PORT ORCHARD — The Poulsbo boys’ track team didn’t just win the junior high league track meet this year — they downright dominated all other squads.
The Panthers enjoyed a 40-point margin over their closest competitors, Central Kitsap, with Poulsbo garnering eight first place finishes.
“It was more than I expected,” said Panther boys’ coach Joe Power. “It was an amazing example of the hard work and dedication this team has put in.”
The Panther girls’ team nearly won the event as well, losing by a half a point to the Cougars to take second overall. But both Poulsbo teams were 6-0 in the regular season and Power said it exemplifies just how good the teams were on the year.
“Both the boys and girls teams had amazing seasons,” Power commented. “It’s a good example of the quality of athletes that we’ve been able to coach this year.”
For the Kingston teams, the finishes were lower than Poulsbo — a fourth place for the boys and seventh for the girls. Nonetheless, head boys’ coach Ken Shawcroft said the team’s efforts this year, given a below-average turnout, pushed the squad to its best finish in league since he became coach four years ago.
“We had fewer kids we’ve had but the quality overall was better,” Shawcroft said. “As probably one of the smallest (teams), we had quite a few place in the league championship meet.”
With a smaller team this year, Shawcroft added that it took a lot of dedication on each athlete’s part to hold the team together.
“The neat part was if we had a relay and someone would get hurt, we had a number of kids that would step up even though they had a lot of events,” Shawcroft said. “And we had some kids who were hurt but they’d still come to practice.”
Team results — girls
1. Central Kitsap (129.50). 2. Poulsbo (129). 3. Marcus Whitman (98). 4. Ridgetop (58.50). 5. Fairview (49). 6. Bremerton (45). 7. Kingston (44). 8. Cedar Heights (39). 9. John Sedgwick (28).
Team results — boys
1. Poulsbo (133). 2. Central Kitsap (92.5). 3. Fairview (75.5). 4. Kingston (70). 5. Cedar Heights (63). 6. Bremerton (56). 7. Marcus Whitman (55). 8. Ridgetop (48). 9. John Sedgwick (31).
Poulsbo and Kingston girls’ results
Girls’ 60 meter dash — First place: Jodi Mitchell, Poulsbo (8.0). Girls 100 meter dash — Second place: Mitchell, Poulsbo (12.91). Fourth place: Jennifer Gregg, Poulsbo (13.33). Girls 200 meter dash — First place: Stephanie Skelley, Poulsbo (26.06). Fourth place: Gregg, Poulsbo (27.96). Seventh place: Samantha Stange, Kingston (28.44). Girls 400 Meter Dash — First place: KC Fossum, Poulsbo (1:02.28). Fifth place: Allaire Johnson, Poulsbo (1:05.49). Girls 800 meter run — second place: Kelly Cates, Poulsbo (2:31.00). Christina Rose, Poulsbo (2:33.50). Karina Hoogstede, Kingston (2:41.72). Girls 1600 meter run — Fifth place: Kelly Cates, Poulsbo (5:45.00). Seventh place: Emily Sinclair, Kingston (6:22.56). Girls 75 meter hurdles — Seventh place: Hilary Groh, Kingston (14.33). Girls 200 meter hurdles — First place: Fossum, Poulsbo (30.20). Third place: Brynn Breakey, Kingston (31.00). Fifth place: Kerri Donahue, Poulsbo (31.30). Eighth place: Groh, Kingston (32.20). Girls 4×100 meter relay — First place: Poulsbo “A” (51.84). Fifth place: Kingston “A” (55.73). Girls 4×200 meter relay — First place: Poulsbo “A” (1:52.25). Fifth place: Kingston “A” (1:59.75). Girls 4×400 meter relay — First place: Poulsbo “A” — 4:24.45. Sixth place: Kingston “A” (4:47.61). Girls high jump — First place: Fossum, Poulsbo (4’8’’). Third place: Sinclair, Kingston (4’6’’). Seventh place: Hoogstede, Kingston (4’0’’). Girls long jump — Sixth place: Kelsey Dowers, Kingston (13’2’’). Girls shot put — Third place: Jade Neimeyer, Kingston (36’9’’). Girls javelin throw — Fourth place: Leah Seim-Brown, Poulsbo (92’3’’). Seventh place: Adrielle McIntyre, Poulsbo (73’3’’).
Poulsbo and Kingston boys’ results
Boys 60 meter dash — First place: Greg Ottele, Poulsbo (7.11). Fifth place: Jason Robles, Kingston (7.48). Eighth place: Bubby Ditmer, Poulsbo (7.83). Boys 100 meter dash — First place: Chris Selden, Poulsbo (11.33). Third place: Ottele, Poulsbo (11.52). Sixth: Robles, Kingston (11.72). Boys 200 meter dash — Fourth place: Andy Smith, Kingston (24.84). Michael Ferrell, Kingston (25.03). Seventh place: Nathan DeGuzman, Poulsbo (25.53). Boys 400 meter dash — Second place: Zac Simmons, Poulsbo (55.59). Sixth place: Sean Williams, Kingston (58.34). Seventh place: DeGuzman, Poulsbo (59.39). Boys 800 meter run — First place: Isaac Davis, Poulsbo (2:04.60). Second place: Cody Bradwell, Kingston (2:05.10). Fifth place: Simmons, Poulsbo (2:09.10). Boys 1600 meter run: First place: Davis, Poulsbo (4:46.81). Second place: Nick Cameron, Poulsbo (4:51.44). Third place: Bradwell, Kingston (4:53.07). Boys 75 meter hurdles — First place: Dylan Heckl, Poulsbo (10.60). Seventh place: Dylan Peterson, Kingston (12.67). Boys 200 meter hurdles — First place: Heckl, Poulsbo (26.51). Eighth place: Peterson, Kingston (29.15). Boys 4×100 meter relay — First place: Poulsbo “A” (45.72). Fifth place: Kingston “A” (48.21). 4×200 meter relay — Third place: Poulsbo “A” (1:41.63). Sixth place: Kingston “A” (1:45.43). Boys 4×400 meter relay — First place: Poulsbo “A” (3:52.38). Sixth place: Kingston “A” (4:02.04). Boys high jump — Eighth place: Davis, Poulsbo (5’2’’). Boys long jump — First place: Robles, Kingston (19’8’’). Fifth place: Chris Alston, Poulsbo (17’11’’). Boys shotput — Second place: Nathan Bilbao, Kingston (44’2’’). Eighth place: Brian Cleaver, Kingston (39’10’’). Boys discus throw — Fourth place: Devin Gottschalk, Kingston (120’06’’). Fifth place: Bubby Ditmer, Poulsbo (119’03’’). Boys javelin throw — Fifth place: Parker Thomas, Poulsbo (146’11’’). Sixth place: Ditmer, Poulsbo (134’00’’).
