MARYSVILLE — Senior pole vaulter Robin Mueller broke a school record while other Tomahawk athletes tried to keep their seasons alive at the North-South Duel and freshman championships.
“At this point from here on out, it’s do or die. You hit the mark or your season’s over. It’s the fun part of track, but it’s also not very forgiving,” said M-P track coach Randy Davis, whose squad hosted Arlington, Kamiak and Mariner in the May 1 duel meet. “Track’s a really strange sport that way, where your team gets smaller and smaller until your season’s over.”
It’s the same way for freshmen now that their April 28 championship meet is over, which means that for a number of Tomahawk track athletes, the season is over.
For freshman event champions like 100 hurdles champion Meghan O’Brien or high jumper April Wickline, the season is automatically extended another week. Others advance by marks or times, like Cody Dockendorf is expected to do in the high jump, while others continue as part of already qualified varsity teams like Dacia Heckendorf in the 400 relay. The freshman sprinter expects to continue her season in individual events as well, most likely the 100 and 200.
The only competitor left after teammate Michaela Caldwell went out in the pole vault attempting 10-6, senior Robin Mueller was free to attempt any height. She opted for 10-10, an inch higher than the school record she shares with Caldwell. After narrowly missing twice, Mueller hit the mark.
“I tied it (the school record) a few meets ago, but I never broke it before,” Mueller said. She’ll have until the conference championships May 7 and 9 at Snohomish to enjoy sole possession of the record, when both she and Caldwell will try to break it again.
Haley Nemra and Alex McDonald were two-event champs in the Tomahawks’ team win at the North-South Duel.
Nemra won the girls 800 and 1,600, while McDonald won the girls 100 and 300 hurdles.
The boys had eight event winners in their team victory — Ryan Lanphere (800, 2:04.03), Mark Pangilinan (110 hurdles, 16.01), Travis Sanderson (300 hurdles, 41.58), Philip Klein (discus, 126-9), Blake Lovell (javelin, 155-9), Taylor Gibson (pole vault, 12-6), Andy Abadam (long jump, 21-5 1/2) and the 400 relay of Abadam, Pangilinan, Sanderson and Jacob Cartas (43.74).
The girls had five more event champs in addition to the wins by Nemra, McDonald and Mueller. Nicolette Runyan won the 400, Jade Hanson won the high jump at 5-2 and Cali Cull won the triple jump at 34-8 3/4. The 400 relay of Cull, Alisha Oden, Runyan and Sarah Zellweger won in a time of 51.42, while the 800 relay of Cull, Oden, Runyan and Nemra won going for a second school record on the day.
“I think it may be the oldest school record left, set back in the 1980s,” said Davis. “The girls wanted a chance to get it, it was their last chance to get it, but they were disappointed in missing it. They were running all by themselves, so in essence they were running against the clock. Records usually come against competition so I thought it was an amazing effort on their part.”
