Quite a birthday: $4 winning scratch ticket, state javelin title

When W.F. West High School senior Kendra Bottenberg won $4 on a scratch ticket Friday morning, she had a feeling that her 18th birthday might just be a lucky day.

She couldn’t have been more right.

Bottenberg celebrated her birthday with a state title in the Class 2A girls javelin, finishing with a personal-best throw of 139 feet, 11 inches at the track and field state championships at Mount Tahoma High School in Tacoma.

“It’s kind of like the coolest day ever,” Bottenberg said. “It’s a surreal feeling. I didn’t think this would ever happen. I’ve though about it before, but I never thought it would actually come true.”

Bottenberg was ranked fifth in her classification coming into the event. Winning a state championship wasn’t even on her radar.

“Honestly, I didn’t think I was going to win it,” she said. “That wasn’t my goal. My goal was to get the school record, which I did, and it just so happened it came with a state title and it was really, really fun.”

Bottenberg’s winning throw came in just her second attempt. She watched as the other competitors had four chances to surpass her, but it never happened.

Bottenberg wasn’t the only athlete from W.F. West to win a state title Friday. Junior Colby White won the 2A boys high jump championship with a personal-best leap of 6-7.

His winning jump came on his final attempt at that height.

“I was really nervous, and I just wanted to soak it all in and give it the best I could on the last two jumps,” White said.

Having two winners on the same day was quite the accomplishment for the Bearcats.

“This is the most amazing thing I’ve ever been a part of,” Bottenberg said. “Our program has just shot up this year, winning multiple meets, winning league, winning districts and now having a chance to place at state.

“We’ve never done it before and our team is just really, really excited.”

HURDLERS FINISH SECOND

Black Hills senior Madi Frampton placed second in the 2A girls 100-meter hurdles, finishing with a time of 15.02 behind Bremerton’s Lauryn Chandler, who won the state title with a time of 14.84.

Frampton helped the Wolves move into first place in the team standings with 21 points going into the final day of competition.

Sophomore Sir Carter also placed second in the 110-hurdles with a time of 15.26. Franklin Pierce senior Tyrell Edge won the race with a time of 14.90.

OWLS DEFEND TITLES

Mary M. Knight junior Kaylee Sowlee completed the first two legs of repeating her jumps triple crown at the 1B track and field state championships at Eastern Washington University in Cheney.

Sowlee won both the high jump (5-8) — where is the top-ranked athlete in Washington with a personal-best 5-10 — and the long jump (17-8 1/2) on Friday.

She’ll look to defend her 1B triple jump title Saturday.

Owls senior Ian Frost successfully defended his 1B state title in the discus.

A Cornell University commit, Frost won the event with a throw of 169 feet. He won the event by 40 feet over Grace Academy’s Ethan Hess.

Frost was the third-ranked thrower in the state in the event this season, with his best throw (178-4) coming in last week’s district championships.

Staff writer Lauren Smith contributed to this report.

This story was originally published May 25, 2018 at 8:07 PM with the headline "Quite a birthday: $4 winning scratch ticket, state javelin title."