BY GAIL WOOD
THE OLYMPIAN
SHELTON -- On a cold, rainy and blustery afternoon, Olympia track and field coach Cris Violette wasn\'t anticipating any record-breaking performances.
But he was hoping for a team victory.
With Sara Klein\'s two firsts, a second and a third, the Olympia girls easily won the Shelton Invitational for the second straight year, finishing with 96 points. Wilson, led by Chanel James\' three firsts, finished a distant second with 42 points.
\"It wasn\'t a great day for great times, but the kids competed great,\" Violette said.
\"Everyone came through despite the bad weather.\"
Olympia showed its grit and depth by winning a whopping 18 medals, with Jill Lahmann placing third in the 100, Cheri Watson third in the 800, and Anna Blue fourth in the 3,200 to lead the way. The Bears relays dominated, taking second in the 400, third in the distance medley and first in the 1600.
Klein won the high jump (5-2) and triple jump (36-51/2), was second in the long jump (16-31/2) and third in the 100-meter hurdles (15.5).
\"The competition was good, but the marks weren\'t,\" said Klein, a senior and among the top jumpers in the state. \"I\'ve never run into such a strong headwind.\"
Olympia\'s Dan Phillips sought two things Saturday -- a win and shelter.
Wanting to tuck in behind other runners for a wind shield while running the 3,200 meters, Phillips waited for someone to catch him after sprinting to the lead at the race\'s start. But no one did.
Phillips then outkicked the field at the finish and survived gusty winds to win in 4:30, six seconds off his personal best. Phillips charged to the front, opening a lead he never gave up. He hadn\'t planned on leading from start to finish.
\"I wanted to take it out the first 200 to get a quick pace,\" Phillips said. \"But I hoped a couple of guys would pass me so I could get in behind them. The wind was really bad.\"
Olympia placed three in the top five in the mile. Jacob Goodin placed third in 4:37 and Colin O\'Leary was fifth in 4:38.
Olympia\'s boys finished tied for fourth place in the 39-team meet with Shelton with 35 points. Columbia River won with 50 points.
Black Hills\' Heidi Dorling didn\'t get the new pole she\'s been eagerly awaiting, but she still cleared 11 feet for the third straight meet to place second. A week ago, she cleared 11 feet for the first time and made 11-9 on Thursday, setting a school record. Her previous best was 10 feet.
\"Everything is starting to click,\" Dorling said. \"The first half of the season we weren\'t getting much chance to practice because of all the rain. Now, we\'re getting to jump.\"
Dorling, a senior, began pole vaulting as a freshman after giving up gymnastics. She opened at 9 feet Saturday.
\"I just wanted to make sure I cleared a height,\" Dorling said.
She missed on her first attempts at 10 and 11 feet.
\"I can\'t wait to get my new pole,\" Dorling said. \"It was supposed to be here yesterday. I want it so bad.\"
Interlake\'s Laura Schvaneveldt won at 12-1. With her new pole coming, Dorling is beginning to think about 12 feet.
\"Maybe at the Shaner Invite,\" she said.
In the boys 3,200, Capital\'s Graydon Manning, not satisfied with the pace, pushed into the lead at the halfway point and won in 9:36, a personal best. It was significant win for Manning, a junior who missed last season with two stress fractures in his hips caused by a growth spurt.
\"The first mile was slow,\" Manning said. \"I just wanted to pick it up.\"
Manning took the lead from Battle Ground\'s Derek Simmons with 700 meters left, briefly lost it on the final backstretch and then pulled away. Simmons finished in 9:38.
\"I could hear him breathing,\" Manning said. \"I just picked up as hard as I could.\"
Shelton\'s Jacob Hanes won the discus with a throw of 160-9 and placed second in the shot put with a 49-2, a personal best by eight inches. He switched from the glide approach in the shot put to the spin for the first time and PRed.
\"I just learned the spin four days ago,\" said Hanes, a sophomore. \"I like it. I PRed. But the spin is weird. It\'s more technique and less brute strength.\"
Battle Ground\'s Bob McCabe won the shot put with a 49-41/2. It\'s the first time in the history of the 46-year-old meet no one went over 50 feet.
Black Hills sophomore Tasha Shipman broke a minute in the 400 meters for the first time, winning with a school record 59.49. She held off Steilacoom\'s Alex Davison, who finished second in 59.63.
Tumwater Christina Alexander was seeded fifth in the high jump with a 5-2 but scratched because of slippery conditions.
\"We didn\'t want to risk her getting hurt,\" Tumwater coach Rich Brown said.
Tumwater\'s Aundreaha Martinez scratched from the 200 and 400 meters because of shin splints. She\'s run the 400 in 60.0.
\"We\'re trying to get her healthy,\" Brown said.
Shoreline Invitational
Jordan Swarthout of Capital and Kevin Zelenak of Black Hills competed Saturday in the Shoreline Invitational.
Swarthout finished third in the 1,600 with time of 4 minutes 19.08 seconds, while Zelenak was fourth in the 3,200 with time of 9:28.29.