State track notes, Day 3: Lincoln’s Frazier makes history in the hurdles
Lincoln High School senior Jonathan Frazier made hurdles history twice this weekend at the Class 3A state track and field meet at Mount Tahoma Stadium.
Friday afternoon in Tacoma, he raced to a win in the 110 hurdles, becoming the first hurdler in the school’s history to win the 110-meter event.
The only other short-distance hurdles winner for Lincoln, per WIAA records, was Dave Williams in 1963, when competitors raced in the 120-yard high hurdles.
Then Saturday afternoon, Frazier topped the podium again, winning the 300 hurdles and earning the second title in the race in Lincoln’s history, nearly a decade after Therron Randle’s victory in 2014.
With the two wins, Frazier is also the first in program history to win both hurdles races.
“I’m proud to be a Lincoln Abe,” he said following Saturday’s thrilling win. “I was not expecting it to go this way, but — seize the moment.”
Frazier earned his first state title with Friday’s victory in the 110 hurdles, winning a quick race that included four competitors who ran sub-15 seconds.
Frazier’s personal-best time of 14.23 seconds — which ends the season ranked second statewide — was enough to best Seattle Prep’s Drew Velling (14.31).
“I knew deep down I could do it,” Frazier said after the race. “I’ve worked hard.”
Frazier is now the fourth consecutive hurdler from a Pierce County high school to win the 3A boys 110 hurdles, joining Silas’ Jaylen McCabe — who Frazier ran with over the summer — last season, Gig Harbor’s Jurian Hering, who won back-to-back titles in the event in 2018 and 2019, and Bonney Lake’s Cody Miller in 2017.
“It just feels great,” Frazier said. “It’s surreal.”
The victory in Saturday afternoon’s 300 hurdles was just as intense, with the top three separated by less than a second. His winning time of 37.27 seconds, a personal-best, ended the spring as the top time statewide, and ranks 21st in the nation.
Frazier, who is headed to Eastern Washington in the fall, reached the podium twice more on the final day, running legs of the Abes’ 4x100 relay (sixth, season-best 42.32) and 4x400 relay (eighth, 3:27.91) to wrap up his high school career.
FEDERAL WAY’S ATKINS SWEEPS LONG JUMP, TRIPLE JUMP
Cassandra Atkins predicted this outcome Thursday, moments after repeating as the 4A girls state champion in the triple jump.
She was going to win the long jump this weekend in Tacoma, too.
“I’m putting that in the air now,” Atkins said. “I’m winning that jump.”
When medals were awarded for the event Saturday afternoon, it was indeed the Federal Way junior standing on top of the podium.
Atkins was the runner-up in the long jump last spring as a sophomore, jumping a 17-8 1/2. Emerald Ridge’s JaiCieonna Gero-Holt won the event at 18-4 1/4.
Atkins said she didn’t feel like she performed her best in last season’s competition, a motivating factor to return and win the event this spring.
“I just didn’t feel like I was actually competing like I usually would,” Atkins said of last season’s result. “But now, this is what it feels like for me to compete. This is good marks for me. This is what I should be doing.”
After leading the state in the event throughout the spring — her personal-best 20-0 3/4 at the 4A North Puget Sound League championship meet earlier this month also ranks 20th nationally — Atkins surpassed 19 feet on three of her six attempts. Her winning jump of 19-3 3/4 was on her second attempt.
“I just like to visualize what I’m going to do before I jump, so I just take a breath in and then get ready and then I just go. And I just send it every single jump,” she said. “I try my hardest to just run and run and run and just jump and get my biggest one every time.”
The win gave Atkins a sweep in the 4A girls long jump and triple jump, which she won Thursday afternoon at 40-8 1/2. Her personal-best 41-2 1/2 also jumped at the 4A NPSL championship meet is ranked 12th in the nation this spring.
“It’s pretty awesome,” Atkins said of her sweep this weekend. “I feel really good about it.”
Gero-Holt, a sophomore, finished second in the long jump (personal-best 18-11 1/4), adding her eighth podium finish in eight events the past two seasons, which includes six titles.
KENTRIDGE’S CONNER WINS HURDLES TITLE
Seven years after his older brother, Tanner, won the 4A boys 300 hurdles title for Kentridge, senior Alex Conner won another for the Chargers.
“He was coaching me all this year,” Conner said. “I was sending him videos. He told me what to eat and have for breakfast this morning so I could have the energy and stamina for this race. I thank him, too, man. It’s incredible.”
Tanner Conner, a former football and track star for Kentridge — who went on to play receiver and race at Idaho State, and is currently in the Miami Dolphins organization — won the 4A championship in the race as a senior in 2016, posting a personal-best 37.44.
Saturday, Alex Conner, who returned to the track at districts last week after dealing with injuries earlier this spring, also wrapped up his senior year with a win in the race, running a personal-best 38.1.
“I was chasing his time this whole year,” Alex Conner said. “That was my goal, and I think shoot for the moon, land on the stars. I got 38.1. I couldn’t have dreamed or imagined something that fast, so I’m super grateful.”
He was excited to share the news of his title win with his brother moments after the race.
“I know he’ll be happy for me,” he said.
Alex Conner also helped the Chargers to a victory in the 4x100 relay Saturday, running anchor for a team that posted a winning time of 41.93.
SOUTH SOUND CHAMPIONS
Several more South Sound athletes won individual state championships on Saturday’s final day.
▪ Curtis sophomore Mateo Cordero won the boys 200 ambulatory with a personal-best, meet-record 26.66.
▪ Kentridge senior Alex Conner won the 4A boys 300 hurdles with a personal-best 38.1.
▪ Kentridge’s 4x100 relay team of senior Jonah Tongco, sophomore Berry Crosby, senior James Caribo and Conner won the 4x100 relay at 41.93.
▪ South Kitsap senior Brendan Bourke won the 4A boys discus with a personal-best 169-6.
▪ Curtis senior Andrew Shirley won the 4A boys pole vault at 15-0.
▪ Federal Way senior Roman Hutchinson won the 4A boys long jump at 23-9.
▪ Tahoma senior Brooke Lyons repeated in the 4A girls 200 at 24.72, and won the 4A girls 400 with a personal-best 54.13.
▪ South Kitsap sophomore Amelya Lester-Dame won the girls 200 ambulatory at 31.54.
▪ Curtis’ team of freshman Frankie Skipper, senior Ava Simms, sophomore Azariah Miller and senior Lenice Walston won the 4A girls 4x100 relay with a season-best 48.07.
▪ The Vikings’ team of Walston, senior Noelle Lordahl, Miller and Simms also won the 4A girls 4x200 relay with a season-best 1:42.47.
▪ Federal Way junior Cassandra Atkins won the 4A girls long jump at 19-3 3/4.
▪ Bonney Lake senior Cooper Wilson won the 3A boys 100 at 10.91.
▪ Lincoln senior Jonathan Frazier won the 3A boys 300 hurdles with a personal-best 37.27.
▪ Yelm junior Brayden Platt repeated as champion in the 3A boys shot put at 61-10.
▪ Auburn Riverside sophomore Julia Couch repeated as champion in the 3A girls 800 with a personal-best 2:10.78.
▪ Capital’s team of senior Lucy Heminway, senior Amanda Moll, junior Lilly Geuin and senior Hana Moll repeated as 3A girls 4x100 relay champion with a season-best 48.13.
▪ The Cougars’ team of Heminway, Amanda Moll, junior Addison Harrington and Hana Moll won the 4x200 relay with a season-best 1:42.54.
▪ Silas sophomore Addison Kelly won the 3A girls triple jump at 37-10 1/4.
▪ Tumwater junior Annabelle Clapp won the 2A girls 400 at 59.1.
▪ Tumwater’s team of freshman Cassidy Hedin, Clapp, sophomore Reese Heryford and sophomore Ava Jones repeated as 2A girls 4x200 relay champion with a season-best 1:43.55.
▪ The T-Birds’ team of Hedin, Jones, Heryford and Clapp also won the 2A girls 4x400 with a season-best 4:02.4.
▪ Clover Park junior Kamila Salanoa won the 2A girls shot put with a personal-best 38-6.
