Quinn, Victor win titles
Inglemoor High senior Austin Victor knew who he was going to be up against in the 300-meter hurdles event at the 4A State Track Meet in Pasco last Saturday.
He had raced Garfield senior Stephone Jordan many times throughout his high-school track career, and always seemed to be on the short end of the rivalry. But in what would be Victor’s final individual race in a Viking uniform, he made sure that history didn’t repeat itself.
Precisely 38.29 seconds after the starting gun, Victor and Jordan both crossed the finish line with identical times. The athletes, however, seemed to already know the result, with Victor raising his arms in triumph and Jordan hanging his head in defeat well before the winner was officially announced. According to the meet’s official video timing system, Victor won by about 1/16th of an inch and was awarded the gold medal.
“The big thing was trying to keep a clean beginning,” said Inglemoor track head coach D.J. Baddeley of Victor’s strategy during the race. “Down the home stretch, he was really good. He’s worked really hard to get to that position … being the last race of his high-school career, it was a great way to go out.”
Inglemoor’s boys placed fourth overall in team points, the Vikings’ best finish by far since 2004, when they won it all.
“We had quite a few kids that performed well,” said the 12-year coach. “To be able to put them on the podium was a huge deal.”
This year, the Vikings produced another state champion, senior Ian Quinn, who pole-vaulted his way to a school record of 15 feet, 3 inches. Quinn, who will be attending West Point in the fall, broke his own personal pole-vaulting record by an astounding 15 inches en route to earning the gold medal.
Senior Lindsay Finch also broke a school record by placing seventh in the 400-meter dash with a time of 57.30 seconds. Sophomore Tess Parent placed fifth in the triple jump with a leap of 36-10.25.
On the boys’ side, the all-senior 4 x 400-meter relay squad of Paul Ena, Mickey Mukai, Andy Palmer and Victor as the team’s anchor combined for a time of 3:22.92, the Vikings’ best time of the season and fourth-best at state.
“We had 20 kids that went to state (including) five or six sophomores,” Baddeley noted. That was an invaluable experience for them … and the senior classmen were leaders and good role models for those kids.”
While the girls’ team is fairly young, Inglemoor will be graduating a slew of seniors on the boys’ side, including every male athlete that placed or medaled at the state meet this year. Ask coach Baddeley, however, if he thinks next year will be one to rebuild the resurgent Viking track-and-field program, and he’ll be the first to dismiss the thought.
“We should be good again (next year), we have quite a few kids coming in, and quite a few returners that were close to qualifying for state,” Baddeley said. “The big thing is to get people in the program — if you have a large enough turnout, there will always be athletes that shape out by the end of the season. We’re excited about the future.”
Bothell
Bothell senior Steven Wilhelmy had the Cougars’ high place of sixth at state in the javelin throw with a distance of 182 feet, 2 inches. Also placing were junior Jackson Pierce in the discus (seventh place, 150-7), junior Trey Parry in the 1,600-meter run (eighth place, 4:19.29) and senior Tim Clendaniel in the triple jump (ninth, 42-8.25).
