Jackson boys off and running strong
Published 11:33 pm Wednesday, May 20, 2009
SHORELINE — How sweep it is.
Fresh off a dominating performance last week at the Wesco South championships, the Jackson High School boys track and field team began its latest competition in grand style. Led by sophomore Sean Roe, Jackson swept the top three places in the 1,600-meter run Wednesday during the Class 4A District 1 championships at Shoreline Stadium.
Roe — who finished first in 4 minutes, 19.95 seconds — outlasted senior teammates Derek Woolsey (second, 4:20.75) and Ben Lance (third, 4:20.79). The trio scored 30 points for Jackson in the event and all three advanced to next week’s state championships.
“This is one of the rare teams,” Roe said of Jackson, which won the Wesco South meet Friday, “because of how deep we are and how fast we are as a team. It’s such a good group of guys.”
The top three finishers in each district event qualify for the state meet in Tacoma. The two-day district championships conclude Friday with the rest of the field finals and most of the track finals, which were set up by Wednesday’s prelims.
In the boys 1,600, Jackson runners also placed sixth, seventh and ninth. The Timberwolves will try for a 1-2-3 sweep in the 3,200 Friday, Roe said.
A first-time state track qualifier, Roe entered the season with a personal-best of 4:39 in the 1,600. He already has sliced about 20 seconds off that and hopes to do even better at state. Roe praised his talented teammates for pushing him and encouraging him.
“We keep supporting each other. It’s really great,” Roe said, “because it’s really competitive being on this team. It’s the best team experience I’ve ever had in my entire life, and I’m thankful for these guys.”
Jackson scored 44 points on day one and leads Wesco North champ Lake Stevens (36) by eight.
The other boys event winners Wednesday were Snohomish’s Marlyn Anderson (shot put) and Kyle Behla (pole vault), Stanwood’s Kale Schmidt (long jump) and Mariner’s Adrien Black (high jump). Black, a senior who will make his first trip to state, tied the meet record by clearing 6 feet, 8 inches and won by 4 inches.
Black’s previous best in the high jump was 6-5, but last week at the South meet he topped out at 6 feet and placed third. Thanks to lots of hard work earlier this week, Black made a huge improvement. “I finally got my form back,” he said.
Entering the week, no boy in the state had high jumped more than 6-8 this spring, according to Athletic.net. Black — who hopes to join the Eastern Washington University football and track teams as a walk-on — is excited to see what he can do at state. He said he has cleared 6-10 in practice.
At Shoreline Stadium
Boys team scores through first day (meet concludes Friday): 1. Jackson 44 points, 2. Lake Stevens 36, 3. Snohomish 30, 4. Mariner 24, 5. Stanwood 23, 6. Cascade 22, 7. Edmonds-Woodway 11, 8. Kamiak 10, Tie-9. Arlington, Monroe 9, 11. Marysville-Pilchuck 7, 12. Mountlake Terrace 5.
State qualifiers from Wednesday finals (go to Athletic.net for complete results)
1,600-1. Sean Roe (Jackson) 4:19.95, 2. Derek Woolsey (Jackson) 4:20.75, 3. Ben Lance (Jackson) 4:20.79; High jump-1. Adrien Black (Mariner) 6-8*, Tie-2. Maxim Bryson (Arlington), Brennan Frost (Lake Stevens) 6-4; Shot put-1. Marlyn Anderson (Snohomish) 56-9.5, 2. Eric Huswick (Lake Stevens) 52-3, 3. AJ Mecum (Cascade) 51-6; Long jump-1. Kale Schmidt (Stanwood) 21-9.5, 2. Gage Donovan (Kamiak) 21-8, 3. Alec Fellows (Edmonds-Woodway) 21-7; Pole vault-1. Kyle Behla (Snohomish) 13-3, Tie-2. Felix Ekness (Jackson), Jordan Moses (Monroe) 13-0.
*Tied meet record
