By lap two, it was in the books.
The Shorecrest mile relay team of J.D. Gardner, Kiahn Larry, Jesse Hoffman and Shane Hoffman raced to an early lead and never looked back at last week’s Northwest District 3A meet.
Hoffman crossed the finish line 35 meters ahead of the second-place team during the May 21 finals at Bellingham’s Civic Stadium. Shorecrest’s winning time of 3:24.18 ranks as the top 3A mark in the state this spring.
“The race was over 100 meters into the second leg,” Scots coach Don Dalziel said. “I told the guys that it’s important to get a decent time going into state. They were possessed to go out and do their best and get it done.”
The foursome is within a second of the school record 4 by 400 time of 3:23.53 set at the 1998 state meet.
“That’s going down in the prelims,” Dalziel predicted.
The top three finishers in each event at Northwest Districts advance to this week’s Class 3A state championships in Pasco.
Gardner pulled away from four other runners who were neck-and-neck coming around the final turn to win the open 400 in 51.31 seconds.
“He has the potential to run even faster than what he’s done,” Dalziel said.
Larry, freshman Kevin Ramos and the Hoffmans qualified in the 400 relay with a second-place time of 43.94. It was the group’s first mark under 44 seconds this season.
Shane Hoffman earned a second straight state berth in the long jump with his second-place leap of 21 feet, 7 3/4 inches and also took second in the triple jump with a 42-11.
Four Scots placed fourth: Larry in the 100-meter dash; Ramos in the 200; Jesse Hoffman in the long jump; and Ikenna Acholonu in the triple jump.
Shorecrest repeated its third-place team finish from the previous week’s Wesco South meet, compiling 73 points to finish behind Sehome (135.5) and Bellingham (97.5).
On the girls side, Shorecrest is sending three first-time qualifiers to state.
Sophomore Kim Shen placed second in the triple jump. Her mark of 35-6 3/4 was a 2-foot improvement from her previous personal best.
“That’s a monster jump for her,” Dalziel said. “That came out of nowhere.”
Junior Becky Scherer took second in the discus with a heave of 120-6 and freshman Katie Kirkness was third in the 800.
Amy Farquhar and teammate Molly Gibson were tied for the third and final berth in the high jump, but Farquhar secured a return trip to state by winning a jump-off.
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