It wasn’t quite the time Brad Michael was hoping for, but he couldn’t complain about the result.
Michael won the 400 meters Wednesday at the Class 4A Greater St. Helens League district track and field meet at McKenzie Stadium, finishing in 49.91 seconds.
“I felt a little sore; hard workouts,” Michael said of his preparation leading up to the district meet. “I didn’t really think it through.”
That’s because Michael is looking ahead to the regional meet next week, and the state meet the following week.
He came into Wednesday’s rain-soaked competition with the second-best 400 time in the state for any classification at 48.99.
Still, the district meet — which has an off day today before concluding Friday — provides plenty of competition. At the 4A level, only the top two finishers in each event advance to the regional meet in Tacoma.
Michael finished second in the 100 meters Wednesday, behind Ryan Stanford of Union. He also is scheduled to run a relay Friday along with the 200 meters, in which he has the sixth-best time in the state.
“I had some leg tiredness today,” he said. “I didn’t feel explosive today.”
In other 4A meet highlights:
• Jessica Ojukwu of Union won the girls 100, finishing in 12.72 seconds. Tee Tee Martin of Heritage was second, despite a heavily bandaged leg that was the result of a quadriceps injury.
• Rachel McQuivey of Skyview won the girls 300 hurdles by more than three seconds in a season-best 44.11. She also anchored the Storm’s victory in the 400 relay.
McQuivey will compete Friday in the 100 hurdles, an event in which she has the best qualifying time. But she will pass on the 200 meters, in which she recently set a school record.
• The boys pole vault competitions were postponed Wednesday because of adverse weather conditions. The 4A vault was rescheduled for noon Friday.
• Skyview’s Priscilla Timmons dominated the girls 800 and the 3,200. Timmons (2:19.60) outlasted Kaitlyn McKinney of Union (2:23.04) in the 800, and finished 23 seconds ahead of teammate Sara Taferre in the 3,200.
Katie Hendricks was third in the 3,200, while Julie Yoshioka was fifth and Haley Velez finished sixth, giving Skyview five of the top six spots.
Of the six Class 4A girls events competed on the track Wednesday, Skyview athletes won four of them.
• Aundray Williams of Evergreen held off Oliver Tamis of Skyview to win a thrilling boys 800-meter race. Williams finished in 1:59.83 — one one-hundredth of a second ahead of Tamis.
• Michael’s victory in the 400 led a Skyview sweep of the top three spots. Kevin Boyd was second, while Elliot Willis finished third.
• In addition to finishing second in the 800, McKinney prevailed in a tight 400-meter contest, finishing in 59.08. Rachel Shirley of Skyview was second in 59.15.
• Tori Dixson of Battle Ground won the girls discus with a mark of 114-11. She also has the best qualifying mark among 4A girls in the shot put, which will be contested Friday.
