Track and Field Meet Recap
Ella Nestingen
This Thursday, the Bulldogs faced a tricky matchup against Ingraham, Seattle Prep, and Lakeside. It was the hottest day yet in Seattle this year, hitting over 70 degrees, and the track where the athletes were competing was completely exposed. Despite all this, Garfield emerged victorious, winning 188 points with the only close runners up being Seattle Prep with 159 points.
The meet started out strong, with Mylea Lexing, Malia Samuels, Leila Gates, and Lucy Richardson running a 1:46.42 4x200, placing them as the #1 4x200 team in 3A at State. Although Garfield was defeated in the 110-meter hurdles and 100-meter dash, the Bulldogs came back with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finishes in the men’s 1600m and 2nd, 3rd, and 4th in the women’s 1600m. Aaron Johnson, who placed 3rd in the men’s 1600m, got a personal record of 4:56 and went so hard that he threw up afterwards.
In the men’s 4x100m relay, it was one of the closest races ever seen, with Seattle Prep finishing just 1/100 of a second before Garfield’s star team of Jason Finley, Kenny Gilbert, Jacolby Cochran Jr, and Tawaf Aboudou. A picture of both team’s crossing the finish line had to be printed out in order to determine who had truly won. These outstanding performances placed Seattle Prep and Garfield as the #1 and #2 4x100 times in the Metro League, and 3rd and 4th in 3A State. The women’s 4x100m teams came in 2nd and 3rd.
One of the most memorable moments of Thursday’s meet was when Garfield’s Takiyah Blue made her junior year debut and surged ahead of the competition with a 59.41 in the women’s 400m dash. With her first race, Blue put herself at #2 in 3A State, just 3/10 of a second behind #1. She started running at the age of seven and is one of the best runners on the Garfield team.
This astonishing performance was followed by a wild ride in the 300m hurdles. It began with Phinneas Woodland messing up his steps before the first hurdle and walking off the track. That was followed by Finn Albright, the #1 hurdler in the Metro League, tripping and falling over a hurdle at around 150m into the race, getting back up and coming back to finish in 3rd place. Tayden Blue, a sophomore and #3 in the Metro league, finished 1st. The JV Men’s 300m hurdles also had its share of surprises, with sophomore Chase Ng running up to a hurdle, grabbing onto it with both hands, and slowing to a full stop, then climbing over the hurdle one leg at a time. He then repeated this again with the following hurdle. When asked about the moment, Ng claimed he had the wrong foot in front, so he couldn’t jump. When asked about why he slowed to a full stop, he declined to comment.
In the women’s 300m hurdles, there was an extremely close race between Garfield’s two top hurdlers, Mae Robinson and Anya Ceballos-Baliga. Coming into the race, sophomore Ceballos-Baliga was the favorite, with a slightly better personal record than Robinson, but during the extremely tight race, Robinson went out fast, and Ceballos-Baliga, wasn’t quite able to catch up. It was an extremely close race, with both girls setting personal records and finishing less than a second apart.
The Men’s 800m was and extremely close race between Garfield’s William Phillips Nichols, and Lakeside’s Charlie Martinez. Nichols started off ahead and maintained a fast pace with Martinez close behind. In the 200m, Martinez closed in until they were neck and neck, but in the last 50m, Nichols was able to pull ahead and claim the victory.
In the Men’s 200m, Tawaf Aboudou finished with 23.38 seconds, a season record. In the Women’s 200m, Takiyah Blue had a tremendous race with 26.15s, putting her at #1 in the Metro league, and #2 in 3A State, just 4/100 of a second behind #1. Garfield also finished 3rd, 4th, and 5th in that race.
Samuel Cetron and Ellie Wakefield placed 1st in the men’s and women’s 3200m.
The final race of the day was the 4x400, which is always known as one of the most exciting races, and this race proved that true. In the men’s 4x400, coming into the race, Garfield and Seattle Prep’s teams were less than a second apart. During the race, it fluctuated from Garfield being slightly ahead, to it being dead even, and totally unclear who would win. The last 100m were dead set, but somehow, William Phillips Nichols was again able to pull it out and bring Garfield to an amazing 1st place.
Field events also went well, with Garfield getting 1st in the women’s shot put, women’s pole vault, men’s pole vault and men’s shot put.
Overall, it was a very eventful meet, and there are great things to come for the Garfield Bulldogs' Track and Field team!
The meet started out strong, with Mylea Lexing, Malia Samuels, Leila Gates, and Lucy Richardson running a 1:46.42 4x200, placing them as the #1 4x200 team in 3A at State. Although Garfield was defeated in the 110-meter hurdles and 100-meter dash, the Bulldogs came back with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finishes in the men’s 1600m and 2nd, 3rd, and 4th in the women’s 1600m. Aaron Johnson, who placed 3rd in the men’s 1600m, got a personal record of 4:56 and went so hard that he threw up afterwards.
In the men’s 4x100m relay, it was one of the closest races ever seen, with Seattle Prep finishing just 1/100 of a second before Garfield’s star team of Jason Finley, Kenny Gilbert, Jacolby Cochran Jr, and Tawaf Aboudou. A picture of both team’s crossing the finish line had to be printed out in order to determine who had truly won. These outstanding performances placed Seattle Prep and Garfield as the #1 and #2 4x100 times in the Metro League, and 3rd and 4th in 3A State. The women’s 4x100m teams came in 2nd and 3rd.
One of the most memorable moments of Thursday’s meet was when Garfield’s Takiyah Blue made her junior year debut and surged ahead of the competition with a 59.41 in the women’s 400m dash. With her first race, Blue put herself at #2 in 3A State, just 3/10 of a second behind #1. She started running at the age of seven and is one of the best runners on the Garfield team.
This astonishing performance was followed by a wild ride in the 300m hurdles. It began with Phinneas Woodland messing up his steps before the first hurdle and walking off the track. That was followed by Finn Albright, the #1 hurdler in the Metro League, tripping and falling over a hurdle at around 150m into the race, getting back up and coming back to finish in 3rd place. Tayden Blue, a sophomore and #3 in the Metro league, finished 1st. The JV Men’s 300m hurdles also had its share of surprises, with sophomore Chase Ng running up to a hurdle, grabbing onto it with both hands, and slowing to a full stop, then climbing over the hurdle one leg at a time. He then repeated this again with the following hurdle. When asked about the moment, Ng claimed he had the wrong foot in front, so he couldn’t jump. When asked about why he slowed to a full stop, he declined to comment.
In the women’s 300m hurdles, there was an extremely close race between Garfield’s two top hurdlers, Mae Robinson and Anya Ceballos-Baliga. Coming into the race, sophomore Ceballos-Baliga was the favorite, with a slightly better personal record than Robinson, but during the extremely tight race, Robinson went out fast, and Ceballos-Baliga, wasn’t quite able to catch up. It was an extremely close race, with both girls setting personal records and finishing less than a second apart.
The Men’s 800m was and extremely close race between Garfield’s William Phillips Nichols, and Lakeside’s Charlie Martinez. Nichols started off ahead and maintained a fast pace with Martinez close behind. In the 200m, Martinez closed in until they were neck and neck, but in the last 50m, Nichols was able to pull ahead and claim the victory.
In the Men’s 200m, Tawaf Aboudou finished with 23.38 seconds, a season record. In the Women’s 200m, Takiyah Blue had a tremendous race with 26.15s, putting her at #1 in the Metro league, and #2 in 3A State, just 4/100 of a second behind #1. Garfield also finished 3rd, 4th, and 5th in that race.
Samuel Cetron and Ellie Wakefield placed 1st in the men’s and women’s 3200m.
The final race of the day was the 4x400, which is always known as one of the most exciting races, and this race proved that true. In the men’s 4x400, coming into the race, Garfield and Seattle Prep’s teams were less than a second apart. During the race, it fluctuated from Garfield being slightly ahead, to it being dead even, and totally unclear who would win. The last 100m were dead set, but somehow, William Phillips Nichols was again able to pull it out and bring Garfield to an amazing 1st place.
Field events also went well, with Garfield getting 1st in the women’s shot put, women’s pole vault, men’s pole vault and men’s shot put.
Overall, it was a very eventful meet, and there are great things to come for the Garfield Bulldogs' Track and Field team!