West Central District Championships - Day Two

Day Two of the West Central District Championships provided plenty of highlights for the Jags at Sunset Chev Stadium in downtown Sumner. With a chance to qualify for the State Championships, the young Jaguar squad brought their A-game and competed valiantly at every opportunity.

The first qualifier of the day came in the men’s shot put, where junior Jonah Mains captured his first West Central District Championship of his career. The two-time SPSL Champion took a few throws to round into form but captured the lead for good on his sixth and final attempt of the day. Jonah will return to the State Championships for the second consecutive year with his eye on a podium finish for the men’s team.

On the track, Roz Slichko was our first qualifier on the women’s side, punching her second ticket of the weekend after qualifying in the 1600 on Thursday. The SPSL Champion in the 3200 meters, Roz was forced into leading duties for much of the 8-lap affair and ultimately finished in fifth place, high enough to qualify her for state for the second consecutive year in the women’s 3200 meters. Slichko’s teammate, Emily Wells, battled through sickness over the weekend to finish in 10th place, just three second shy of her personal best at that distance.

The biggest surprise for the Jaguars came in the women’s 300 hurdles, where rookie hurdler Carley Huber overcame her 13th place ranking in the event to secure the seventh and final spot on to state. Huber ran a lifetime best of 47.00 seconds to finish third in her heat and had to sit and watch as the following heat finished; when the times were finally revealed, Huber was the happiest athlete in the facility as it sank in that she had qualified for state as an individual.

Huber was not done for the day, as she returned to the track a couple of hours later in the women’s 4x400 meter relay. After finishing in fifth place at the SPSL Championships, the Jaguars knew it would be a tall order to finish in the top seven after adding thirteen other schools to the mix. The team of freshman Taylor Stilli, sophomore Carley Huber, junior Sophia Brown, and senior Sydney Colbern responded to the challenge and ran a season best by over four seconds to qualify for the State Championships this weekend at Mt. Tahoma High School. Always fun to qualify as a team, this grateful group relied on each leg to execute at their best to give them a shot, and each showed up ready to roll.

Freshman Asher Ogden had already earned a spot on to state in the men’s 110 hurdles and gave his best effort to qualify in the 300 hurdles; running a lifetime best and #15 all-time freshman mark in the state, Ogden’s time of 40.58 was good enough for twelfth place. Ogden finishes his season in that event as the #1 freshman in the state.

The contingent of Jonah Mains, Asher Ogden, Roz Slichko, Carley Huber, Sydney Colbern, Sophia Brown, Emily Wells, and Taylor Stilli will represent the Jaguars this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at Mt. Tahoma High School in the WIAA State Track & Field Championships.