The future might look plenty bright for the White River High track and field program, but the present was awfully impressive, too.
The Hornet program of both today and tomorrow was on display Thursday through Saturday at Mount Tahoma High in Tacoma, home site of the Class 3A state track and field championships.
Of the 11 White River athletes competing at the state meet, only one will be lost to graduation, making coach Jerry Scheidt rather upbeat about the potential for the current crop of Hornets. The regular season included a South Puget Sound League 3A championship for the undefeated boys team and the White River girls posted a winning record after several consecutive seasons of dismal records.
Leading the way at state was the boys’ 1,600-meter relay team, a brotherly group that has performed well all season, eventually setting a school record. The group of Kramer and Collin Green and Marcus and Matt Dickson turned in a time of 3 minutes, 24.1 seconds in the preliminaries and followed that with a 3:25 in the finals, earning themselves a fourth-place medal.
Kramer Green had also qualified for state in both the 110- and 300-meter hurdles and Collin Green had qualified in the 400-meter run. Marcus Dickson had earned a state berth in the 1,600 meters and and Matt Dickson qualified in the 800 meters. None of the foursome advanced out of the prelims.
On the girls side, freshman Lauryn Wate had earned a state trip in both the 800 and 1,600 meters and excelled in the latter, clocking a time of 5:15 and claiming sixth-place honors.
“She ran a great race,” Scheidt said. “Lauryn was just determined she was going to get a medal.”
Wate was 10th in the 800 and did not advance to the finals.
Individually, Kristine Brons and Cassidy France earned a state trip, Brons in the 400 meters and France in the 200. Both set personal records at Mount Tahoma but neither moved past the preliminary round.
The Hornet girls had two relay teams in state competition. The 800-meter relay crew of Kristine Brons, Alyssa Aasheim, France and Carley McCutchen ran to within 1/10th of a second of the school record, but it wasn’t enough to make the finals. The 400-meter team of Amy Brons, Jessica Lindner, Aasheim and France also ran well, Scheidt said, but did not make the finals.
Of the entire Hornet state contingent, only Kristine Brons will be lost to graduation.
Reach Kevin Hanson at khanson@courierherald.com or 360-802-8205.