3A TRACK: Jumping to his defense

Union’s Kinsley Ojukwu repeated as Class 3A state champion in the triple jump Saturday. (ZACHARY KAUFMAN/The Columbian)

TACOMA — It's difficult to imagine viewing one state title as a disappointment. Then again, it's difficult to imagine the impossibly high standards Kinsley Ojukwu has set for himself.

The Union High School junior successfully defended his triple jump title Saturday at the Class 3A state track and field meet at Mount Tahoma High School.

The rest of his day did not go as well.

For the Columbia River girls, meanwhile, the day was nothing but milk and honey, as the Chieftains got points from a variety of athletes and finished second in the team race behind Rainier Beach.

Ojukwu came into the meet as the defending champion in the 100 meters, the 200, and the triple jump. After running the top qualifying times in Friday's preliminaries, he appeared poised to retain all three titles.

But something was wrong.

"It's the same thing that's been bothering me all year," Ojukwu said. "It's my left hip flexor. I thought it was healed until yesterday. This morning when I woke up, it was bad."

The hip did not appear to bother Ojukwu in the triple jump.

He leaped 46 feet, 1¼ inches on his first attempt, then sat and watched through subsequent rounds as his competitors were unable to match him.

But when it came time to hit the track, the injury flared up.

He pulled up limping during the 100 meters and finished eighth. He struggled through the 200 and again finished eighth. He was unable to help Union live up to its No. 1 seed in the 400 relay.

"I'm still satisfied," he said. "I have the top times in the state. I was hoping for four titles. I would have won it all if I had been healthy."

The Columbia River girls, on the other hand, exceeded their expectations by scoring 46.5 points, behind only the 65 scored by Rainier Beach.

"This is a very dedicated, very talented, very competitive group of girls," coach Michelle Buss said. "They're a wonderful group to coach. I couldn't be more proud."

The Chieftains had one champion during the meet — Anna Adamko in Friday's girls javelin. But they had a large number of placers. On Saturday, those included Jessica Bottelberghe, who was fourth in the 800 after surging to the lead early in the race.

"I just thought I'd go out and try to hold on," she said. "At that point I had no idea; just try to put one foot in front of the other."

Columbia River also got a boost from freshman Jennifer Debellis, who was fourth in the pole vault at 9 feet, 9 inches, and Amanda Alvarez, who was sixth in the long jump.

In other action from the last of three days at the Class 3A meet:

— Carolina Siofele of Union concluded a stellar meet with a second-place finish in the girls shot put. Siofele had a mark of 39-5¼, while champion Tiara Killmer of Bonney Lake finished at 39-7¾.

"I was pretty consistently over 38, and I've never done that before," Siofele said. "I was pretty happy with that."

On Thursday, Siofele won the discus.

— Kaleb Kallappa of Columbia River picked up his fourth title of the meet by winning the 1,600-meter wheelchair race. Kallappa won in 4:11.96, finishing nearly 10 seconds ahead of runner-up Jose Adriano of South Kitsap.

— Kristina Owsinski of Prairie finished second in the girls pole vault, clearing a height of 10-3. The event was won by Kaycee Smith of Mt. Spokane with a mark of 10-6.

— Jacob Troupe, a sophomore from Union, finished third in the boys high jump, clearing 6-4.

— Marc Jackson of Hudson's Bay finished fourth in the boys 300 hurdles with a time of 39.74. Taylor Schmidt of Prairie was seventh.

— Chris Hayes of Camas was fifth in the 200 with a time of 22.32. Markeem Adams of West Seattle won the event in 21.47.

— Brina Sych of Union was fifth in the girls 300 hurdles, one spot ahead of Alyssa Turner of Hudson's Bay.

— Taryn Willie of Camas was third in the girls long jump, recording a leap of 16-6½ after entering the meet as the No. 14 seed. Diana Keller of Mount Si won the event with a mark of 17-6½.

— Jon Lawson of Prairie was sixth in the boys shot put with a distance of 52-0¼.

— Stanley Ojukwu of Union finished sixth in the boys 100 with a time of 11.18.