KENT — It’s been a successful prep career for Timberline senior Paityn Gagnon in track and field.
But on Wednesday, during the first day of the West Central District 3A/4A Championships at French Field, she crossed something off her bucket list that she had yet to accomplish.
A postseason championship.
Gagnon became the first Blazers female high jumper to win a district title in the event in eight years as she narrowly came out on top of a competitive field. Her best jump of 5 feet, 1 inch, was tied with three others for the top mark, but the significant difference was that she didn’t fail an attempt to get to that 5-1 mark. All four finalists tried 5-3 but came up short.
Although 5-3 would’ve been a new personal record for Gagnon, it didn’t turn out to be necessary.
“It’s very meaningful. I’ve worked hard all season. Today, I just got it done,” she said. “We fixed my turn, and that seemed to be very powerful for me.”
Gagnon knew when she cleared 5-1 that she had reached the automatic qualifying mark to secure her spot at state, but she was hungry for more. Only four Blazers girls have ever reached 5-3, and Gagnon was exceptionally close to becoming the fifth.
Later in the day, she took sixth in the triple jump at 34-9.5 to clinch her third straight state trip in that event. Gagnon finished 15th at state last year and 10th the year before.
On Friday, the senior has a chance to join rarefied air if she can qualify for state in the long jump. If she can finish in the top six or reach 16-9.25, Gagnon would become Timberline’s first female athlete to qualify for state in the high jump, long jump and triple jump in the same season in at least the past 15 years. She is already the first from Timberline to qualify for state in two of the three events since Jessica Neal in 2019.
Gagnon has her eyes set on not only 17 feet in the long jump on Friday but another district title.
“I’m hoping for first. I think I can do first. If I can get over 17 feet and I don’t scratch, I think I’ll be fine,” Gagnon said.
Gagnon was the lone local female district champion on the first day of the district championship meet, but plenty of area athletes will join her in Tacoma next week for the state meet. She will be accompanied by River Ridge high jumper Akela Brooks, who became the first high jumper from the school to make the trip to state since 2017. The sophomore, in her first track season, narrowly missed out on the finals but reached a new PR of 5-0. Just before the finals, Brooks was announced as the fifth-place finisher and a state qualifier.
“It feels really good because I always had this expectation of coming in and making some sort of impact. Everything I did to prepare is what got me here: staying humble, staying true to myself and putting in the extra hours,” Brooks said. “It wasn’t for nothing.”
Brooks was involved in gymnastics for 11 years but quit two months before joining the track team. She pulled her hamstring during gymnastics and didn’t start competing with the track team until mid-April. When she started competing in the 100 meters, high jump and 4x100 relay, she felt like she was significantly behind her teammates but quickly caught up.
“I told myself, ‘If you really want this, then you need to put in the work. You have to do it for yourself and for no one else,’” Brooks said. “I caught up pretty quickly. It was just a matter of trying to stay humble and knowing that wherever my teammates were, I could get there. When I got there, I knew I could go further.”
Timberline’s Hannah Jackson and Joyce Izuagbe both qualified for state in the 100 meters, taking ninth and 10th, respectively. Jackson ran 12.53 seconds, while Izuagbe crossed the finish line in 12.57 seconds. River Ridge’s Iliana Cross also punched her ticket to state in the 100-meter dash at 12.61 seconds, finishing in 11th.
Capital’s Pippin Crump shined in the 100-meter hurdles, taking fifth place with a new PR of 15.98 seconds. She became the fifth Capital runner to ever record a sub-16-second time and is the first to do it since Hana Moll, now a record-breaking pole vaulter at the University of Washington.
Olympia freshman Leah Hennen made an impressive comeback in the 1,600 meters. She passed several competitors in the final lap to finish in third at 5:01.03, a new PR by over six seconds. She broke her own school freshman record in the event and now holds the fifth-best time in school history.
Olympia’s 4x200 relay team of Mika Meconi, Anneliese Jones, Evan Lopez and Audrey Leneker took fourth with a season-best time of 1:44.21. Olympia high jumper Alana Hobbs met the qualifying standard of 5-0 to qualify for state, tying for seventh place in the event.
Yelm senior Madelyn Lawson made sure her high school career didn’t end early, squeezing her way into the state tournament in shot put by taking sixth at 35-10. She reached 35-10 for the second consecutive meet but just missed her PR by half an inch.
