Seahawks girls place 30th at state

Peninsula boys’ Darrian Creamer takes second in discus event

Marques Hunter

of the Gateway

TACOMA – The Peninsula girls team finished 30th with seven points at the Class 3A state track and field meet at Mount Tahoma Stadium last weekend

Although they competed in nine events, they qualified four athletes to the finals.

Peninsula senior Deven Wilson had the best finish at the state meet. She placed sixth in the 200-meters with a time of 26.10 seconds.

She had a slow start in the 100 — which she believes is her best event — and missed the finals cut with a finish of 12.66. It was more than four tenths of a second behind her personal best (12.21), set at the West Central District meet last year.

Still, Wilson helped anchor the 400 relay team, which included senior Hannah Gilman, junior Kayla Erickson and freshman Nicole Holcomb, to a seventh place finish in 50.27.

In the field events, Erickson earned a lifetime best in the triple jump with leaps totaling 35 feet, 5 and 1/4 inches.

Erickson was an underdog coming into the event, but finished strong by landing seventh and taking the finals podium.

“I wasn’t ranked very high and not expected to make finals,” Erickson said.

Peninsula freshman Addi Johnson qualified to the state meet and placed 11th (11:42.71). She said the experience of competing will help her in the future.

“The girls were really good,” Johnson said. “If I would’ve stayed with the faster pack I would’ve pr’d but I have three more years to do better.”

Peninsula boys take 26th at state meet

Peninsula junior Darrian Creamer didn’t think his throw of 153 feet, 6 inches in the discus event would land him second place at the Class 3A state track and field championships.

“A lot of people out here weren’t doing so good,” Creamer said. “It (153-6) got me second so I’m pretty happy. I knew I had top three coming in.”

Creamer said he knows he could’ve done better. His lifetime best toss was (168-5) set on April 30 during a league meet.

“It’s been fun, though,” he said. “Hopefully I’ll come back next year in first.”

Renton High School senior Armin Basic dominated the 3A competition. He won the event with a heave of 175-5, which was more than 20 farther than Creamer’s second-place performance.

As a team, the Peninsula boys finished 26th with eight points. The Seahawks were unable to place top eight in any other events.

North Central High School won the 3A competition with 52 points. Renton finished second with 38 and Foster a close third (37.5).

Peninsula junior Chris Borg landed a personal best time at the state meet with a finish of 9 minutes, 33.30 seconds and an 11th place finish in the 3,200. It was nearly five seconds faster than his previous lifetime best set at the Bellevue Invitational on April 25.

“I did my best and raced exactly how I wanted to,” Borg said.

He added that after having experienced the state competition, he’ll have a better understanding of what to expect next year.

“I think it taught me a lot of things like being an elite runner,” Borg said.

North Central senior Andrew Kimpel established the pace from the start and won the distance event in 9:08.39.

Peninsula juniors Keegan Hall (800-meter) and JR Grosshans (javelin) advanced to the state competition but fell short of qualifying to the finals.

Nevertheless, Hall ran a personal best time of 1:58.10 and placed 13th. Grosshans finished 14th with a toss of 168-09. His season best came on April 25 at the Bellevue Invitational (173-8).

The 1,600 boys relay team (Alex Benzegala, Borg, Hall and Grosshans) were about a half of a second from qualifying to the finals race. They finished ninth in 3:28.98.

Peninsula state performances

Peninsula girls

Senior Deven Wilson — 200 (sixth, 26.10); 100 (ninth, 12.66)

Freshman Addi Johnson — 3,200 (11th, 11:42.71)

Senior Kelsie Williams — 300m hurdles (11th, 47.20)

400 relay — Junior Kayla Erickson, senior Hannah Gilman, freshman Nicole Holcomb, Wilson (seventh, 50.14)

800 relay — Erickson, Gilman, Wilson and sophomore Hannah Lekson (14th, 1:48.42)

Senior Carly Crane — Javelin (10th, 110-0)

Junior Rachel Cox — High jump (11th, 5-0)

Senior Kayla Erickson — Triple jump (seventh, 350-5 1/4).

Peninsula boys

Junior Keegan Hall —800 (13th, 1:58.10)

Junior Chris Borg — 3,200 (11th, 9:33.30)

1,600 relay — Junior Alex Benzegala, Borg, Hall and junior JR Grosshans (ninth, 3:28.98)

Junior Darrian Creamer — Discus (second, 153-6); Long jump (11th, 20-6 3/4)

Grosshans — Javelin (14th, 168-9)