TACOMA — There’s rising to the occasion, and then there’s what Lake Stevens girls track & field accomplished at the 4A State Championships at Mount Tahoma High School on Saturday.
Thanks in large part to senior Dara Olotu outperforming her seeds in the shot put and discus by a combined 11 places, and the 1,600 relay team breaking its own school record set a week ago, the Vikings (56 points) surged to a second-place finish behind Mount Si (60) and ahead of Sumner (52). It matched the highest finish at the state championships in program history, joining the 2019 runner-ups.
“There’s nothing like throwing next to your biggest competition in every single meet,” said Olotu, who along with senior Keira Isabelle Tupua combined for 33 of Lake Stevens’ points. “While it was really frustrating at times, it’s ultimately the thing that pushed me the most in both my events.”
Olotu won the discus (137-3), and Tupua won the shot put (41-6.5) on Friday. The 1,600 relay team of freshman Nadia Ngute, sophomore Ginelle Sarpong, junior Kaysa Banks and senior Brianna Tilghman placed second (3:56.70), which played a key role in staying ahead of Sumner in the team scoring to wrap up the meet. Junior Kaetyn Riley finished third in the 100 Hurdles (15.13) on Friday, and sophomore Delaney Lundquist placed eighth in the javelin (117-10) on Thursday.
And it all happened with two new coaches at the helm.
Following the retirement of local coaching legend Jeff Page at the end of last season after 47 years at Lake Stevens — 32 as head coach — Vikings pole vault coach Tammy Bowers elevated to lead the girls’ side while fellow assistant Nick Page, Jeff’s son, took over the boys. After decades with Jeff Page in charge of both teams, the split into two separate roles was an adjustment.
There’s still some crossover. For example, Nick coaches the relay teams for both boys and girls, but the difference in styles between the two required some navigating. Bowers labeled herself as more of a “Type-A” coach, while she referred to Nick as the “fun parent.” It led to disagreements throughout the season — even after the state meet, when Bowers wanted to stop to for a team dinner on the way back while Nick wanted to keep going — but the two ultimately learned how to lead as one.
“I want things exactly perfect, on time,” Bowers said. “And (Nick’s) like, ‘We need to loosen up a little bit, too,’ and so I think that we kind of balance each other with our kind of different types of personalities. … All of our decisions had to be made together, and so working through that’s been fun.”
Both coaches are looking to carry on the traditions that Jeff Page started, such as rostering one of the largest teams in the state and making sure each athletes receives direct, attentive coaching, but also implementing their own philosophies. The biggest one involved breaking down practices into different event groups with circuits so each discipline could put more focus into their respective techniques.
Clearly, the results speak for themselves.
After setting a new school record at the District 1/2 4A Championships last week with 3:57.95, the Lake Stevens 1,600 relay team managed to one-up themselves again on Saturday. Nick Page praised Ngute’s efforts in the leadoff, which he considers the most important leg of the race, while the other three put together some of their best splits of the season to blaze a new record.
“For the last three times (Ngute)’s run (leadoff), she has been just absolutely lights out,” Page said. “Solid on that, and giving us positions so that we can do really well. She had a great leadoff leg, and then Ginelle Sarpong, who runs second for us, bringing the leg of her life, frankly. I had her at like 58.3, 58.2-something, which was by far her best split of the season.
“She ran us into the top three and just kept us there so when Kaysa Banks got it, who is kind of a 400-meter specialist, all she had to do was just maintain, and then Brianna Tilghman — who anchors all three of our relays, who is the senior — she just brought it home.”
In addition to the 1,600 relay second-place finish, the 400 relay (48.22) and 4×200 (1:41.97) each placed fifth, scoring four points apiece. Senior Shelby Clifton joined Banks, Sarpong and Tilghman in both relays.
In the throws, Olotu and Tupua went 1-2 in the discus, just one day after Tupua won the shot put and Olotu placed fourth. The duo jockeyed atop the leaderboard in the discus, with Olotu going ahead with a 129-3 on her second attempt before Tupua eked past her on the fourth with a 130-7.
Entering her fifth attempt, Olotu felt she had been dropping her foot a little too early on her previous attempts, which was something she had fixed in one of her warmup throws. Channeling the feeling of that warmup and ignoring her previous four attempts, Olotu cleaned up her technique and launched it 137-3 to set a new high atop the field. That’s where she stayed by the time the rest finished.
“The biggest thing, even beyond my technique, was my mental fortitude,” Olotu said. “The last couple years, I’ve been a very anxious person, and this season, I am noticeably much more grounded and more stable, and I think (I) attribute that to my teammates.”
Olotu even said she went into the discus hoping Tupua would place first and she would get second, but the feeling of standing atop the podium alongside a teammate she looks up to was a special feeling. Both finished the week as state champions, playing massive roles in the team success as well.
Even as Olotu, Tupua and the relay anchor-extraordinaire Tilghman are set to depart the program, Bowers and Nick Page are equally excited about the momentum this second-place finish will give the team going forward, as the two look to keep building on what Jeff Page started.
“We are losing some key, amazing athletes, but we also have a strong underclassmen group,” Bowers said. “And ones that are ready to kind of step into those leadership roles. … There’s stuff that when we step onto the track and field next spring, we feel like we’re going to be ready to take on the season again, and so we are excited about that. We have a lot of talent coming back, and so we’re looking forward to being back on the podium next year, hopefully.”
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Archbishop Murphy’s Armfield wins girls 2A high jump
First time is the charm for Keira Armfield.
In her first Girls 2A high jump state championship, the freshman cleared the bar at every height from 4-8 to 5-4 on the first attempt, and while Cedarcrest’s Stella Metcalf and Pullman’s Hana Tanaka ultimately cleared 5-4 on each of their third attempts, it was Armfield’s perfection that made her the sole champion.
“After I cleared the first one at 5-4, I was like, ‘Wow, I’ve never done that before,’” Armfield said. “‘The other girls are doing great too, and I hope I win, but I also hope everyone else does well, too.’”
None of the three finalists could clear 5-6, which meant the results at 5-4 decided the final order. The season capped significant progress for Armfield, who is only in her second year in the sport. She originally came from a gymnastics background, building up a strong base in her legs over five years, and wound up clearing 5-0 as a middle-schooler last year as a first-timer.
This season, she put even more time in with strength & conditioning while also learning to perfect her form, which gradually allowed her to add four inches to her jump. After picking up the state title, she will look to bring that momentum into Nike Nationals later in June.
“I’ve been working really hard,” Armfield said. “… It was kind of crazy, I guess. I think the adrenaline helped.”
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Top 8 area finishers
Complete results can be found HERE
Boys Ambulatory
100—1. Avery Touchette (Lake Stevens) 13.37; 200—2. Touchette (LS) 27.27; 400—1. Ramon Little (Arlington) 1:00.80; 2. Touchette (LS) 1:00.88; shot put—2. Little (A) 25-3; discus—1. Little (A) 82-9; javelin—2. Little (A) 98-9.
Mixed Unified
400 relay—2. Stanwood (Xander Krause, Isabella Jette, Abigail Schram, Levi Stiers) 53.20; 800 medley relay—6. Stanwood (Krause, Schram, Jette, Stiers) 2:01.45.
Girls 2A
High jump—1. Keira Armfield (Archbishop Murphy) 5-4; long jump—5. Priscilla Amevo (Lakewood) 17-8.25; discus—6. Kani Cham (AM) 113-5.
Boys 2A
110 hurdles—8. Ke’ala Malunay (Marysville Pilchuck) 15.76; 300 hurdles—5. Malunay (MP) 39.59; shot put—5. Rhonan Copeland (Lake) 54-5.75.
Girls 3A
100—7. Allison Mervin (Mountlake Terrace) 12.36; 400—6. Ella Weyhrauch (Monroe) 56.56; 800—6. Allah Karl (Edmonds-Woodway) 2:16.28; 8. Georgia Lenz (Stan) 2:17.11; 3,200—4. Addison Phillips (Shorecrest) 11:01.30; 100 hurdles—3. Brynlee Dubiel (MT) 15.07; 300 hurdles—2. Dubiel (MT) 42.37; 7. Mackenzie Aasen (Stan) 44.54; 8. Victoria Nichols (Stan) 45.76; 800 relay—6. Edmonds-Woodway (Jane Miceli, Rayna Halloran, Kayla French, Karl) 1:43.75; 1,600 relay—6. Edmonds-Woodway (Isabella Offerman, Halloran, Brooklyn Maxey, Karl); high jump—t-6. Zoe Grant (Meadowdale) 5-2; long jump—2. Mervin (MT) 18-9.5; 5. Monet Winfield-Sullers (Lynnwood) 17-10.25; 6. Sienna Capelli (Snohomish) 17-8; triple jump—2. Mervin (MT) 39-1.75; discus—2. Ena Dodik (Lynn) 134-10; 3. Malachai Smith (Everett) 134-5; 4. Kaydence Hansen (E-W) 132-6; javelin—6. Smith (E) 120-8; 7. Sierra Swan (MT) 120-5.
Boys 3A
800—2. Ryan Khoury (Stan) 1:53.31; 1,600—2. Max Billett (Shorewood) 4:06.56; 3. Elijah Graves (SW) 4:07.63; 3,200—3. Graves (SW) 9:03.00; 6. Billett (SW) 9:10.11; 110 Hurdles—2. Jaden Marlow (SW) 14.57; 5. Barric Danielson (Stan) 15.10; 300 Hurdles—3. Danielson (Stan) 38.66; 1,600 relay—5. Stanwood (Ian Hruschka, Danielson, Hunter Schlepp, Khoury) 3:21.82; high jump—1. Jack Rotondo (Sno) 6-10; Pole Vault—1. J. Marlow (SW) 15-6; 7. Michael Carpenter (Mon) 14-0; long jump—1. J. Marlow (SW) 23-4.75; 4. Tyler Marlow (SW) 22-4; triple Jump—3. Jakyle Williams (Mea) 44-10.5; shot put—6. Keldin Cole (Sno) 51-3; 8. Silas Turpin (Stan) 49-1.5; discus—4. Garrett Gunnerson (Sno) 162-10; 7. J. Marlow (SW) 146-10; javelin—1. T. Marlow (SW) 185-8.
Girls 4A
400—6. Kennedy Shepard (Mariner) 57.15; 7. Amelia Ford (Jackson) 58.04; 100 Hurdles—3. Kaetyn Riley (LS) 15.13; 300 Hurdles—7. Shepard (Mar) 44.82; 400 relay—5. Lake Stevens (Shelby Clifton, Ginelle Sarpong, Kaysa Banks, Brianna Tilghman) 48.22; 4×200—5. Lake Stevens (Clifton, Sarpong, Banks, Tilghman) 1:41.97; 1,600 relay—2. Lake Stevens (Nadia Ngute, Sarpong, Banks, Tilghman) 3:56.70; triple jump—8. Aubrey Hale (J) 34-5.75; shot put—1. Keira Isabelle Tupua (LS) 41-6.5; 4. Dara Olotu (LS) 38-9.25; discus—1. Olotu (LS) 137-3; 2. Tupua (LS) 130-7; javelin—6. Isa Palmer (Cascade) 119-4; 8. Delaney Lundquist (LS) 117-10.
Boys 4A
100—4. Alieukama Badjie (Glacier Peak) 10.82; 5. Adrian Bedolla (GP) 10.95; 400—2. Maxten Cook (LS) 48.73; 110 Hurdles—1. Miller Warme (Kamiak) 14.34; 300 Hurdles—6. Kevin Bonshe (GP) 39.45; 400 relay—1. Glacier Peak (Isaiah Owens, Bedolla, Michael Darling, Badjie) 41.04; 1,600 relay—5. Lake Stevens (Trevin Walker, Karter Bringedahl, Emmanuel Holmes, Cook) 3:23.00; 8. Kamiak (Jayce Barrington, Cristiano Linares, Ian Thorson, Peter Kwon) 3:34.80; high jump—3. Travant Schulz (J) 6-5; 4. Royce Rabb (LS) 6-5; triple jump—4. Stephan Bonshe (GP) 44-1; 5. Schulz (J) 43-10; shot put—4. Luke Jennings (GP) 56-9; discus—7. Jennings (GP) 153-5
Top 4 Team Scores
Inclusive—1. Kentwood, 41; 2. Deer Park, 27; 3. Mount Spokane, 26; 4. Lake Stevens, 23; 2A girls—1. Sehome, 101; 2. Cedarcrest, 61; 3. Nathan Hale, 57.5; 4. West Valley (Spokane), 48; 2A boys—1. Anacortes, 81; 2. Lynden, 61; 3. Tumwater, 50; 4. Aberdeen, 37; 3A girls—1. Mercer Island, 101; 2. Gig Harbor, 50; 3. Silas, 39; 4. Mountlake Terrace, 34; 3A boys—1. Shorewood, 68; 2. Liberty (Issaquah) 49; 3. Lincoln (Tacoma) 44; 4. Hermiston (36); 4A girls—1. Mount Si, 60; 2. Lake Stevens, 56; 3. Sumner, 52; 4. Skyline, 48; 4A boys—1. Mead, 55; 2. Olympia, 53; 3. Sumner, 49; 4. Lake Washington, 40.
