DUVALL — The Lakewood boys track and field team took first place at the 2A Cascade/Kingco Sub-District meet on Friday, May 10, while the girls team took second place.
The Cougar boys scored 155 points overall as a team, while the girls scored 121 points.
“The boys, on the heels of the Cascade Conference victory a week ago, won the Sub-District meet which was definitely a highlight,” said head coach Jeff Sowards. “The significance of the Cascade Conference win is that it has been 14 years since the last time the boys won it.”
Top performances include those by junior Andrew Stich, who took first place in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 15.57 and first place in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 41.14. Senior David Otte took first place in the shot put, with a throw of 46-04.25. Junior Tristan Nelson won the discus with a throw of 134-10, while Otte took third with a 124-06.
“We had a double winner with Andrew Stich, who won both the 110-meter and 300-meter hurdles with an outstanding performance,” said Sowards.
Senior Justin Peterson took second place in both the high jump and the triple jump, with a 6-00 and 40-11.5 respectively.
Freshman Josh Dickey took third place in the 100-meter race and sixth place in the 200-meter race with times of 11.31 and 23.81 respectively. Sophomore Douglas Davis took third place in the 3,200-meter with a time of 9:48.84 and fourth place in the 1,600-meter finals with a time of 4:29.22.
The boys 4×100-meter relay team of Cuz Griffin, Brett Bustad, Tyler Courtney and Dickey took third place with a time of 44.76. The boys 4×400-meter relay team of Ryan Whitehead, Sean Dawson, Preston Davis and Andrew Stich took fourth place with a time of 3:47.83.
The Lady Cougars were also successful, with Skylar Cannon taking first place in the javelin with a throw of 121-00, and Shantel St. Jean finished second with a throw of 104-03. Britney Albro took second place in the girls 800-meter race with a time of 2:25.56. Taylor Studzinski took second place in the girls pole vault with a 9-06.00.
“Taylor Studzinski, although she took second place, broke the Lakewood High School record for the pole vault,” said Sowards, who noted that the previous record was set five years ago. Larissa Block took third place in both shot put and discus with throws of 31-11 and 93-03 respectively.
The girls relay teams were successful as well, with all three taking third place. The 4×100 relay team of Aimee White, Hunter Clark, Taylor Storms and Stephanie Smith finished with a time of 53.28. The 4×200 relay team of Chase Gormley, Clark, Storms and Smith finished with a time of 1:52.38. The 4×400 relay team of Smith, Ariel Jensen, Clark and Storms finished with a time of 4:30.36.
More than 40 Cougars will compete at the Bi-District Championships on Wednesday, May 15, at Civic Stadium in Bellingham.
“District 1 is one of the toughest to get out of to qualify for state,” said Sowards. “You have to be in the top three to advance, but I believe that a number of our athletes will be competing at the state meet.”
