High School Sports Feature: White River Track and Field

For today's JustSON High School Sports feature I headed out to Buckley, Washington to my old high school. White River High School.

Now when I was in high school I was good in the classroom but my main love was track (actually field) because you see, I was a pole vaulter.

For those of you who have never pole vaulted, I'm sorry. It is a thrill like no other but it takes a certain type of person who can compete at this sport. You have to be driven. Even after breaking my elbow pole vaulting my freshman year I was still drawn back to the sport. After a year of rehab, I made it back for my junior and senior years.

Well today, I was in for a treat as White River took on Enumclaw and Auburn Mountainview in a three team meet.

Naturally I spent the meet over at the pole vault pits. My former coach is still the pole vault coach there so it was great to see him.

But before I get to the battle that took place at the pits, I must congratulate the White River Hornets boys track team on their perfect season. They finished 8-0 on the year and hands down won the South Puget Sound 3A crown.

I found this amazing, back when I was in school (I graduated in '03) the team would win one track meet a year. And that was against Fife High School every year.

But this team had some amazing things happening they beat Enumclaw 82-62 and Auburn Mountainview 91-54. I cover more of the rest of the teams highlights in a bit. But first, back to pole vaulting.

There were 12 vaulters to start the meet (four from each school). And even as the bar rose to 10 feet, there were still 11 in the competition. At 12 feet there were just two. Austin Shirey of White River and Clifford Newman of Enumclaw.

At this point the rest of the track meet had ended and soon most of the participants in the meet were lining the runway of the pole vault pit to watch the battle for first. It was a great site to see.

Newman cleared 12'6" on his second attempt. (You get three attempts at each height). His coach had said that his previous personal record (PR) was 11'6".

Shirey missed his second attempt at 12'6" and was down to his last chance. His previous PR was 12'.

As he walked back down the runway for his third and final try at 12'6", the White River team was cheering for him and hollering their support. With that, Shirey stared down the runway, picked up his pole and cleared the height.

Newman went on to win the event at 13 feet, but Shirey earned himself a PR at the meet today. Also, keep in mind Shirey is only a sophomore.

Here are some of the photos I snapped at the meet today. Click on each photo to make them larger:

Austin Shirey clears 12 feet as storm clouds move into the area.


Clifford Newman runs to attempt 12 feet 6 inches as fans watch.


Aaron Toman races down the runway on his first attempt at 10 feet.

All in all it was a great day for pole vaulting. And while the pole vault was my highlight at the meet, there were a number of athletes that deserve recognition on both the boys and the girls side.

Another great battle took place on the track in the 300 meter hurdles. Abe Kellogg of Enumclaw won in 39.61 and Kramer Green of White River finished right on his heels in 39.78. It was a fight down to the final step. Kellogg got the extra edge on the final hurdle and it was just enough to hold off Green. Only 22 runners in all of Washington state have ran under 40 seconds in the 300 hurdles this year.

Green actually ranks with the 9th fastest time in the state with his time of 39.49 that he ran at the Shelton Invitational on May 2nd. It is also the 3rd fastest time in all of 3A.

First place finishers on the league champion Hornet boys included Collin Green in the 400m at 50.50. The 1600m relay tean won in 3:25.32. Blake Tidwell won the long jump with at jump of 19'10.5". Grant Peckham won the discus with a throw of 140'0". And Blake Halvorson won the high jump at 5'6".

On the girls side, White River beat Auburn Mountainview 74-47 but lost to Enumclaw 57-66. They finish at 5-3 on the season which should be good enough for third place in the league.

First place finishers for the girls were Lauryn Wate in the 1600m at 5:21.2 and in the 800m in 2:24.7. The 800m relay team won in 1:49.12 and the 1600m relay won in 4:15.79. Ashley Llapitan won the 3200m in 12:24. Hailey Menzel won the pole vault at 8'6".

Next up for the White River track teams is sub-districts. The teams head down the hill to Sunset Chevrolet Stadium in Sumner on May 14 and 16. After that is the district meet at Mount Tahoma High School in Tacoma on May 22-23. The state meet will be on May 29-30, also at Mount Tahoma.