TACOMA — The decision for Olympia girls track and field head coach Cris Violette to retire from coaching certainly wasn’t an easy one after 38 years in the game.
But, both he and the program will take solace in his parting gift to Olympia: an all-star lineup of young talent already competing at elite levels.
Of the 21 Olympia girls who suited up for at least one event at the Mount Tahoma Track Festival Saturday, only four were seniors. Eleven were underclassmen, including five freshmen. The Bears girls finished second in team scoring at the Mount Tahoma Track Festival at Mount Tahoma High School, the site of next month’s 4A/3A/2A state meet. Olympia as a whole finished as the champion of the meet with 262 points, nearly twice the total of the second-place Sumner at 136.5 points.
If the Bears are lucky, Saturday’s performance could be a sign of what’s to come in the same stadium in six weeks.
“If I’m going out, it’s a great group to go out with,” Violette said. “It’s been really fun to see this group and how they just gel as a team.”
The sunny and warm forecast was quite kind to the Olympia girls, who combined to win two events and break 12 individual personal records during the meet. Freshman Leah Hennen set the already toasty track ablaze in the 3,200-meter elite race, breaking a school girls freshman record in the event by finishing in 11 minutes and 26.43 seconds. Her time is also good for eighth overall in school history.
Hennen was shoulder to shoulder with Pope John Paul II junior Ruby Henry in the lead for about the first 2,000 meters, and on the sixth lap, Hennen began to pull away marginally. By the time she started the seventh lap, she lapped a competitor and had a sizable advantage on Henry. The freshman was all by herself as she crossed the finish line more than seven seconds ahead of Henry, who came in at 11:33.71 for a season-best two-mile run.
“Honestly, she really helped me throughout the whole race,” Hennen said of Henry. “I’ve run by myself most of this season. In the second mile, I knew I had to pick it up because I wanted a negative split. I just really wanted that win today.”
Hennen did indeed earn that negative split. After running the first mile in 5:45.02, she completed the second in 5:41.41 thanks to a 1:16:11 final lap. While she was satisfied with the first-place finish and a PR in outdoor track, she was gunning to surpass her best two-mile time from the cross country season, which stands at 11:18.5.
“I’ve been trying to break that. I got really close to it,” Hennen said. “I’m always just trying to get my best time or feel my best.”
Violette said Hennen battled an injury early in the track season but is coming into form and performing with unlimited confidence.
“She’s learning to get mentally tougher and tougher as she goes,” Violette said of Hennen.
Olympia dominated the 3,200-meter elite field with five Bears finishing in the top six. Freshman Gemma Stevick came in third with a five-second PR of 11:38.75, and senior Ava Barr also picked up a five-second PR at 11:48.07 to place fourth. Freshman Eliza Johnson earned fifth at 11:58.41, and senior Lucy Clinton’s PR of 12:23.00 helped her take sixth.
The freshman distance trio of Hennen, Stevick and Johnson has been inseparable all season. They’ve excelled together in the two-mile every time they race, including in the freshman two-mile at the Oregon Relays earlier this month.
“It’s really special. I really love my team, and it’s special that we have a bunch of freshmen on the team. Our team is already so strong with seniors and juniors, and it’s fun to see what they can do and we can aspire to be like them one day,” Hennen said.
Two freshman girls made up half of the winning 4,000-meter distance medley relay team for Olympia. Stevick and Caitlin Lanese joined senior Maegan Shen and junior Carolina Schilter as the quartet finished first in 13:17.27. All four of the girls relay teams placed in the top four, including a second-place finish for the 4x200 team.
Senior Bennie Asomaning enjoyed the best outing of her career in shot put by far. After entering with an all-time best throw of 33 feet, 6 inches, Asomaning topped that mark on all four of her throws, clearing at least 34 feet four times. Her best throw was measured at 35-7 as she finished sixth in the event. Asomaning also took second in the discus, launching a top throw at 106-5, just two feet behind the winner.
Javelin throwers Gabi Peralta and Claire Olmstead also PRed, earning ninth and 11th, respectively, in the competition. Peralta shattered her previous best mark of 68-6, throwing 85-10 on her fourth and final toss. Olmstead surpassed 80 feet for the first time.
Sophomore Olivia Haseman placed fourth in pole vault, topping 7 feet, and sophomore Alana Hobbs beat her PR by two inches to finish sixth. Hobbs cleared 4-10 on her first try.
Olympia boys
The Olympia boys finished first in the team standings thanks to nine first-place finishes.
For the second consecutive Mount Tahoma Track Festival, the Bears’ 4x200 relay team broke the school record. After the quartet of Rylan Thomas, Ibrahima Diallo, Aden Carr and Drake Hughes set the new school record at 1:32.82 last year, this year’s group — the same with the addition of Shaun McKay — crossed the finish line 0.17 seconds faster at 1:32.65 to win the event.
That same group finished fourth in the 4x100 relay at 43.17 seconds, good for the third-fastest time in school history.
But perhaps the most impressive feat of the day, according to boys head coach Jesse Stevick, was the grit from senior Caden Durocher. Shortly after winning the 1,600 meters at 4:20.66, he competed in both the co-ed 4x400 relay and the boys 4x400 relay, helping the former squad finish first while the boys 4x400 relay team took second. Durocher, similarly to his come-from-behind anchor leg victory in the sprint medley relay at the Oregon Relays, he passed multiple competitors in the final moments to finish second.
Freshman Quenton Lanese took the top prize in the boys 3,200-meter elite race as the only ninth grader in the race, finishing at 9:28.71. Lanese is an anomaly for Stevick, who has coached at Olympia for 18 years.
“He loves hanging out with the team, but he’s also a pretty serious athlete. He’s put a lot of work in in the offseason and knows that he’s really competing at a pretty high level,” Stevick said. “He and James Levitt, they’re maybe the first two freshmen in my 18 years of coaching that came in with training. It’s really different.”
Lanese was also a member of the winning 4,000-meter distance medley relay team along with Theodure Ruder, Ashton Myrick and Bryce Byers.
The Olympia boys earned a handful of victories in the field events, starting with senior thrower Carson Godfrey in the discus and shot put. Despite fouling two throws in the discus, he still topped all competitors with a best throw of 168-1. The University of Montana commit launched the shot 57 feet, 8 inches, to win that event, as well.
Senior Logan Gerrits shined in the pole vault, establishing a new PR at 13 feet to collect his third first-place finish this season. Junior Tucker Downing’s first throw of 182-2 was good enough to place first in the event, and sophomore Aaron Oakland earned his third high jump win of the season by clearing 6-2 for the first time, doing so on his first attempt.
River Ridge
River Ridge senior Iliana Cross became the first Hawk in 14 years to finish the 100-meter dash in under 12.4 seconds, coming in at 12.36 for the third best time in school history. She finished third in the event and has improved her times in every meet this season.
“It was really good competition today. I get more competitive when I’m running with good competition,” Cross said.
She also took eighth in the 200-meter dash on her second-best time of the season at 26.43.
“I really picked it up toward the end. Typically, I tend to slow down once I hit the last 20 meters,” she said. “But I kept pushing today.”
Sophomore Sa’Riyah Nance clinched PRs in both the 100-meter dash (13.51 seconds) and the 200-meter dash (28.39 seconds), while freshman Paige Arko recorded PRs in the 100-meter hurdles (18.83 seconds) and the 200-meter dash (28.40 seconds).
The 4x200 relay team of Arko, Ava Corpening, Nance and Nancy Ritter earned fourth at 1:50.77, winning their heat. Junior distance runner Rylea Moss finished third in both the 1,600 meters and the 3,200 meters, setting a season-best time in the former at 6:08.41.
For the River Ridge boys, the Hawks finished sixth in the 4x400 relay and eighth in the 4x100 relay. Senior Jayden Taylor placed 10th in the long jump at 19-3.5, and senior Nicholas Chow established a new PR in the 1,600 meters at 4:56.28 to take sixth while also finishing 12th in the 800 meters.
Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II was led by junior Kevin Hu setting the school record in the 1,600 meters at 4:29.23. He placed seventh in the elite version of the event.
Senior Lathan Piper also broke another school record, surpassing the 300-meter hurdles mark at 42.48 seconds for a new PR and a fifth-place finish. Additionally, he stands at second all-time in school history in the 110-meter hurdles as he finished in 16.81 seconds to place 10th.
Junior Kevin King was the runner up in the high jump, clearing 6 feet to tie his PR.
Ruby Henry, Pope John Paul II’s school-record holder in the 3,200 meters, was the runner up in the elite event, while juniors Chloe Summers, Lily Warne-McGraw and Isla Valpiani all finished in the top 15. Senior Amy Kondrat took sixth in the 300-meter hurdles at 51.50, and senior Claire Larson’s discus throw of 94-11 was good enough for seventh.
