SHORELINE
A rain-soaked preliminary round isn’t an ideal setting to jockey for top positioning heading into Friday’s Western Conference South Division track and field championships, but the Jackson boys and Shorecrest girls made due.
Competing on the track at Shoreline Stadium- instead of the originally planned upon Frank Goddard Stadium in Mukilteo – the Timberwolves and Scots both played to their strengths on Wednesday afternoon.
Jackson used strong distance running and spot sprinters to take aim at the team championship. In the boys 1,600 meter final held on Wednesday instead of Friday, Jackson placed five runners in the top eight to score 33 team points for the final standings. Sophomore Sean Roe (4:22.91) and junior Blake Nelson (4:23.42) finished one-two in the race.
“We’re built really strong in our distance,” Jackson senior Cameron Grossaint said.
Grossaint earned the No. 1 seed in the 400 meters with a time of 51.68 seconds.
“It felt good other than the rain,” Grossaint said of his 400 time. “I kind of like running in the rain.”
Still, Grossaint is hoping for sun during Friday’s finals.
“It’s supposed to be sunny, so that will help the times.”
Shorecrest’s girls display their strength in numbers – the Scots won the district title in 2007 and finished runners-up to Jackson last year.
“We’re sitting good. We’ve got a couple of kids in every race,” head coach Brandon Christensen said.
Elisa Ahern earned No. 1 seeds in the 100-meter and 300-meter hurdles for the Scots and earned field points with a fifth-place finish in the long jump – Shorecrest’s Emily Corona (16-feet, 10.25 inches) and Erin Springer finished one-two in the long jump.
Also, Caroline Towles won the girls javelin throw with a distance of 118-feet, 8 inches. Towles, a senior and the school-record holder for javelin, will attend the University of Idaho on a soccer scholarship.
“Alexis Ramos is leading us in the sprints and we have four girls in the 400, which is huge,” Christensen said, noting his team’s depth.
Contenders for the boys team title include Shorewood, Kamiak and Edmonds-Woodway in addition to Jackson.
Edmonds-Woodway’s Alec Fellows continued his impressive track season with a No. 1 seed in the 110-meter high hurdles, a title in the long jump (21-feet, 9 inches) and a second-place finish in the high jump (6-feet). Mariner’s Joshua Kiehl won the high jump with a height of 6-feet, 2-inches.
On the girls’ side, Edmonds-Woodway and Jackson will challenge Shorecrest for the title.
“Both are real strong programs,” Christensen said of the contenders.
Like the boys, Jackson’s strength is in the distance events. E-W is led by Katie Tougas in the sprints.
Tougas, a junior, earned a No. 1 seed in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.87 seconds. Her time was a .25 seconds slower than the meet record time of 12.62 seconds set in 2002 by Akousua Forquor of Shorewood.
The Warriors’ Tougas and Victoria Felton are seeded Nos. 1 and 2 in the 200-meter dash. Their seeding times are separated by .11 seconds.
The meet was originally scheduled to be held at Goddard Stadium in Mukilteo, but was moved 48 hours in advance due to concerns with the stadium bleachers, according to Shorecrest officials.
Friday’s Wesco South championships are scheduled for Friday at Shoreline Stadium. Field events are slated to start at 5 p.m. and the opening gun for track events is scheduled for 6 p.m.
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