Tumwater, Capital win girls team track titles; Olympia’s Coleman sets meet record

When Ethan Coleman crossed the finish line on Saturday afternoon, he was far enough in front of every other competitor that nobody else in the field had even come off the final turn at Mount Tahoma Stadium.

All Coleman needed to see was the digital clock counting upwards as he increased his speed even after completing most of the 3,200 meters he needed to traverse to win his second title of the weekend at the 2A/3A/4A WIAA State meet. That clock provided another motivation.

Coleman raced home far in front of the field to set a new 4A meet record in the 3,200 of 8 minutes, 49.00 seconds. He took down one of the older records still on the books, the 8:50.65 run by Chris Lewis of Mead in 1989.

“It feels good,” said Coleman, who will be running for Notre Dame next fall. “My last distance race in this Olympia jersey, and I’ve just put so much time and energy into this program, and working towards this. And finally with the track state championship back, it’s a good feeling.”

Coleman wasn’t the only area athlete to turn the 3,200 into a Saturday highlight.

Earlier in the day, Shelton’s Alauna Carstens wasn’t anywhere near as far ahead of her competition during the girls 2A 3,200. But in Carstens case, being pushed sent her on to her own meet record in the event.

Carstens ran the 3,200 in 10:44.46, breaking the record of Bellingham’s Annika Reiss, 10:47.77, set the last time the state meet took place in 2019. Three years later, thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic having shut spring state tournaments down for 2020 and 2021, Carstens and runner-up Kate Laurent from Ellensburg both went under the previous record, with Laurent posting a 10:46.23.

“This is my first year at state for track, and it’s just really an unbelievable feeling,” said Carstens, who added the 3,200 title to her Thursday 1,600 championship. “Thursday night I just couldn’t go to sleep. All of that excitement was just like filtering through. It’s just wild because the 2-mile was not like my main event for the longest time, so the fact that I can come here and just throw down everything I’ve got is pretty cool.”

TUMWATER, CAPITAL GIRLS WIN TEAM TITLES

The girls side brought two team titles to Thurston County this weekend, as well. In the 2A ranks, Tumwater beat runner-up Bellingham, 78-51.

“I feel like we just have to be confident in our abilities in our individual races,” Tumwater’s Annabelle Clapp said. “Then have it pull together at the end.”

Clapp helped things along by running legs on the winning 4x100 and third-place 4x400 relays, and added a second-place finish in the 400 meters on Saturday. In 3A, the Capital Cougars won the 4x200 relay on Saturday and got a second individual title of the weekend from Amanda Moll – a winning long jump of 17-8 – to beat second-place Kelso, 54-44.

Moll added the surprise long jump title to her meet-record performance in the pole vault from Friday, and also ran a leg alongside her sister Hana on the victorious 4x100 relay team, capping a big weekend for them and the Cougars.

“The best I could ask for,” Hana Moll said. “I think it was just a strong finish.”

Coleman, Carstens and Moll weren’t the only locals to bring home individual titles on Saturday.

Olympia’s Connor Johnson was involved in the closest finish of the meet in the 4A boys 400 meters final. When he and Trayce Hanks of Lake Stevens hit the line, the scoreboard showed a dead heat at 48.84 seconds for both runners.

“I wasn’t quite sure,” Johnson said. “But somebody at the finish line said they were going to go down to 1,000ths.”

That examination showed the title belonged to the Bear, 48.831 seconds to 48.835.

Just a couple of hours earlier, Yelm’s Trevontay Smith climbed to the top of the podium to accept his championship medal in the 3A boys triple jump. The Tornado jumped 44-5.25, beating second-place finisher Troy Roberson from Hazen by less than an inch (44-4.5).

“I came in knowing there were some good jumpers,” Smith said. “And I was a little behind the board for a lot of the jumps. But it went well.”

Smith’s 10 points for the win put the Yelm boys into contention for the team title. Ultimately, the championship went to Walla Walla and its 66 team points, while Yelm and its 54 points finished third behind the Blue Devils and Arlington’s 57.

Meanwhile, at Eastern Washington University in Cheney, Rainier High School won the Class 2B title.