JOYCE — The wet weather did little to dampen the performances of the North Olympic Peninsula’s top state contenders at the Crescent Invitational track and field meet Saturday.
Nor did it slow down Class 1B state favorites Mount Rainier Lutheran, which saw both its boys and girls run away from the pack for a pair of titles at the 13-team meet.
The Hawks squeaked past 3A Port Angeles in the girls meet, putting up 92 points to the Roughriders’ 87.
Mount Rainier’s boys had a much easier time of it, beating out the next best boys team, the surprising Forks Spartans, 128.5-79.
Spartans coach Pam Gale, who brought just 13 boys to the meet, was just fine with that result.
“I can’t remember the last time we placed that high [at Crescent],” Gale said. “We just had all kinds of good things today.”
Leading the way on that front was freshman Shane WhiteEagle, who claimed both the 100- and 200-meter dashes.
The Spartan sprinter was one of three multi-event winners from the Peninsula at the meet.
That also included Port Angeles senior Cece Stevenson (girls 100 and 300 hurdles) and Chimacum junior Derek Toepper (boys long jump and triple jump).
The former came into Saturday’s event as one of the top jumpers in 1A, sporting top five state marks in both the long jump and triple jump.
He didn’t disappoint at Crescent either, topping the 40-foot mark in the triple (40 feet, 8 ½ inches) and 20-foot plateau in the long jump (20-8).
“He’s doing really good,” Chimacum coach Tony Haddenham said. “He’s getting more power in his legs, and he can get in the air and kind of float more.
“He knows what to do now. Whereas last year as a first-time jumper he was scratching quite a bit, this year I can’t recall him scratching even once.”
Four other Peninsula athletes came away with individual titles at the meet.
Among them were 1B leaders Kylie Mitts (girls javelin) and Dylan Christie (boys 400) of Crescent.
The top javelin thrower in her class, according to athletic.net, Mitts lapped the field with her throw of 123-8 on her way to the title.
It was one of three top-three finishes for the senior, who was also second in the shot put and third in the discus.
“Kylie did [in the javelin] what she’s done lots of times before,” Loggers coach Darrell Yount said. “She just kind of solidified her ranking [atop 1B].
“Nobody is within 20 feet of her. She just has to not come undone [and she’ll win state].”
Christie took the 400 by more than half a second, topping his personal best by nearly two seconds with a time of 52.73 seconds.
Like Mitts, Christie is ranked as the top 400 runner in Class 1B.
Andrew Trerise was another Logger winner, taking the high jump with a leap of 5-6. He was part of a Logger boys team that had 15 top eight finishes.
“We’re really hoping this is a team of boys who might trophy [at state],” said Yount, whose boys and girls each finished fifth in the team standings.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the meet was the performance of Forks’ Sebastian Ramos.
Spurred on by getting beat by WhiteEagle in the sprints, Ramos claimed the javelin with a throw of 155-7.
That’s 22 feet better than Ramos’ previous personal best, and, according to Gale, just a few feet short of the school record.
Ramos was also part of the Spartans’ second-place 4-by-400 relay team, which included WhiteEagle, Brian Santman and Charles Rice.
“I’m so proud of those boys today,” said Gale, whose Spartan boys scored points in 11 events. “I’ve got a small team.
“You think that they aren’t these standout kids and then all of the sudden, they stand out.”
The Port Angeles girls led the Peninsula with 18 top eight finishes on Saturday.
Crescent’s boys weren’t too far behind at 15, while Clallam Bay and Crescent girls each had 10 as the only other area teams in double figures.