Northwest Christian Girls Place Fifth in Yakima

Northwest Christian left the State 2B Track and Field championships with multiple podium finishes, two individual state titles, and a fifth-place trophy for the girls team. Faith Hamilton and Rylie Rettedal led the Crusaders with state championships. Hamilton won the girls pole vault with a personal-best clearance of 11 feet, while teammate Arielle Manuel added a fifthplace finish in the same event at 8 feet, 6 inches. Rettedal won the girls long jump with a mark of 17 feet, and later placed third in the triple jump at 35 feet, 0.75 inches. She also helped Northwest Christian’s girls 4x100 relay team place fifth, joining Hamilton, June Birnbaum, and Natalie Barker for a time of 51.78 seconds. Hamilton added another podium finish in the girls 300-meter hurdles, placing seventh in 48.64 seconds. She also competed in the 100 hurdles prelims, finishing 12th in 17.64, while Audra Mirante was 10th in the same event at 17.57. In the distance races, Allie Robertson posted a pair of third-place finishes. Robertson was third in the girls 1,600 in a personal-best 5:17.85, and third in the 3,200 at 11:35.16. On the boys side, Eli Vlietstra reached the podium twice for the Crusaders. He placed third in the 3,200 with a personal-best time of 9:46.81, and fifth in the 1,600 at 4:29.01. Oliyad Boone also scored in the 1,600, finishing seventh in 4:31.98, and was ninth in the 800 prelims at 2:03.32. Northwest Christian also had several other state qualifiers in action. Colton Newman placed 11th in the boys 100 meter prelims in a personal-best 11.17, and 11th in the 200 prelims in 23.17. The boys 4x100 relay team of Newman, Nathaniel Barker, Aiden Goodman, and Patrick Duerr finished 19th in the prelims at 46.18, while Goodman placed 17th in the long jump at 17 feet, 6.75 inches.