TACOMA – Few people thought McKenna Flanagan would win a state track and field title on Friday. Not even Flanagan herself.
Erykah Weems was favored to win one state title. Now she wants two.
Weems and Flanagan were the two local athletes to win titles on the second day of the state track and field championships at Mount Tahoma High School.
Flanagan, a Woodland sophomore, was a surprise winner of the Class 2A javelin.
Weems, a senior at Hudson’s Bay, is halfway toward sweeping the 2A hurdles titles. She won the 100 hurdles Friday and is favored to win the 300 hurdles Saturday.
While Weems arrived in Tacoma with state title goals, Flanagan had no inkling she would be standing atop the awards podium.
“No, I had no expectations,” she said. “I just wanted to beat last year because I got eighth.”
Flanagan’s wiry build seems more fit for cross country, in which she finished eighth in the district meet last fall. In addition to javelin, she ran the 800 meters and 1600 relay in most meets this season.
“I just do all my running, then whatever time I have left I do javelin,” Flanagan said.
Now as reigning state champion, she might start considering herself a javelin thrower.
“I guess so, I kind of have to,” she said.
Flanagan entered the state meet with the sixth-best mark in the field. But her 119 feet, 6 inches was nearly 20 feet behind the state-leading mark of Cheney’s Rylie Pease.
With the eighth-best mark in the preliminary flights Friday, Flanagan barely made the finals. But she took the lead with a throw of 120-6 to open the finals.
She was topped by Pease’s throw of 121-5, but regained the lead with her final throw of 122-3.
“In finals I had nothing to lose,” she said. “So I just attacked and left it all out there.”
Weems nearly lost her title shot when she clipped the sixth hurdle. But she surged late to cross the line in 15.36 seconds, .12 ahead of second place Sara Absten on Burlington Edison.
“I was just ecstatic,” Weems said. “I couldn’t speak after, so I just yelled out.”
Injuries limited Weems to just five meets last season, which ended with a fifth-place state finish in the 300 hurdles. So she was understandably nervous when some pesky pain in her quad and calf appeared this week.
But after lots of ice, Epsom salt baths and a victory in the 100 hurdles, Weems is all-systems-go for a second state title.
“I am absolutely going for the double,” Weems said. “I love the hurdles, so it would be great to get that second title.”
Class 1A State Championships
At Cheney
Friday’s Finals
Winner and local athletes
Shot put – 1, Jordan Spradlin (Montesano) 48-4.
High jump – 1, Sienna Swannack (Lakeside) 5-7.
Long jump – 1, Lauren Newman (La Salle) 19-4.5; 10, Sierra Block (La Center) 16-1.
Pole vault – 1, Elli Kimes (Cashmere) 13-0.5; 12, Josie Partridge (Seton Catholic) 8-0; 15, Rachel Zolp (Stevenson) 7-6.
Preliminaries (top 8 to finals)
100 meters – 12, Kari Staples (King’s Way) 13.47; 17, Rilea Wolfe (La Center) 13.83.
200 – 13, Kari Staples (King’s Way) 27.26.
400 – 11, Elena Carrion (Seton Catholic) 1:01.68; 16, Laynie Erickson (La Center) 1:04.95.
800 – 11, Jorie Freitag (Seton Catholic) 2:25.96.
100 hurdles – 10, Sarah Turcic (King’s Way) 17.59.
400 relay – 15, King’s Way (Haley Hutchin, Emily Turcic, Madi Bertrand, Kari Staples) 53.41.
800 relay – 15, King’s Way (Haley Hutchin, Emily Turcic, Sarah Turcic, Kari Staples) 1:51.94.