State track and field: Papermakers sweep pole vault titles

A senior, Cooper came into the state meet at Mount Tahoma High School full of confidence. She had cleared a personal-best of 12-9 at the bi-district meet on May 21.

That reoriented her sights from just winning a state title, which she was favored to do, to setting a meet record.

“I had a couple of good practices this week leading up to this meet,” Cooper said. “I knew that was something I wanted to break.”

McGee missed all three attempts at 17-3. The record remains 17 feet, set in 2002 by University’s Tyson Byers.

Still, it doesn’t diminish what he accomplished his senior year.

“This track season means a lot to me,” he said.

“This wasn’t quite in the picture when I was a freshman. I didn’t think I’d be quite this good at pole vault and athletic in other stuff, too. I did all I could and left a mark (on pole vault) and kept raising that bar.”

Butler takes 1st place in 3,200-meter run

Two days and twice the distance separated Cohen Butler’s near-miss and his dream come true.

After narrowly placing second in the 1,600 meters the day before, the Camas junior earned his first state title by winning the 3,200 at the final day of the 4A/3A/3A state track and field championships on May 31.

“It’s honestly a dream come true,” Butler said. “After that 1,600 I was so bummed because it was right there. But to have it come true in the 3,200 is really awesome.”

With the fastest qualifying time in the 19-runner field, Butler envisioned winning a state title. As a bonus, Clark County’s lone champion Saturday did so in a blazing-fast time of 8 minutes, 56.14 seconds, a personal best by more than five seconds.

“We were on sub-nine pace for most of the race,” Butler said. “We were moving. I thought back to other times racing the 3,200, knowing I could stick with it and finish that race at the same pace.”

Butler entered the final lap just behind Tahoma’s Cooper Boyle, who won the Class 4A cross country state title in November. Butler kicked into first place with 300 meters to go and never looked back.

When Butler feared footsteps, there were none to be heard.

“Normally I can hear people coming up behind me,” Butler said. “The crowd starts going wild when someone is coming. It seemed Cooper was a little bit farther behind me. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh I could actually win this.’”

As he entered the final 100 meters, Butler had 10-meter lead and went on to finish more than two seconds ahead of runner-up Isaac Benjamin of South Kitsap.

Marshall caps rich state meet history

A four-year state meet participant, Eliisa Marshall capped her track career with another busy and productive day at Mount Tahoma High School.

The Camas senior placed second in the 4A 800 meters for the second consecutive year. She then finished sixth in the 400 meters, her best state finish in four years of qualifying in that event.

Marshall then anchored the Camas 1,600 relay to a fourth-place finish, taking one last lap in the event she won state titles in the past two years.

Marshall wasn’t taking any moment for granted this weekend. Between preliminary heats and finals in three events, Marshall ran in 18 races over four state meets.

“Just being able to come here and run, not a lot of people get to do that,” she said.

“To look out at the crowd, they’re not all here to watch you but they’re watching your race. It’s just such a fun experience. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

Marshall used her sprinting speed to finish strong in the 800. Her time of 2:11.50 was a personal best and second to only Lake Washington’s Alexa Matora (2:09.18).

“Going into it, all the times were about a second apart, so I knew it was going to be a really tight race,” Marshall said. “I just wanted to get out, sit and kick and see what I could do.”

Less than two hours later, Marshall logged a 400 meter time of 48.03 seconds, just .04 off her personal best to complete an unusual and challenging double.

“At meets like here, you just can’t escape the lactic (acid),” she said. “I went for a 30-minute shake-out run after that 800, but I still felt so much lactic during that 400. It’s rough but it’s fun.”

Ridgefield’s Allen all smiles after 3,200

Ridgefield’s Danica Allen wide smile said it all.

When the senior crossed the finish line in the 2A girls 3,200, she cupped her hands over her mouth in disbelief.

Her first sub-11-minute time — 10:46.23, to be exact — for her best finish at state in any race.

Has she ever been this happy after a race?

“It’s a tough one to match, for sure,” she said afterward.

Two days after taking a fall early in the 1,600 but still placing 10th, Allen, bound for the University of Portland next year, trusted her training that enabled her to lower her personal-best time by 25 seconds in Saturday’s race. She remained patient with two laps remaining, and began to make her move over the final 200 meters.

She passed Sehome’s Sloane Clines for second in the final stretch of the 100 meters.

“I was able to put it all out there and that was my mentality,” she said. “No matter what happened until that point, I like to push myself.”

Two years ago, Allen changed her focus from soccer to distance running. It wasn’t until this spring, however, when she began running more 3,200 races behind more confidence as a long-distance runner.

Her personal-best time prior to Saturday was 11:09 back in April. Did she believe she could run a sub-11-minute time?

“I’ve always thought about it,” she said, “for it to actually happen is amazing.”