Sea-King Track | Skyline\'s Tibbot outduels Combs Michael Ko May 20, 2007

Tiffany Tibbot recalls racing Charnay Combs in junior Olympics during middle school -- and losing every time. Looks like Tibbot has finally caught up. The Skyline junior outdueled the Rainier Beach sophomore twice down the stretch, in the 100- and 200-meter races Friday, highlighting the second day of the Sea-King 3A District track and field championships at the Southwest Athletic Complex.

Area Boys Track Outlook | A long-distance journey Michael Ko Apr 04, 2007

Abdi Hassan, a senior at Nathan Hale High School in Seattle, has obvious reasons to continue his promising running career at the University of Arizona. The great weather. The chance to rub shoulders with world-class runners like Bernard Lagat and Abdi Abdirahman, fellow Africans who live and train in Tucson. And individual attention from Arizona distance coach James Li, who has mentored some of the sport\'s best.

Max-imization plan a success Michael Ko Oct 29, 2006

By Michael Ko Seattle Times staff reporter The bigger, badder Max O\'Donoghue-McDonald feels no pain, never sweats after races and mows down rugged cross-country courses with ease, in time for dinner and homework. It might not be much of an exaggeration. O\'Donoghue-McDonald, who won the Class 3A state cross-country title as a lanky junior, has since packed 20 pounds of muscle on his 6-foot-3 frame, most of it in his core and legs. On Thursday, the Seattle Prep senior powered free from a tightly-packed field just after the two-mile marker at chilly, hilly Lower Woodland Park to win the Sea-King 3A District boys championship. His time of 15 minutes, 36 seconds, a week after he smashed the 3.1-mile course record in 15:22, also led Seattle Prep to the boys team title in the last tuneup before next week\'s state meet in Pasco. Seattle Prep sophomores Erik Berg and Charlie McDonald finished ninth and 10th.

Super 6 lead Eastlake girls cross country Michael Ko Oct 12, 2006

By Michael Ko Seattle Times staff reporter Eastlake High School girls cross-country coach Troy Anderson had no idea who would step up this fall for departed star Jessica Pixler. Now at Seattle Pacific, Pixler had finished second at the Class 4A state meet last year and won the 800 meters during track season. Meet the Super Six. A group of six freshmen is running fast times and surpassing expectations at the Sammamish school and around KingCo 4A. Chelsea Orr, Erin Blodnick, Janie Dwyer, Sara Fester, Ellie Murray and Allie Dorsey make up six of the school\'s top seven runners. The seventh is sophomore Ashley Horton.

Pattillo loves to run, and to win Michael Ko Sep 13, 2006

Paige Pattillo caught the running bug early, in fifth or sixth grade. Her mother, Jackie, ran every morning for fun and fitness, and Pattillo recalls tagging along, trying to keep up. The love of running came easy. The love of racing? That was difficult. Pattillo, a senior at Bothell High School, finished fourth at last year\'s Class 4A girls state cross-country meet. Her mark of 18 minutes, 24 seconds is tops among any returning girl in the state in any classification. But the personal-best time

3A track and field: Beach\'s sprinters making fast tracks Michael Ko May 21, 2006

Imagine if she actually liked track.

Charnay \"Nay Nay\" Combs, a freshman at Rainier Beach High School, won the girls 100 and 200 meters at the Sea-King 3A District track and field championships Friday at the Southwest Athletic Complex. She also ran on the winning 400 relay.

All that, despite her lament that she\'s only running because her mom Nancy is making her. Basketball is Nay Nay\'s first priority.

\"In order for me to play basketball, I have to run track,\" she said. \"My mom feels like track is my first sport, and I\'ll go further in track than I will in basketball.\"

Combs said she is starting to see the benefits of track, especially in early scholarship interest from colleges.

\"But I still don\'t like it,\" she said.

Combs, who took the 100 in 12.42 seconds and the 200 in 25.38, highlighted a big day for 3A freshman girls. Cleveland\'s Olivia Ward won the triple jump with 37 feet, 4 inches and Seattle Prep\'s Olivia Sylvester won the 800 in 2 minutes, 16.05 seconds. Johanna Carr from Issaquah and Madison Yakaboski from Mount Si qualified for state in the 100. Carr also qualified in the 200.

Issaquah won the 3A girls team title, led by its 800 relay, which blistered a damp track with a state-best 1:43.72.

Holy Names finished second, Mount Si third and Rainier Beach fourth.

Rainier Beach also dominated the boys sprints. Senior Attrail Snipes stood out with wins in the 100, 200 and 400 races. He also ran on the winning 400 relay, leading the Vikings to the boys Class 3A team title.

\"The youngsters on the team are looking up to me to put up big points at state,\" Snipes said. \"And I\'m looking to them for the same.\"

For the boys, Newport finished secon

Sea-King District: Bryant posts discus state best Michael Ko May 18, 2006

In girls throwing events, one name has been the benchmark for success the past three years: Whitney Hooks. Could there finally be a worthy contender? Inglemoor junior Elisa Bryant muscled the discus a state-best 148 feet, 8 inches at the Sea-King District track-and-field Championships Wednesday at the Southwest Athletic Complex. Hooks, a senior at Cascade in Everett who won the Class 4A discus championship last year and also owns three consecutive shot-put titles, has thrown the discus 141 feet this year. Hooks will attend the University of Washington on a track scholarship. \"If I ever had a chance of beating Whitney at state, I\'d be really excited about that,\" Bryant said of their looming showdown next weekend in Pasco. \"But honestly, I can\'t worry about what Whitney does. I\'m just mainly focusing on my technique and making big throws.\"
On the boys side, Nathan Hale junior Abdi Hassan continued to dominate the 3A distance races in his first year in track. He has yet to lose and owns a state-best 4:14.2 in the 1,600 meters.