Edmonds-Woodway’s Tiana Roma walked away from the Class 4A state track and field championships glad she achieved the goal she set for herself coming into the meet.
Roma, the defending state high jump champion, cleared a personal record height of 5 feet, 6 inches May 28 at Edgar Brown Stadium in Pasco.
The Edmonds-Woodway senior, however, fell short of winning a second straight title as Lewis and Clark junior Briann January finished first in the event.
Both competitors along with third-place finisher Sara Klein of Olympia cleared 5-6, but January won because she had the fewest total misses.
“I went and did 5-6. That was my PR,” Roma said. “My goal was to see how high I could go. I was happy to jump my PR in my last high school meet.”
Roma had three opportunities to clear 5-7 but was unable to make the height.
“I was really close,” she said. “My first jump I knocked it (bar) off with my ankle as I went over. Pretty much I did that three times. I was over the bar, but I kept getting it on my way down.”
Though Roma came into the meet as the defending state champion, she wasn’t feeling much pressure. Instead of focusing on defending her title, Roma was more concerned about finishing her high school career with her best jump.
“I didn’t feel any pressure at all,” Roma said. “I thought, ‘Yeah, I won last year, but this is a new year.’ I wasn’t there to finish first. I wanted to PR.”
Roma started high jumping in the seventh grade. Her background in rhythmic gymnastics meant that Roma possessed a lot of flexibility. A coach suggested she try the event and she continued jumping through high school.
Roma, who has signed a letter of intent to play volleyball at Western Washington, may still have a future as a high jumper. She is still debating on whether to continue her track career in college.
“I don’t know if I want to have a sport at the end of the year,” Roma said. “I still haven’t talked with the track coach. I’ll see how it goes after the volleyball season.”
Earlier in the week Roma was one of 16 student-athletes honored at the third annual Edmonds School District Scholar-Athlete Banquet, where she received a $1,000 scholarship.
Up next for Roma is the annual Washington State Volleyball Coaches Association’s East-West All-State series in July.
Roma was one of two Edmonds District volleyball players selected for the series, which are scheduled for July 7-8 at Fife High School, July 9 at Davis High School in Yakima and July 10 at Lewis and Clark High School. Lynnwood’s Molly Hunsinger was the other local player.
Among the four Edmonds District teams, Meadowdale had a pair of top-eight finishes at the state meet.
Senior Kevin Myhre advanced to the finals of the 300-meter hurdles and finished seventh (41.00). Myhre almost advanced to the 110 high hurdles finals as well, placing fifth (15.56) in his preliminary heat.
“He was really close to making the finals in the 110, but he just got nudged at the end,” said Meadowdale coach Aaron Cupp.
Sophomore Monika Gruszecki took eighth place in the javelin with a throw of 120 feet. All but one of the javelin throwers who finished ahead of Gruszecki are seniors.
Gruszecki strained a muscle on her left side over the rib cage during warmups but still competed.
“The throw that placed her eighth came after she was hurt,” Meadowdale coach Aaron Cupp said. “She was really battling an injury.”
Lynnwood came into the meet with high hopes, but the Royals encountered some bad luck and were unable to move any individuals on to the finals.
During the 400 relay preliminaries, a marker on the track that designated where one of the Lynnwood runners was supposed to leave was blown away by the wind and as a result, one of the Royals left early and the team was disqualified.
Running against a strong headwind, Lynnwood’s Caitlin Bonney and Vince Kinney both finished fifth in their 300 hurdles preliminary heats. Bonney’s fifth place time of 46.03, however, was faster than the winning time of the other preliminary heat.
Kinney was edged out by .06 by district rival Myhre in their preliminary heat. Kinney placed ninth in the high jump with a leap of 6-2.
Lynnwood senior Randall Eldridge finished ninth (21-01/2) in the long jump and 14th (42-23/4) in the triple jump.
Teammate Parys Fox took eighth (11.78) in his preliminary 100-meter dash heat and 13th (20-43/4) in the long jump.
Lynnwood sophomore Tim Carrithers was eighth (53.37) in his preliminary 400 heat.
Meadowdale senior Duncan Hendrick placed 13th (4:26.95) in the 1,600 and 13th (9:49.66) in the 3,200. Junior Dustin Redding took sixth (15.65) in his 110 high hurdles preliminary heat.
In the girls competition, Lynnwood’s 1,600 relay team was fifth (4:11.82). Senior Nikki D’Amico finished 15th (5:43.19) in the 3,200.
Meadowdale’s Kanisha Draper was seventh (26.98) in her 200 preliminary heat and the Mavericks’ 800 relay team was eighth (1:49.92) in its preliminary heat.
Mountlake Terrace’s Estelle Kills Right placed 15th (11:52.56) in the 3,200.
CLASS B MEET: Snohomish County Christian School did not advance any athletes into the finals. Catie Livingston finished ninth (103-7) in the girls discus, 14th in the girls shot put (31-0) and 16th (86-2) in the girls javelin. Teammate Ed Ruark took 13th (55.75) in the boys 400.
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