Most schools have one to two decent hurdlers if lucky. Shorecrest, however, has an astounding group of nine talented young hurdlers. They are led by Shorecrest alum and previous school record holder Derak Clemmons, who has helped create a tight knit group. He says, “When these girls all came in as freshmen, we knew by their junior and senior years this was going to be a group to remember!” This is the largest group of female hurdlers to qualify for postseason that the track team has ever had!
Starting off the season, the girls were ready to pick up where they left off from last year. Many of the girls have been through districts and state and were ready to start off the season strong. Acacia Silimon says, “the beginning of the track season is all about building a strong foundation and working hard. My favorite part is laughing with my teammates during the warmup hurdle drills.” Throughout the season, these girls qualified for many invites such as the Bellingham invite, the Pasco invite, and the Shoreline invite! Usually, only 1-2 athletes are entered from each event, but almost all of the Shorecrest girls hurdlers were entered into these competitive invites. Junior Bailey Mathew says, “we really felt our team click after our travel meet to Pasco. My 4×4 team especially pushed each other through tough competition and hot weather.” Being around a large supportive group during hard workouts and long meets really is what makes this group so special. Looking back on the season, senior Caitlyn Zier says, “I don’t think any of us would be as strong as we are without each other. Having so many people push you through workouts as well as having strong competitions against each other in practice is what got us here today.”
Odds are looking good for these girls and their aspirations to continue this momentum and qualify in the top five to go to districts and then to state later this month. This year, the top four from districts move onto state. Senior Emma Orthel says. “This is definitely a challenge when you first see what time you need to run to qualify, however, the training and hard work we’ve put in as a group will help push us through and run times we never thought we could!” Wesco finals were this past week, and the Shorecrest girls had 6 out of the 8 spots filled in the 100mh final, and 5 out of 8 spots taken by green and gold in the 300mh final!
This time of year is when athletes really start to peak in their performance. Senior Caitlyn Zier moved her way up in the district rankings by nearly 5 spots when she dropped a 16.61 last friday! Junior Linnea Claar, currently ranked 2nd in districts for the 300mh, says she’s looking forward to this upcoming state qualifying meet next week.
When all of the girls qualified from Wescos into districts, Coach Brad Upton said, “This group of girls truly is the reason I push my retirement back each year and come back to coach. I’m feeling very confident that we can fill two of the state spots this year with Shorecrest’s girls hurdlers!”
