Prep Girls Track & Field

Senior Anna Schmid led the way for TLG with victories in the 100- and 200-meter dashes, and the 300 low hurdles.

Senior Neola Putnam was a double-winner in her final state meet, repeating as champion of the 800 and 1600 runs.

Winning their first state championships were senior Emily Paxson, in the 3200; sophomore Liz Vogt, in the 400; and junior Mckenzie Zoller, in the pole vault.

TLG punctuated its victory with a first-place finish and meet-record performance in the 4x400 relay. The foursome of Putnam, Schmid, Paxson and Vogt recorded an impressive 15.5-second victory, completing four laps around the Woodward Field track in 4 minutes, 12.01 seconds.

All told, the TLG girls won eight of 11 running events.

“The last few years we’ve been really strong in the distance running events with Neola and Emily,” noted TLG co-head coach Morgan Colburn, “but this year, Anna and Liz really came on in the sprinting events, and that really made a difference for us.”

The surprise of the meet, however, came on Saturday when Zoller, a first-year team member, defeated league rival Star Kibby of Bickleton in the pole vault.

“We had no idea she’d be able to do that,” Colburn said of Zoller’s victory and PR vault of 9 feet, “but, like all of our girls, Mckenzie really came through when it counted.”

Klickitat’s girls—paced by sophomore Samantha Brewer’s victories in the triple jump, long jump and 100 high hurdles—earned the school’s first team trophy at last weekend’s 1B championships in Cheney.

The Vandals collected a school-record 67 points in seven events to finish third in final team standings, 10 back of second-place North Sound Christian and 58 behind state champion TLG.

Brewer, senior Kali Fargher and freshman Charice McConville staked Klickitat to the lead after the first day of competition as they combined to score 30 points in four field events.

Brewer won the triple jump—by one-quarter of an inch—for her first state title after earlier finishing third in the high jump. Fargher, taking part in her first state meet, placed fifth in the event with a PR of 30-4.75.

McConville tallied 10 points with a victory in the discus. She threw 100 feet even to edge Greater Columbia B League and Yakima Valley District champion Katelynn Clinton of Bickleton.

On Saturday, Brewer picked up first-place medals in the 100 hurdles and the long jump, while junior Zoe Linder placed third in both the shot put and the javelin, and Fargher took fourth in the javelin.