andy Grimm said of Ritualo. “Plus, I think he’s always run better from behind in his career.”

But Ritualo didn’t stop there. He ran the anchor for the 4×100 relay as they finished first, and in his first attempt in the 300 meter hurdles this year, he tied with West Seattle’s Onyi Okolie for first place with a time of 42.4 seconds – a time that’s good enough to lead the Metro League in that event.

“He doesn’t have any form, but he’s fit enough and fast enough and he ran a top-five time,” Grimm said. “He’s a very talented kid.”

Bryan Jacobson let his talent shine through as well. After sitting out last week’s meet with an injury, he came back to finish first in the 100 with a time of 11.3 and came out on top in the long jump with a mark of 20 feet, 2 inches.

Jake O’Malley registered a top five Metro League mark with a throw of 123 feet, 2 inches in the discus.

The girls performed well, but came in second to Seattle Prep. Many of their second and third place finishes cancelled each other out, allowing their athletes to pick up their points.

Caroline Johnson did post a top five Metro League time in the 800 with a mark of 2:23.1, besting her previous time by nearly two seconds.

Maren Swanson also did well as she finished first in the 200 with a time of 28.2 seconds and first in the discus with a throw of 79 feet.

With next week’s meet the last one of the season, Grimm said he hopes to get those kids who are in the top 13-20 to move up to be able to qualify for the Metro League track meet on May 18.

He also hopes to get those who are injured, such as Lizzie Bracket and Emily Pierce – who placed second in Metro in the discus on a standing throw last week – cleared to get one last crack at top 10 marks.

“We’ve got some kids who could have a shot at state, but it’s so dang competitive it makes it really hard to get out of districts,” he said. “I hope they can P.R. (set a personal record).”