PASCO — Victory was within reach for Mietra Smollack. She refused to let it slip away.
Smollack held off a late challenge from a persistent pursuer and won the Class 4A girls 1,600-meter run Saturday during the 3A/4A state track and field championships at Edgar Brown Stadium.
Smollack, a senior from Oak Harbor High School, withstood a push from Mead freshman Baylee Mires and won in a personal-record time of 4 minutes, 56.44 seconds. Mires crossed second in 4:57.1.
Smollack, ranked fourth in the event entering the meet according to Athletic.net, prevented Mires from making a pass in the final 100 meters.
“I could see her,” said Smollack, who will run for Washington State University, “so I kind of scooted over because I didn’t want her passing me, and I had worked so hard. I just wanted to get there.”
Later, Smollack placed second in the 800. Her 1,600 triumph was a surprise, at least to Smollack.
“My coach (Eric Peterson, who works with Oak Harbor distance runners) kept on telling me he knew I could do it,” Smollack said, “but I didn’t really think that.”
The reason: Even though Smollack has had success in track, she didn’t start running the 1,600 until last season. Many girls she competed against have been doing the event for at least two more years.
“Those girls have been running for a long time,” Smollack said, “and I just came into this a few years ago.”
She’s been a quick study.
Bellarmine Prep’s Nicole Cochran, the favorite in the 1,600, finished fourth.
In the 4A triple jump, second-seeded Jessica Yates of Snohomish was not able to overcome the No. 1 seed, Curtis junior Andrea Geubelle.
Geubelle, who won the long jump Friday, prevailed in the triple jump with a top mark of 39 feet, 10.75 inches. It was too much for Yates, a senior whose best jump was 38-8.75.
“She’s a really good jumper,” Yates said of Geubelle. “I give (credit) to her for getting me.”
Marysville-Pilchuck had a productive weekend. After winning team titles at its league and district meets, M-P finished fifth in the 4A team standings. The Tomahawks scored 38.5 points and were just 1.5 points behind Richland and Garfield, which tied for third.
Top performers for M-P were sophomore Alisha Oden (second in the 400) and Haley Nemra (sixth in the 1,600 and fifth in the 800). Both girls ran on the Tomahawks’ 1,600 relay, which placed third in the meet’s final event.
In the 400 dash, Oden smashed her previous-best time by more than 2.5 seconds in Friday’s preliminary heat. She ran another fast time (56.67) Saturday — not bad considering she didn’t start running the open 400 until this month.
Another highlight for M-P was the pole vault, where all three of its participants placed in the top eight. Senior Robin Mueller was sixth, senior Michaela Caldwell was seventh and sophomore Sarah Clark tied for eighth.
Cascade thrower Brittany Jones had her second top-four performance of the meet Saturday. She placed fourth in the discus one day after taking third in the shot put.
Writer Mike Cane: mcane@heraldnet.com. Check out the prep sports blog Double Team at www.heraldnet.com/doubleteam.
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