The Mariners brought some nice jewelry home from the 2014 State Track and Field Championships in Anchorage over the weekend. There are two first-place medals, four seconds, five thirds, and two fourths. The girls took third place overall and, for the second year in a row, received the Academic Achievement Award for having an average grade-point-average of 3.77. 

“We had a terrific meet. Really excellent performances when you want them, at state,” said Head Coach Bill Steyer.

Aurora Waclawski snagged the first-place medal in the girls 800 meters.

“I was pretty confident she could win. She’s just been running excellent,” said Steyer. “And she dropped some time, too. Personal records at state are what it takes to really rise to the occasion and be a champion and perform well, and she did.”

The other first place went to the girls 4×400 team of Ziza Shemet Pitcher, Tayla Cabana, Crystal Crane and Waclawski.

“They were the defending champions and they won that event again with an incredible time, five seconds faster than we ran at Regions,” said Steyer.

In addition to a second-place title, the girls 4×800 relay team of Molly Mitchell, Tayla Cabana, Ziza Shemet Pitcher and Aurora Waclawski also broke the Homer High School record.

“They barely broke it, but they broke it,” said Steyer. “We’ve been trying to do that for the last year.”

Second place medals also went to Connor Seay in the 300-meter hurdles, Waclawski in the 400 and the team of Angie Cardoza, Lauren Evarts, Crane and Pitcher in the girls 4×200.

Mitchell claimed two third-place medals, one each in the 1600, 3200.

“She did unbelievably,” said Steyer. “She had to race against the second two fastest girls in the state behind (Kenai’s record-breaking) Allie Ostrander, but Molly had an unbelievable run.”

Mitchell’s 5:19 mile was seven seconds off her time in regions.

“She is really fast,” said Steyer.

Pedro Ochoa took third place in the 800 meter.

“He had a little bit of a cold, but he came in third,” said Steyer. 

Cabana took two thirds, one each in the 100-meter hurdles and the 300-meter hurdles.

The boys team of Seay, Joseph Cardoza, Jake Richter and John Shank swept into fourth place in the boys 4×100 meter.

This weekend, Mitchell and Waclawski have been invited to participate in the Brian Young Invitational Track and Field Meet in Kodiak. 

“(Waclawski) has been invited to be on the 4×400 relay team and she’ll do some individual events. (Mitchell) got invited to run the 1600,” said Steyer. “It’s a nice opportunity for those girls.”

Now that the high school track and field season is over, some of the athletes will continue to stay active through the summer through Kachemak Bay Running Club’s Youth Running Program. As in past years, Steyer has plans to take some of the cross country team to the Steens Mountain High Altitude Running Camp in Oregon.

McKibben Jackinsky can be reached at mckibben.jackinsky@homernews.com.

ASAA 1A, 2A, 3A State Championships

May 24 — Dimond High School, Anchorage

Boys team results

1 Anchorage Christian, 89; 2. Grace Christian, 53; 2. Seward, 53; 4. Ben Eielson, 51; 5. Skyview, 32; 6. Glennallen, 30; 7. Galena, 28; 8. Sitka, 27; 9. Monroe Catholic, 23; 10. Nikiski, 22; 11. Homer, 20; 12. Cook Inlet Academy, 18; 12. Haines, 18; 14. Petersburg, 16; 15. Houston, 14; 16. Tri-Valley, 10; 16. Valdez, 10; 18. Wasilla Lake Christian, 4; 18. Skagway, 4; 20. Susan B. English, 1.

Boys individual results for Homer and Susan B. English

800 meters: 3. Pedro Ochoa, Homer, 2:04.159

1600 meters: 7. Pedro Ochoa, Homer, 4:54.009

3200 meters: 5. Pedro Ochoa, Homer, 10:24.676

110 meter hurdles, 39 inches: 6. Souleymane Sidibe, Susan B. English, 20.926

300 meter hurdles, 36 inches: 2. Connor Seay, Homer, 43.460

400×100 relay: 4. Homer team of Connor Seay, Joseph Cardoza, Jake Richter and John Shank, 46.972

Triple jump: 7. Calem Collier, Susan B. English, 36’02.00

Girls team results

1. Grace Christian, 96; 2. Anchorage Christian, 79; 3. H0mer, 75; 4. Glennallen, 50; 5. Petersburg, 46; 6. Thorne Bay, 29; 7. Su Valley, 23; 7. Skyview, 23; 9. Hutchison, 22; 10. Ben Eielson, 18; 11. Seward, 13; 12. Cool Inlet Academy, 11; 13. Birchwood Christian, 10; 14. Valdez, 6; 15. Sitka, 5; 15. Nikiski, 5; 17. Monroe Catholic, 4; 17. Holy Rosary Academy, 4; 19. Yakutat, 2; 19. Delta Junction, 2.

Girls individual results for Homer

400 meters: 2. Aurora Waclawski, Homer, 1:02.416; 5. Ziza Shemet Pitcher, Homer, 1:06.074

800 meters: 1. Aurora Waclawski, Homer, 2:22.458; 4. Molly Mitchell, Homer, 2:25.410

1600 meters: 3. Molly Mitchell, Homer, 5:19.196

3200 meters: 3. Molly Mitchell, Homer, 11:42.369; 7. Audrey Rosencrans, Homer, 13:02.985;

100 meter hurdles, 33 inches: 3. Tayla Cabana, Homer, 17.113; 6. Lauren Evarts, 17.845

300 meter hurdles, 30 inches: 3. Tayla Cabana, Homer, 51.258

4×100 relay: 6. Homer team of Angie Cardoza, Lauren Evarts, Crystal Crane and Lilli Johnson, 55.209

4×200 relay: 2. Homer team of Angie Cardoza, Lauren Evarts, Crystal Crane and Ziza Shemet Pitcher, 1:53.994

4×400 relay: 1. Homer team of Ziza Shemet Pitcher, Tayla Cabana, Crystal Crane and Aurora Waclawski, 4:15.040

4×800 relay: 2. Homer team of Molly Mitchell, Tayla Cabana, Ziza Shemet Pitcher and Aurora Waclawski, 10:10.234