Thanks to West Seattle High School track and field head coach Will Harrison for the report:

Congratulations to the West Seattle High School contingent for their accomplishments at the WIAA 3A Track and Field State Championships at Mt Tahoma High School last Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

(Cunliffe’s state-record vault, video by Tim Reilly)
On Friday, the West Seattle girls had a special day. Junior Chloe Cunliffe had 3 very special pole vault clearances: She won the meet by being the only athlete to clear 13 feet even, then set the meet record by clearing 13 feet, 4 inches- but she wasn’t done there. She went on to clear 13 feet, 8.5 inches to set the all-time Washington record. Shortly afterward, she competed in the long jump and wound up 2nd by half an inch, with a leap of 17 feet, 9.25 inches. Hannah Hicks of Edmonds-Woodway won the event at 17 feet, 9.75 inches.

(Davis took 2nd)

Senior Symmone Davis continued to her rapid improvement streak in the 100m hurdles. She came into the meet seeded 10th and wound up 2nd with a time of 14.88 seconds. Ingraham’s Phoebe Salowey won the event with a time of 14.79 seconds. For Davis, this capped off a breakthrough season which also saw her set a school record in the 300m hurdles at the district meet.

In all, Cunliffe scored 18 points, and Davis an additional 8. Those 26 points in fact put West Seattle in first place in the team scoring going into the third and final day of the meet, and was ultimately good enough for a 7th-place finish – the top finish of any Metro League school.

(Elliott atop the podium)

On the boys’ side, Senior Cass Elliott defended his 300m hurdle title with a time of 37.68 seconds. His prelim time of 37.13 seconds was just 0.02 seconds off his own meet record from last year and the fastest time in any classification this year. It was an impressive bounce-back from a serious ankle injury he suffered in November while playing basketball, which forced him to take several months off and even miss the early weeks of the spring season. Elliott will continue his career at the University of Washington next year.

(Kirk-Woodbury finished 3rd)

Senior Joe Kirk-Woodbury had a storybook ending to his high-school discus career. He came into the meet ranked 11th in that event (all competitors get three throws at state, and then the top 9 get three additional throws). He had been motivated all year by Jay Morgan‘s school record of 150 feet, 6 inches from 2003. He was already having a great day by making finals with the 5th best mark overall, with 5 throws in the 140’s. On his sixth throw of the meet and final throw of his high school career, he launched a throw of 152 feet, 1 inch to notch the record, as well as a 3rd place finish. Kirk-Woodbury will continue his track career at Olympic College next year.

(The 4 x 400 team of Delaney, Maroon, Elliott, and Farrison)

Junior Rylee Farrison ran a time of 50.92 seconds in the prelims of the 400m dash to finish 9th overall in that event, just one place shy of making the final. Elliott, Farrison, Jackson Delaney, and Alec Maroon ran to a 6th-place finish in the 4 x 400m relay with a time of 3 minutes, 26.42 seconds to finish the meet.

All together, the boys’ team compiled 19 points to finish 12th in the team scoring – second among Metro Schools (Chief Sealth was 10th). Gig Harbor won both the boys’ and girls’ team titles. Full results can be found here.