Blaine track and field teams hit the ground running at the first post-season tournament, the 2A Northwest Conference sub-districts, May 8-10 at Civic Stadium. Seventeen Blaine athletes finished in the top eight in their events, qualifying for the district championship meet at Lakewood High School on May 13-15.
Three Blaine athletes landed on the podium. Ben Caro won the wheelchair 100 meters, wheelchair javelin and wheelchair shot put; Elee Faulkner won the 300-meter hurdles by a wide margin and placed second in the 100-meter hurdles; and Caleb Kielpinski came up four inches short of first place in javelin with a 160-foot, 4-inch throw for second place.
Faulkner’s winning 300-meter hurdle time of 47.49 seconds was more than two seconds faster than the second place runner.
“[Audrey Knutson] from Burlington was with her through the fourth gate, and then she just shut her down,” said Gabe Bolton, Blaine head coach.
Kielpinski’s second place javelin throw came after an on-and-off regular season. He’s suffered some injuries but his last two competition throws were more than 160 feet.
“It’s exciting that he’s been able to repeat that,” Bolton said. “Hopefully he can step up and get a little farther at districts.”
Faulkner and the 4x100-meter relay team of Milanna Fredericks, Ashley Dickerson and Maya Ball placed fifth in 53.40 seconds. The girls 4x200-meter relay team (Ball, Fredericks, Emily Hayes and Gabrielle Johner) came in fourth in 1 minute, 53 seconds, but could have hit the top three if it wasn’t for a bobbled hand-off.
Kielpinski, Mason Vega, Malachi Crump and Scott Baldwin placed eighth in the 4x400-meter relay in three minutes, 45.83 seconds. Crump also qualified for 400 meters with a 54.26-second, sixth place finish and Baldwin tied for fourth in high jump with a personal best 5 feet, 8 inches.
Other Blaine athletes to qualify for the district tournament are: the boys 4x100-relay team of Baldwin, Joseph Haworth, Alex Ochoa and Larry Criss, seventh place in 47.27 seconds; Ball placed seventh in 100 meters with a personal best 13.41 seconds; Mya Jackson, eighth in discus at 96 feet; Brynn Hallberg, seventh in javelin at 104 feet, 5 inches; Cassidy Condos tied for seventh in pole vault at 8 feet.
The district championship starts at 4 p.m. on May 15 at Lakewood High School and continues at 4 p.m. on May 17. The district championship is the qualifying event for the state meet, May 23-24 at Mount Tahoma High School.
Full results of the sub-district meet are online at athletic.net.
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