Although the Redmond Mustangs aren’t sending quite the number of athletes to this year’s Class 4A state track and field championships as they did last May, nearly all of them are talented returners with invaluable experience.
Star Track, held at Mount Tahoma High School in Tacoma this weekend, will be the last shot at glory for six of the eight Redmond qualifiers as they look to end their prep careers by taking home some state hardware.
Distance-running savant Sarah Lord looks to be a gold-medal favorite after a dominating Kingco season. She enters the state meet riding a wave of confidence. Lord won last weekend’s 1,600-meter race at the bi-district meet with a time of 5 minutes and 2.87 seconds, and then won the grueling 3,200 in 10:51.61, 22 seconds better than teammate Jillian Jaccard, who also qualified for state in both the 1,600 and 3,200.
In addition, senior Aiden Irish and junior Mack Young, the reigning state cross-country champion, look to be carrying over their success from great distance running seasons last fall.
Young turned up the heat down the stretch of the 1,600 to outlast Bothell standout Trey Parry to capture the bi-district gold medal last weekend. Young won the race in 4:17.86 and Parry was second in 4:19.44.
Irish claimed the 3,200 bi-district title with a time of 9:33.89, less than three seconds faster than Inglemoor’s Billy Wilkens.
“Aiden ran away with the two mile, and Mack has chosen the mile as the one he really wants to focus on,” said Redmond boys’ track coach David Peabody. “They have great chances for all-state and high-placing performances. Sarah, Mack and Aiden, I think they have their sights on the top three, definitely.”
Soaring past the competition
The Mustangs will also be sending a pair of accomplished javelin throwers to Star Track, both whom placed ninth last spring — one spot out of a podium finish.
Senior Jimmy Brookman, co-captain of the Mustang wrestling team, followed up his Kingco meet win with a season-long 181-foot toss and third place finish at the bi-district meet to earn a second-straight state appearance.
“He’s peaking at the right time,” said Peabody, who explained that javelin throwers usually tire at the end of the long season. “He’s steadily improving, and it will be exciting to see what he can do.”
On the girls’ side, senior Ally Mueller crushed the competition at the Kingco meet with a career-best 129-foot toss and then punched her ticket to state with a 121-foot throw to capture the gold medal at last weekend’s bi-district meet.
“Last time at state we got only a few warmup throws, so we had to mentally prepare more than physically,” explained Mueller, adding that her goals at state are to throw 130 feet and place in the top five. “Also, there’s so many great competitors, some girls are throwing 149 this year. I’m just trying to psyche myself up, because what I saw last year was just amazing.”
Amy Sturdivant finished second in the pole vault at last weekend’s bi-district meet and qualified for state by clearing 10 feet.
Sprinter surprise
Probably the best story on the team belongs to Cole Hardwick, a junior who battled an illness during the early part of the season and rebounded to sneak into the final heat of the 200 meters at the bi-district meet, where he was running in lane 8, reserved for the slowest qualifying time.
Hardwick shot out of the blocks and stunned the field, placing second, finishing just .12 of a second behind Garfield’s Christian Blanks.
“Cole has emerged as our top middle-distance sprinter,” Peabody said. “It was unexpected to everyone else (at districts). He surprised them.”
Track competitions get underway on Thursday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. and will continue through Saturday evening.
