Tumwater’s Peyton Russell 3-peats as 2A triple jump champion
Peyton Russell had to grind this one out.
Three times during the Class 2A triple jump finals on Friday afternoon she was shown a waving red flag. Between each of her six attempts, she tried to stay loose, jogging and bounding on the infield at Mount Tahoma Stadium.
Russell’s trip to Star Track XXXIV wasn’t going to end like the last. Last year, she set the Class 2A state meet record with a personal-best jump of 40 feet, 8 inches.
This year, she was trailing Clover Park’s Mykah Okoro and Shorecrest’s Sydney Brandt heading into her final attempt.
“It was a little stressful,” Russell said. “I scratched a bunch of (my jumps) — collapsed on them, and I wasn’t really sure (how I would finish). The last one was really close to not making it.”
But, with the crowd clapping in support, and a long strip of black tape supporting her right hamstring, Russell did make it.
She jumped a 37-3 3/4 to win her third consecutive Class 2A triple jump state title — the first Tumwater High female athlete to ever accomplish the feat in any event.
“I’m not that happy with my mark because obviously I’ve done better, but I’m happy that I at least got the three-peat,” Russell said.
Russell — a University of Miami commit — has struggled with injuries all season including a sprained ankle in December.
During warmups, she approached her brother, Lane – who jumps at Princeton University, and won the 2A boys triple jump for Tumwater in 2013 – with concern about her hamstring.
“I would just never have imagined, going in like she did with the hamstring, that it would be her sixth jump, that she not only took, but got the win with,” Lane Russell said.
Tumwater coach Tracy Johnson said this trip to the state finals was the toughest to watch.
“This year was the most nerve-racking because she’s been hurt, and waited until the last jump to pull it out,” Johnsons said. “There were several other good jumpers. Obviously Peyton’s got the caliber to go way over 40 feet, but she’s been fighting injury, so it kind of evened the field out a little bit.”
Russell felt the nerves, too.
“She came over right after she scratched that next-to- last jump, and was standing in front of me like, ‘Look at my legs.’ Her legs were shaking,” Johnson said. “We were all the same way.”
“I’m still feeling the adrenaline,” Lane said minutes after the event concluded.
When the excitement subsides, Peyton, Lane and parents Matt and Susie — who were both donning Miami shirts on Friday — can revel in Peyton’s three consecutive triple jump titles. She took a box of sand from the pit home with her. It’ll fit nicely with the triple jump boards she was given last year when she broke the state meet record.
“Especially after today, when I was this close to not making it, it felt really good (to win),” she said.
Other developments:
▪ River Ridge’s Josh Braverman had a high moment, followed by one he wasn’t as pleased about. He set a new state-best in the 2A boys 300 hurdles preliminary (37.98 seconds — which was later matched by Kentridge’s Tanner Conner in the Class 4A race).
“It was a good day for the 300s,” he said. “Overall it was a good race, it felt good.”
Later, he entered the 110 hurdles final as the top-ranked competitor in the state, but lost by a step to Bellingham’s Benjamin Doucette.
“I’m just upset about the 110s,” Braverman said. “That’s not how I wanted it to end.”
Braverman said he knocked arms with racers in lanes next to him after starting quickly out of the blocks.
“(Doucette) was going smooth – didn’t hit anything,” Braverman said. “He had more carry speed, and I just had to fight more and more to hurdle without any rhythm.”
Braverman also qualified for Saturday’s finals in the 200 (third, 22.81).
▪ Four local throwers placed in the top four in the shot put. Black Hills’ Austen Daisa took second in the 2A boys competition (50-9 3/4), while Timberline’s Selina So’oto was third in the 4A girls competition (42-0).
Two throwers from Shelton — Mike Husky (third, 53- 3/4) and Colton Paller (fourth, 52-9 1/2) — also reached the podium. The two have been competing against each other in the shot put and discus all season.
“It’s actually really helpful because you always have someone pushing you,” Husky said. “It’s really cool to have both of us, head-to- head, for shot and disc. It helps both of us get better.”
Paller also tied for eighth in the discus (158-06).
▪ Tumwater’s Anna Chartrey and Black Hills’ Gabe Adamson both placed in the pole vault. Chartrey jumped 11-06 to take third in the Class 2A girls competition, while Adamson topped out at 14-0 to tie for fourth.
Chartrey cleared five heights on the first attempt before scratching out.
“I felt like it was really good,” she said. “I got a decent height and I didn’t have a lot of misses. It kept my mind in a good spot.”
Adamson — whose personal best is 14-0 — improved by six inches from last season. He started jumping with new poles after snapping his pole earlier this season — that turned out OK.
“We’re glad that happened,” he said. “I was kind of getting discouraged because I wasn’t going any higher. It ended up working out pretty well.”
Both vaulters are coached by long-time Tumwater coach Dan McGuinn.
“I’m delighted with them,” McGuinn said. “Anna’s done everything she set her mind to do, everything I’ve ever asked her to do. Gabe, this year, the maturity of Gabe has shown. … Both of those two have made my season wonderful.”
This story was originally published May 28, 2016 at 7:59 AM with the headline "Tumwater’s Peyton Russell 3-peats as 2A triple jump champion."