Emily Lettenmaier breaks away from the pack to win the 1500 meters in McNary’s dual meet with Sprague (KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings).
McNary’s boys and girls track teams had great showings in their dual meet with Sprague on Wednesday, April 10 as both teams won nine events each.
McLean Schmit was the one that stood out the most for the McNary boys as the senior won both the 110 and 300-meter hurdles and set personal-best times in each race. McLean finished the 110-hurdles in 16.66 seconds and the 300-hurdles in 44.36 seconds, helping the Celtic boys dominate the majority of the running events.
“(Schmit) has just put in a lot of really hard work and he’s such a good technical hurdler,” McNary head coach Frank Gauntz said. “He’s running really well right now.”
Schmit, however, wasn’t the only Celtic setting personal records in this meet.
Elio Carella hit a new personal-high in the 400m (53.70) as did freshman Benjamin Standley in the 1500m (4:42.59).
McNary sprinter Ethan Martin continued his hot start to the season with his win in the 100-meter dash (11.75).
Bryan Hernandez, who is in his first season with the Celtics as a junior, filled in for Sebastian Shoemaker in the 200m and wound up winning the race with a time of 23.87.
The Celtic boys also were victorious in both the 4×100 and 4×400 relay races.
Sunny Hoang was the other individual winner for the McNary boys with his victory in the pole vault, jumping 9-feet-8 inches.
For the McNary girls, sophomore Audrey Williams set her new personal-record in the 800m (2:44.64) and freshman Emily Lettenmaier was just able to pull away down the stretch in the 1500m (6:02.84).
Through four meets, Isabella Walker is looking to be the Celtics most versatile athlete. The sophomore ran away with the 300-hurdles (53.71) and also pulled out a win in the high jump (5-00).
“Isabella is a really good athlete. If she could do every event, she probably would,” Gauntz said. “It’s nice to have that kind of flexibility in an athlete. We’re still trying to figure out what’s even is going to give her the best chance to go to state.”
Caitlyn Kiefiuk Yates won the other hurdles event for the Celtics, winning the 100 in 17.67 — her top mark of the season.
The McNary girls swept all throwing events with victories by Kennedy Buss in the discus (89-0), Kylie Dean in the shot put (29-7.75) and Sabella Alfaro in the javelin (114-5).
With this being her second season competing in track & field, Alfaro’s steady improvement could land her in the state meet in late-May.
“I feel like I have really been able to focus more on throwing this year than anything else,” Alfaro said. “I just need to stay motivated and keep learning and working hard.”
McNary will compete again on Saturday up north in the Wilsonville Invitational along with 26 other teams.