TACOMA — The Arlington girls track team placed 15th with 16 points and the boys were 19th with 14.5 points at the 3A State Tournament at Mount Tahoma High School.
It was a meet with “high and lows,” track coach Judd Hunter said.
Maybe it was the 80-degree heat on the first day, or maybe it was mental, but Hunter couldn’t quite place his finger on the overall underperformances.
“Overall, I’m proud of the kids,” Hunter said. “They put their best foot forward.”
One of those highs was senior Justean Landis, who championed in the discus with a throw of 135-06 meters but placed 11th in the shot put.
Jayla Russ managed to place fifth in discus with a throw of 125-04 meters.
Some lows were tracksters like Jessica Ludwig, who did not do as well as anticipated in her four events.
In the boys, Nathan Beamer placed fifth in the 3200 and seventh in the 1600 with times of 9:16.04 and 4:19.26 respectively.
Carl Kulper fouled on two of his attempts in the shot put, but achieved seventh with a heave of 49-11.50 meters.
“Carl was right in his wheelhouse,” Hunter said. “He did enough to place and that’s all we were looking for.”
Though he admittedly underperformed in the triple jump, Michael Forster was still happy with his effort, achieving sixth in the triple and seventh in the long jump.
“I couldn’t get a big jump, and I scratched some of my bigger jumps,” he said of the triple attempt. “I couldn’t fully extend my lead leg.”
Placers for Arlington girls-
Landis was first in the discus with 135-06 meters and placed 11th in the shot put with 34-06.75.
Russ was fifth in the discus with 125-04 meters.
Ludwig was seventh in the long jump with 17 meters; ninth in the javelin with 112-07 and ninth in the triple jump with 34-11.25.
-Placers for Arlington boys-
Beamer was seventh in the 1600 meters in 4:19.26 and fifth in the 3200 meters in 9:16.04.
Forster was sixth in the triple jump leaping 43-11 meters and seventh in the long jump leaping 20-08.25.
Kupler was seventh in the shot put with 49-11.50 meters and ninth in the discus with 141-09.
Tristan Trotter tied for seventh in javelin with 170-03 meters.
See the complete slideshow of local tracksters here.
