State Results as reported in the Redmond Reporter:
http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/east_king/red/sports/122898094.html
By SEAN BEIGHTON
Redmond Reporter Contributor
May 31 2011, 3:35 PM · UPDATED
Redmond High junior Katie Lord got some redemption at last weekend's Class 4A state track and field meet at Mount Tahoma High School in Tacoma.
Lord capped her fine season with a silver-medal performance in the high jump with a mark of 5 feet, 5 inches. The Redmond girls' team also got podium finishes by two of its relay teams as the Mustangs finished 15th in the team standings.
Lord tied her season-best mark during last Saturday finals and improved upon her 10th-place finish at state last spring, when she cleared 5-0.
“I’m really happy with how I did (this season) because it is so much better than I did my sophomore year,” said Lord. “My sophomore year I choked ... I did really horribly, but now I’m happy.”
Lord, along with Richland's Elizabeth Quick and Olympia's Tayler Fettig, all cleared 5-5, but Lord won the silver medal because she cleared the mark on her first attempt. She failed to clear 5-6 on all three of her attempts as Wenatchee's Audrey Katcham was able to clear 5-6 and win the gold medal.
“I’m not surprised that she ended up second because I knew she had the potential,” said Redmond head coach Denis Villeneuve.
The Redmond girls' team sent all three relays to state and two of them came away with medals. Redmond’s 1,600 relay team comprised of sophomore Mandy Rusch, seniors Amy Pumputis and Darcy Hardwick and junior Katherine Smiley started the meet in blazing fashion, shattering the school record by four seconds with a time of 3 minutes, 56.90 seconds in the preliminaries last Thursday. The girls then ran a 3:59.01 in the finals to place third.
The Mustangs' 400 relay team, made up of junior Bailey Whittaker, Pumputis, Hardwick, earned a sixth-place finish in the finals.
“I’m really proud of all of them for coming to state and really performing well and getting the medals,” Villeneuve said.
Senior Miles Hille (left) was the lone boys athlete from Redmond High at the state meet and he placed 12th in the 1,600 with a time of 4:24.57.
Sean Beighton is a student in the University of Washington Department of Communication News Laboratory.
