Wahkiakum gets plenty of "firsts" in Ilwaco

According to Wahkiakum track and field co-Head Coach Tina Merz, plenty of "grit" was shown in Ilwaco during last Thursday's meet. "It was another typical PNW track meet, but you still did your best," Merz said to her athletes following the meet. "There were a lot of PR's (personal records) and/or Top 5's." As a team overall, the boys took fourth place at the meet, while the girls took fifth.

For the boys, Noah Sandhu had first-place finishes in both the Men's 1600M and 3200M events with times of 5:32.77 and 12:45.36. Sandhu's time in the 1600M ended up being a personal record. Jayden Stoddard took second in the Men's 100M with a personal-record time of 12:30. Cody Vicars had third-place finishes in the Men's 1600M and 3200M with times of 5:53.40 and 13:03.62. Caleb Vicars had a fifth-place finish in the Men's 400M with a personal-record time of 1:07.06. Caleb also had personal-record times of 14.50 and 29.87 in the Men's 100M and 200M respectively. Josiah Garrett rounded out the boys on the individual side with a fifth-place finish in the Men's 1600M with a time of 6:17.26. The team of Stoddard, Joseph Merz, Robby Chandler and Mason Waldek finished third in the Men's 4X100M Relay with a time of 51.69.

In the field, Robby Chandler took first in the Men's Javelin with a distance of 124 feet, 4 inches. Kyle Gonzales and Jason Shervey, though not placing, had personal records in the event with distances of 95 feet, 6 inches and 66 feet, 7 inches respectively. Mason Waldek took second in the Men's Long Jump with a distance of 16 feet, 11 inches and fourth in the Men's Triple Jump with a personal-record distance of 33 feet, 5.75 inches. Joseph Merz's personal-record distance of 89 feet, 8 inches in the Men's Discus was good enough for fifth place, while Shervey's distance of 32 feet, 1 inch earned him fifth place in the Men's Shot Put. Gonzales had a personal record in the same event with a distance of 31 feet. Rounding out the personal records on the Men's side was Josiah Garrett, who had a distance of 14 feet, 8 inches in the Men's Long Jump.

For the girls, Mayleonna Casey finished first in the Women's 1600M with a time of 6:03.36, while Sam Dela Cruz took fourth and sixth place in the Women's 100M with times of 14.54 and 14.92. Hogue's time in the event turned out to be a personal record. Dela Cruz had a first-place finish in the Women's 300M Hurdles with a time of 1:00.80, and her team with Casey, Hogue, and Anna Vik had a personal record and second-place finish time of 58.67 in the Women's 4X100M Relay. In the field, Dela Cruz took second in the Women's Triple Jump with a distance of 30 feet, 2 inches, while Vik's distance of 54 feet, 6 inches was good enough for fifth place in the Women's Discus.

The team will next compete Thursday, April 3, at Morton/White Pass High School. Field competition begins at 3:45 p.m. and track competition begins at 4 p.m.