Zimmerman caps career with eighth place at state meet

Senior Ella Zimmerman qualified for Saturday’s 300 hurdle finals, where she placed eighth in 48.30 seconds — leaving her No. 2 all-time on the school’s best for that event. Zimmerman raced to a then personal-best time of 48.43 in the preliminary round. She was ninth in the 100 hurdle prelims in 17.18 seconds, while teammate Hailey Tolbert was 11th in 17.67.

Zimmerman’s high school track and field individual career included two district championships, five district placings, and four state meet qualifications.  She also was a member of two district championship 4x400 relay teams at CHS, including the 2022 team which finished third in the state meet in 4:16.58 — the No. 2 time in school history. She finished as the No. 2 all-time 300 hurdler at CHS and No. 3 100 hurdler (17.03).

Zimmerman was part of a historical race in the 300-hurdle final, as Bear Creek’s Braelyn Baker set an all-time, all-classification state meet mark of 41.02 seconds.

Jessica Polkinghorn placed fifth in the shot put at 37 feet, 2 inches. She was 11th in the discus at 102-5. Polkinghorn threw the shot put 36-10.25 two weeks ago to win the District 4 championship in that event. She was second at district in the discus (107-6) and sixth in the javelin (103-3). The junior is No. 2 all-time at CHS in the shot put (39-5.75 best), discus (107-8.5), and javelin (123-9).

The Bruins’ 4x100 relay qualified for the final after running 51.46 in the preliminary round. In Saturday’s final, the team of Bella Hamilton, Saylor Hauge, Sara Miller, and Piper Hicks ran 51.01 to place fourth. Columbia’s 4x200 relay of Hamilton, Sequoia Cohen, Miller and Hauge placed 11th in the preliminaries in 1:50.5. Hauge, a sophomore, ran 27.13 in the 200-meter prelims, placing 10th.

The CHS girls’ 4x100 relay won the district title and the 4x200 relay finished second. The latter team ran a season best of 1:49.74 at the May 18 district meet in Vancouver.

The Columbia boys team was led at state by Camden Uffelman and Calvin Andrews, who competed in the 300 hurdle preliminaries. Uffelman ran 10th in the prelims in 42.73 seconds; Andrews was 13th in 43.25. The top eight finishers qualify for the finals. The meet completed the high school track and field careers of the Bruin seniors, who combined for 10 individual district meet placings and appearances at state their junior and senior years.

Seattle Academy won the 1A boys meet; King’s won the 1A girls meet.

Of note was the third-place finish of the Goldendale’s two-athlete boys team in the 2B meet. Junior Raymond Holycross finished first in the triple jump at 43-2.5; he was fourth in the 110 hurdles (15.87) and 300 hurdles (40.34); and was fifth in the long jump at 19-11. Holycross scored 24 points, while the Timberwolves’ Stephen Pittman, a senior, scored 20. He was third in the pole vault at 13-6 for six team points; he was third in the long jump at 20-2.5; third in the 110 hurdles (15.82); and placed seventh in the triple jump (40-11).