Local track stars posting marks

Local track and field athletes are in the midst of their season. Clatsop rivals Astoria and Seaside made the trip to St. Helens to take part in the Lower Columbia Invitational, while small schools Knappa and Warrenton were at Banks for the Rob Frank Invitational.

Seaside sprinter returns to action

Ryder Jackson is back on the track for Seaside.

After suffering an ankle injury during football season, the senior finally got back to action. The state runner-up in the 100-meter dash clocked an 11.64 in his return run. This was good enough for second place behind Jackson Patton of C.S. Lewis Academy. Senior teammate Efrain Ramirez also ran a season best time of 12.07, to finish in 11th place.

In the 200 meters a young Seaside athlete had a standout performance.

Freshman Gavin Swedenborg soared to a personal best time of 24.27 in the 200-meter dash. He also clocked a personal best in the high jump as he cleared 5 feet 10 inches for the first time in his high school career.

Other Seagulls boys to run personal best on the track were Juan Cazarez and William Flores. Cazarez ran a personal best of 59.80 in the 400-yard dash, to finish 15th, and Flores blazed to a sub 2:00 in the 800 meters. The freshman broke the elusive barrier to finish second place with a time of 1:58.16. This was a five-second improvement from the first time he ran the event. In addition, Flores has also run a 51:44 in the 400-yard dash, so the freshman is only building on his impressive cross country campaign.

In the field events, Tristan Erspamer jumped a personal best in the pole vault to finish fourth. Esrpamer jumped 10 feet to finish first amongst Cowapa League competitors.

For the girls, sophomore Stella Ensign ran a personal best in both the 100 and 200 yards. Ensign finished 19th with a time of 19.55 in the 100 and 16th in the 200 with a time of 30.14. Ariana Rojas Mora finished second in the girls 800 behind Tillamook athlete Brooke Bush.

Additionally, the foursome of Rojas Mora, Shantelle Mendez Granillo, Kimberly Martinez-Luna and Maddie Menke won the girls 4000-meter distance medley in a time of 14:22.53. The event featured Mora running 1200 meters, Granillo running 400 meters, Martinez-Luna running an 800 and Menke finishing things off with the mile.

On the field, duo Menke and Ella Clyde had top five performances in the pole vault, long jump and triple jump.

Menke finished third in the pole vault with a season best of 7 feet and third in a season best of 15 feet 7.25 inches in the long jump. Clyde finished fifth in the triple jump with a season best of 31 feet 5 inches.

Astoria boys distance team strong

Saturday was a strong day for the Astoria boys distance team.

Senior Maurice Mecham finished fifth in the 400 meters with a time of 55.86, freshman Turner Boslar ran a personal best of 2:19.25 in the 800 meters to finish 10th, Boslar would double back in the 1500 meters and run a personal best of 4:37.06 to finish sixth. Teammate Recker Harvey finished seventh in the same event with a season best time of 4:46.78. Harvey also clocked a season best in the 3000 meters to come home sixth. Senior Will Laman took part in his first meet and won the event in a time of 9:14.86.

The last Astoria athletes to clock a personal best were Jacob Biros and Brody Giles in the 300 meter hurdles. Biros finished fourth in the event with a time of 43.47. Giles meanwhile, finished 10th in a personal best of 47.62.

In field events, Magnus Kryzanek finished third in the shot put with a personal best throw of 44 feet 6 inches.

On the girls side, it was a good day for the sprints and field events.

Freshman Zoe Wright finished second in the 100-meter dash with a personal best of 13.37. She also finished third in the high jump with a personal best of 4 feet 10 inches. Cadence Sopko clocked a personal best of 29.87 in the 200-yard dash. Sopko finished 10th in the 200 and also set a personal best in the javelin, with a throw of 104 feet 7 inches. The Fishermen had a strong showing in the 400 meters as they had three girls finish in the top seven spots. Sophie Saarheim, Addie Earl and Sofia Nyaard finished second, fourth and seventh respectively. Saarheim clocked a season best of 1:02.79 and Earl ran a personal best of 1:05.55. Freshman Sadie Muller finished ninth and ran a personal best in the 100-meter hurdles to round out the strong sprinting performances.

In the shot put, Roberta Chavez and Amelia Nemlowill finished second and third behind standout Tillamook thrower Rylee Huerta. Sophomore Clara Moore finished second and jumped a personal best 8-foot-0 in the pole vault. She doubled back to lead a podium sweep for Astoria in the triple jump. Moore finished ahead of her two teammates Ayla Gustafson and Keturah Jackson. Gustafson and Jackson tied for second with a jump of 32’8.25, which ended up being a personal best for Jackson.

Warrenton and Knappa seniors duel at Rob Frank

The highlight of the Rob Frank Invitational ended up being the duel between Warrenton senior Jayden Warner and Knappa senior Wyatt Jacobson.

The seniors faced off against each other in two races and ended up splitting their matchups. Jacobson got the best of Warner in the 800 meters, while Warner finished ahead of Jacobson in the 1500.

Jacobson and Warner both put up personal best performances in the 800 meters, with Jacobson coming out in front. The Loggers senior clocked a 2:00.94, to finish fifth and Warner ran a personal best of 2:01.64 to finish sixth. Knappa sophomore Rowdy Justus also ran a personal best time of 2:11.54, to finish 11th. The 1500 meter race was even faster, as Warner and Jacobson also had to face off with a quick Banks duo of Amin Diani and Alejandro Abnal.

Warner finished second behind Diani in a personal best time of 4:01.17 and Jacobson ran a personal best of 4:07.57. Justus finished sixth and Oskar Peitsch finished eighth in a season best time. Warrenton also saw James Hallock finish 14th in a personal best of 4:54.46.

Other standouts for Knappa included Paul Thompson in the 400 meters and Tanner Cagwin in the shot put. Thompson finished third in the 400 meters and Cagwin finished fifth in the shot put with a personal best of 40 feet 4 inches. On the girls side, Emma Jackson returned to the track and clocked a season best in the 800 meters and a personal best in the 1500. Faith Pedersen finished fifth in both the 100- and 300-meter hurdles.

For Warrenton, Reuben Ramirez ran a personal best in the 100-yard dash, Riggs Miethe finished 12th in the shot put with a personal best, while Owen Cross, Declan Wallace, Sam Smith all finished in the top 12 for pole vault. Finally, Brenna Qualm finished second and fourth in the 100 and 200 meters.