Track and field sends eight to state

Last Thursday, the Wahkiakum track and field team competed at Tacoma’s Franklin Pierce High School with the top-eight from each event advancing to state. Unfortunately for Noah Sandhu, he was disqualified in the Men’s 1600M for running inside the cones. Sandhu’s time of 4:57 would have been good enough for eighth place in the event, which would have qualified him for state this weekend. Still the team will send four of its boys to state this weekend thanks to the quartet of Joe Merz, Dom Diaz, Robby Chandler and Jayden Stoddard, who took eighth in the Men’s 4X100M with a time of 48.90. The team is currently ranked 20th in the state and will run Friday, May 30, at 11:30 a.m. at Yakima. Chandler will also compete Friday at 1 p.m. in the Men’s Javelin 800g thanks to his fourth-place finish last weekend with a throw of 152 feet, 9 inches. Chandler is currently ranked seventh in the state in the category.

For the girls, Mayleonna Casey took seventh in the women’s 800M with a time of 2:38.80. Currently ranked 21st in the state, Casey will compete at 2:30 on Friday. Also finishing in the top eight for the girls was Sam Dela Cruz, who took seventh in the Women’s 300M Hurdles with a time of 52.91. Currently ranked 15th in state, Dela Cruz will run again at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. The Women’s 300M Hurdles is just one of three events in which Dela Cruz will compete this weekend, as her distance of 31 feet, 10.5 inches in the Women’s Triple Jump was good enough for fifth place. Currently ranked 12th in the state in that event, Dela Cruz will compete on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. Cruz will also join teammates Casey, Clara Hogue, and Anna Vik at noon on Friday to compete in the Women’s 4X100M relay. The quartet’s personal-record time of 54.88 in the event was good enough for eighth place last weekend and puts the team 13th in state, rankings wise. Vik will represent Wahkiakum in the field this Friday 10:30 a.m. thanks to her fourth-place worthy distance of 93 feet, 6 inches in the Women’s Javelin 600g last weekend. Vik is currently ranked seventh in the state.

Regarding her eight athletes, Coach Tina Merz said, “That is the most we have had in many years. Great job, athletes. I’m so excited for state.”