By Jack Millikin Herald staff writer
Ellensburg junior Isak Bergman had done everthing in his power to position himself for 3A state titles in the 400 and 800 meters at Star Track XXIV on Saturday at Edgar Brown Stadium.
But he could not control Nectaly Barbosa of Prosser or Attrail Snipes of Rainier Beach, who foiled Bergman\'s dream of winning either event.
Barbosa, a junior, blistered his way to a win in 1 minute, 52.01 seconds in the 800 ahead of Bergman\'s 1:54.67, and Snipes pulled off the rare triple win in the 100, 200 and 400 meters in dominating fashion.
\"I\'ll take it,\" Barbosa said after falling short of his personal best of 1:50.79 but still winning for the second straight year. \"I didn\'t feel tired, but I knew (Bergman) would be tired. He ran a great race in the 400.\"
Bergman could only admire his two rivals, who each considered him their primary competition.
\"I\'m fine. It\'s not about winning for me. That\'s why I chose that double, because I want to build my strength for the Golden West meet (June 11 in Folsom, Calif.),\" Bergman said with a smile. \"They are the best of both worlds, and I was caught in the middle. I have a lot of respect for both of them.
\"I went out a lot better than I thought,\" Bergman said about his 49.01 quarter and respectable half-mile. \"I was a little scared. I didn\'t know if my body could handle it.\"
East Valley of Spokane won the 3A team title with 46 points, holding off Shorecrest with
42 points. West Valley of Yakima was third with 41, Columbia River fourth with 40.5, and Renton rounded out the top five with 40. Prosser tied for 15th with 13 points as sophomore Cade Wandling took sixth in the 200 (23.29).
Snipes used a smooth, powerful stride to glide his way to a 10.71 in the 100 and a 22.22 in the 200. In the 400, he trailed Bergman and Franklin Pierce\'s Max Lutton coming around the final turn, but he maintained his composure and passed them both to finish in 48.83.
\"I knew Bergman was fast, but he can\'t match my speed,\" said Snipes. \"I knew he was the biggest threat.\"
Jeremy Taiwo of Newport pulled off an impressive double win, clearing 6 feet, 6 inches to win the high jump and later flying 46-113/4 to win the triple jump by more than a foot over Earl Phillips of River Ridge.
\"My goal was 47 feet (in the triple), but it was a good day,\" said Taiwo, an energetic 6-4 sophomore nicknamed \'Spiderman.\' \"The high jump usually gets me warmed up. I was close to my PR (he missed three attempts at 6-8), but my butt keeps coming down on the bar.\"
Keefe Brockman of Hanford finished fourth in the high jump at 6-4 and did not qualify in the triple with a top mark of 42-31/4. Still, the junior considered it a good experience.
\"I wasn\'t a deer in the headlights this time,\" Brockman said, remembering his first trip to state last year. \"My last attempts (in the triple) I tried a two-arm takeoff and scratched. It would have been in the mid-43s if I hadn\'t.\"
Jason Harris of Renton had the only meet record of the day in the javelin, tossing it 202-10 on his last throw of the day.
\"I told Korion (Morris) I\'d beat the guy that beat him in the shot put,\" Harris said, referring to Cheney\'s Bob Wilske, who beat Morris by an inch with a winning toss of 61-0. \"Korion was really upset.\"
Abdi Hassan of Nathan Hale held off Bellingham\'s Chris Kwiatkowski, who was disqualified in Friday\'s 3,200 after finishing first in the race, to win the 1,600 title in 4:17.33.
\"There was no way I\'m going to lose this race,\" said Hassan, who is in his first year of track. \"(Kwiatkowski) caught up with me with 150 meters to go and I thought, \'Whatever, dude. Do what you want.\' I wasn\'t going to let him pass.\"
Jarom Smith of West Valley-Yakima won the 100 hurdles with a time of 14.35 to beat Ikenna Acholonu of Shorecrest (14.49).
\"I was a little unsure,\" Smith said. \"I knew Ikenna was pretty fast. All it takes is one hurdle or one bad start to throw you off a half a second.\"
Tyreil Poosri of Cheney picked up the win in the 300 hurdles in 38.81.
Shorecrest recorded its first two state titles in school history after winning the 4x100 in 42.64 and the 4x400 in 3:21.14.