Titles elude Medical Lake track at state

Medical Lake track and field was tripped up taking the final steps to the top spot on the podium at the 1A state track meet May 25-27 at Yakima's Eisenhower High School.

Last fall's state champion in cross country, Reid Headrick, and an odds-on favorite for yet another gold medal, had his opponent, Bodie Thomas of Vashon Island out kick him in the final stretch to win the 3,200 meters by just over two seconds.

Thomas, a freshman, turned in a personal record time of 9 minutes, 13.84 seconds to Headrick's 9:15.87, not only a PR but also a new state record. But obviously, so did Thomas.

Headrick, who is off to the University of San Francisco this fall, finished third in the 1,600 in a time of 4:17.97, also a PR and another close race where just two-and-a-quarter seconds was the gap in the top three runners. Andrew Luce of Lynden Christian won with a 4:14.7. Thomas, the 3,200 winner, was fourth at 4:19.19.

"He (Headrick) was 100 meters away of being a 1A state champion," head coach Gene Blankenship said. "A whole race and this guy (Thomas) just sat on his shoulders."

Blankenship said, "He (Headrick) had a good weekend, was competitive in both races, just not quite what he wanted to do."

Thrower Chiche Okemgbo matched Headrick's 1,600 finish with a third in the shot put, a PR of 40 feet, 7 1/2 inches. She trailed winner Tabby DeJong's 40-11.50 by just four inches.

"She struggled with the discus cage," Blankenship explained. "They have a professional discus cage with a lot of screening around it," he said, adding it's a lot different than what Okemgbo is used to in Medical Lake.

Okemgbo qualified for four events, finishing seventh in the javelin (109 feet even) and 12th in the discus (102-04). The triple jump and the javelin both started at the same time and were about a quarter mile apart, Blankenship said. Trying to be in two places at one time might have contributed to her seventh place at 34 feet, 3.25 inches - none-the-less a PR for the junior.

Kayla Ramsey was another Cardinal who had high hopes of closing out her record-setting career with a state title. She had two chances.

But the future runner at Western Washington University landed third in the 3,200 at 11 minutes, 17.5 seconds, about 42 seconds behind winner Alexis Leone out of Season Catholic. Ramsey also finished fourth in the 1,600 at 5:12.46, some 12 seconds behind Leone's 4:59.30.

"She ran excellent races," Blankenship said of Ramsey. "(But) she ran up against some really, really tough girls," Ramsey also broke her own school records. "I believe in both events," her coach added.

Liam Earl, a senior, closed out his track time at Medical Lake with a 12th place in the javelin at 144-11. Earl failed to make the finals. "To make the finals he would have had to match his personal record that he threw a district," Blankenship said.

There were numerous positive takeaways from a season that began with many question marks for Blankenship, the now 81-yer-old hall-of-fame coach.

Progress in field events was one of those.

"Historically we've been terrible in field events," he said. But thanks to the efforts of Kyle Fischer, "(We) got two field event people to state, one boy and girl," Blankenship reminded. He's the first one to let people know "I have nothing to do with it, I'm not even a good spectator."

Paul Delaney is a retired Free Press Publishing reporter and can be reached at [email protected].