Skyline girls make it 8 straight track titles
May 19, 2009
By Christopher Huber
Team anchors Shealee O’Donnell, of Skyline (left), and Madison Callan, of Issaquah, sprint neck and neck to the finish of the 4x200 relay, where Skyline won by .18 seconds in a time of 1:42.58 for the 4A KingCo championship. By Greg Farrar
Team anchors Shealee O’Donnell, of Skyline (left), and Madison Callan, of Issaquah, sprint neck and neck to the finish of the 4x200 relay, where Skyline won by .18 seconds in a time of 1:42.58 for the 4A KingCo championship. By Greg Farrar
Junior Shealee O’Donnell anchors Spartan KingCo win
Skyline’s girls track team continues to dominate KingCo, winning its eighth straight title May 15.
Junior Shealee O’Donnell was integral to the girls’ win. The standout sprinter placed second to Issaquah’s Johanna Carr in both the 100- and 200-meter dash with times of 12.48 and 25.44 seconds, respectively. But she also ran a leg of the winning 4×100 and 4×200 relays.
She anchored the 4×200 and held it together just long enough to beat Issaquah by .18 seconds.
“I knew not to pass on the corner, but found an extra spurt of energy,” O’Donnell said after Skyline won the 4×200 in 1:42.58. “I couldn’t have done it if (Kaylyn Berry) hadn’t run such a good leg.”
Helping the Spartans to a second-place (87.5 points) team finish at KingCo, sophomore multisport phenom Kasen Williams earned champion status in three events: high jump (6-02), long jump (22-05) and the triple jump (46-01.5). Williams’ triple jump performance was enough for third in state going into the 4A District 2 meet and beat the KingCo competition by nearly four feet.“He already has the school record. He just furthered it,” said teammate Morgan McCleod.
Inglemoor won the KingCo boys’ title with 117 points.
In boys’ sprinting action, Skyline’s Alex Lee slipped past Eastlake’s Marcus Harewood and Garfield’s Christian Blanks in the 100-meter dash. He won with a personal-best time of 11.11 seconds, just .09 seconds in front of Blanks. Last year, Lee missed the KingCo meet with an injury.
“I knew I had a lot of competition,” Lee said after the race, “but it’s just nice to be in KingCo healthy.”
The Issaquah girls had a good day, too, finishing in third place with 91 points. The boys came in eighth with 53.5 points.
Elaine Tran, of Issaquah, nearly came away with the win in the 100-meter hurdles, but Inglemoor’s Becca Berge inched her out in a final surge at the finish line. Berge won in 15.23 seconds, just .11 seconds ahead of Tran. Tran said she lost some momentum near the final hurdle.
“I had it,” she said, exiting the track.
Issaquah freshman Eva Perry placed third in the 4A girls pole vault with a jump of 9-06 and Skyline’s Haley Ziegler threw the discus 104-02 for second place in KingCo.
The Liberty boys placed third with 127 points overall, just behind Bellevue (146.5) and Mount Si (135). The Lady Patriots also finished in third in KingCo 3A competition, accumulating 100 points, behind Mount Si (213) and Mercer Island (128).
Liberty speedster Kelsey Werre took top recognition after winning the 100- and 200-meter dash events with times of 12.46 and 25.94 seconds, respectively.
But she also played an important role in the winning 4×200 relay. Liberty beat out Mount Si, finishing, with Werre as anchor, in 1:46.33. She said she took off too early on the handoff, but turned it up a notch to win the race.
“I knew we could beat them,” Werre said as she caught her breath. “I just gave it everything I had.”
Liberty’s 4×400 relay won with a time of 4:05.66. Senior pole-vaulters Krista Lockhart and Hannah Robins placed first and third, respectively, in their event, each clearing 9-06.
Sprinter Madison Birdsall won the 3A 400-meter race in 60.97 seconds.
“She’s been running really consistently the last two weeks,” coach Mike Smith said.
Issaquah, Liberty and Skyline are gearing up for the 2009 4A Regionals/Bi-District Meet May 22 in Seattle.
Reach Reporter Christopher Huber at 392-6434, ext. 242, or chuber@isspress.com. Comment on this story at www.issaquahpress.com.
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