Before we move on to anything else, let’s get one thing clear: The Camas girls track and field team is having a great season. The Papermakers are a great team.
The Camas girls track and field team has not lost a meet all season. Oh, and we’re not just talking dual meets either.
Sure, when Camas rolled past Fort Vancouver last week, the Papermakers capped a 5-0 season in the Class 3A Greater St. Helens League.
But that only tells half of the story of what kind of a season the Papermakers have had.
The Camas girls haven’t lost any meet that they have entered this season. It doesn’t matter if they are competing against one team or 20.
The Papermakers won titles at the John Ingram Twilight Meet at Columbia River, the Yelm Mountain Invitational, Oregon Relays in Eugene, Ore., and most recently, the Bob Shaner Invitational in Tumwater on Friday.
Officially, the Camas girls won the team title by outscoring Olympia 170.5-158. The initial point totals reported by The Columbian in Saturday’s edition had Camas scoring 511 points. I automatically thought “511 points?!? How the heck are they scoring that track and field meet?” But, when you get the results 30 minutes from deadline, you go with what you’re given.
Whatever the point total, the main point is that Camas won — again.
“Our girls squad not only has great talent this year, but they have some pretty incredible depth,” Camas coach Alisa Wise said. “We have great leadership and strength in our seniors, but also some great up-and-coming young talent in our freshmen and sophomores.”
Wise said that depth was on display in an April 20 meet against Prairie in which Camas stars Megan Kelley, Camille Parsons and Sara Slayton were not available, and Seanna Pitassi was not at full strength. Yet the Papermakers still had enough to post an 89-61 win.
That depth should serve the Papermakers well as they turn their attention to the postseason, which gets started with the Class 3A district meet Wednesday and Friday at McKenzie Stadium.
This season, like last, the 3A and 4A district meets will run concurrently at McKenzie on Wednesday and Friday.
So with all the success Camas has been having this season, the questions was posed here at The Columbian: Can Camas win the state team title?
Well……
Let’s say that Wise wasn’t making any bold predictions.
“We are excited to see what this championship future has in store for us,” Wise said. “We need to stay healthy, focused and consistent in our performances.”
Can Camas win the district title? You bet.
Can Camas win the bi-district title? Quite possibly.
But state is an entirely different beast.
Depth is great. But to win at state you need a few top-tier athletes who can compete for a state title in a couple of events.
The Union boys have that kind of team, even though the Titans finished second in the 3A GSHL dual-meet standings.
Why is that? Well, the Union boys have Kinsley Ojukwu, who could score 25-30 points by himself at state — and that is not including the 400-meter relay. Then you add Mitch Saylor in the javelin and Jacob Troupe in the long jump and high jump, and the Titans have the potential to score big points at state.
And really, the Papermaker girls only have one athlete who — at this point — fits that bill: junior Megan Kelley.
Kelley currently has the top-ranked long jump in the state at Class 3A and she ranks third in the 200 and 400 meters.
Beyond that, Camas’ big scoring threats come only in the relays, including the 1,600-meter relay in which Camas is the defending state champion.
I went through the list of state bests according to athletic.net and used those marks to score a hypothetical state meet, just to see what the Papermakers are up against.
If the state meet follows those state-best marks, Camas would place fourth in the girls 3A team standings with 39 points, behind West Valley of Yakima (66 points), Glacier Peak of Snohomish (48) and Juanita of Kirkland (46).
And Prairie — you know, the team that Camas handled so easily when it was so shorthanded — would finish seventh in this hypothetical state meet, just 11 points behind Camas.
That’s kind of how the state meet works.
So, I think the Papermakers would be thrilled with a top-three finish at state.
And as Wise mentioned, there is a lot of young talent coming up through the program. Kelley is a junior.
So if a state title isn’t in the cards this season, it could be a possibility next season.
And again, any way you slice it, this spring has been a great season for the Camas girls track and field program.
Tim Martinez is the assistant sports/prep coordinator for The Columbian. He can be reached by phone at (360) 735-4538 or e-mail at tim.martinez@columbian.com.
