Kyle Kennedy says he’s getting stronger.
Ian Goldizen has another personal record under his belt, and Demasha Aldridge is still warming up for the next round.
The three track and field athletes make up a small fraction of competitors from last weekend’s Olympic League championship meet who are using their recent success to propel them into this month’s postseason.
Goldizen, who placed second in the 800-meter run for Olympic High School, said Monday that he’s content with a personal best time of 2:00.22 minutes, and he hopes the streak continues.
“It was great to (personal record) out there,” he added. “I want to keep this going, and now we have somewhat of a grasp on other schools and how they might fare.”
Meanwhile, Aldridge, who claimed first-place in the 100-meter run for Bremerton High School, spent most of Monday afternoon’s practice stretching and running long distance trials to keep pace with fellow Knights teammates.
“Getting warmed up at the right time helps a lot,” said Aldridge, who beat North Mason High School’s Tevin Williams May 7. “Tevin and I battled hard through the end, and I just had to fight through it. Now I just need to lower my times and improve for the rest of the way.”
Aldridge wasn’t the only Bremerton athlete to win at the North Kitsap High School meet. Julisha Johnson won the girls shot put event, and Kennedy earned a league title in the javelin for the fourth straight year.
Kennedy said Monday that after bulking up in the offseason, he’s feeling better than ever. During the league meet, Kennedy switched grips on the javelin because his fingers were feeling tender, but that didn’t stop him from reaching his goal.
“It’s a great feeling to be a league champ again,” he said. “Now I just need to focus more on technique and have a positive mentality that I’m not going to lose.”
Klahowya Secondary School, Olympic and Bremerton will compete next at the sub-district meet Saturday at Sumner High School. Events are scheduled to start at 10 a.m. The Knights will compete in the Class 3A brackets, while the Eagles and Trojans are both 2A schools.
The district and state tournaments will run in the following two weekends, but Olympic head coach Greg Chapman wants his runners to keep their focus on the present, and not look ahead to state right now.
“I’m pleased as punch right now,” said the longtime track coach. “For us, everything went right last week. We had great performances all around, and we want to keep that level going.”
Who to watch for
Bremerton: Michaela Anderson, pole vault, 300-meter hurdles; Johnson, shot put; Kennedy, javelin; Cass Busch, 400-meter run; Aldridge, 100-meter run.
Klahowya: Rebecca Lindgren, 100-meter, 200-meter and 400-meter run; Leah Adair, high jump.
Olympic: Goldizen, 800-meter run; Lutz, 1,600-meter run; Rielly Enriquez, 110-meter hurdles; Aljohn Gaviola, 110-meter hurdles; James Jones, shot put; Hunter Keffer, high jump; Daniel Scott, pole vault.
