5 can't-miss moments from Day 2 of WIAA 4A/3A/2A Track & Field State Championships

TACOMA - Just about everywhere one looked on Friday, a competitor was challenging a state meet record on Day 2 at the WIAA 4A/3A/2A Track & Field State Meet at Mount Tahoma Stadium in Tacoma.

In all, five records fell – two in 2A, one in 3A and two in 4A – while several others came up just short.

The only running finals contested were the six sprint hurdles races, and athletes from the South Sound dominated by winning five of the six. The exception came in the 2A boys race – where a couple of friends from the Bellingham area took a significant bite out of the meet record and challenged their own all-time state marks.

Here are five can't-miss moments from Day 2:

Korbmacher wins, sets hurdles record

Andre Korbmacher wasn’t about to be deterred. So what if there was a fairly hefty headwind blowing down the track as the Squalicum senior stepped into the blocks for the finals of the state 110 meters hurdles.

So what if his friend, club teammate and rival from Sehome, Carter Birade, stood next to him. And so what if the skies opened up and poured rain down sideways like it hadn’t done all day.

Korbmacher pushed all the potential distractions to the rear and still set a new 2A state meet record of 13.83 seconds to win the title.

“I think that might have been one of my best races,” Korbmacher said. “We got a headwind, it felt like. I came out, I performed. I am really happy with my performance.”

Birade stuck to Korbmacher’s side for eight hurdles before fading slightly to finish second in 14.28 seconds.

“Even at the end, I felt him on me,” said Korbmacher, who already had lowered the record to 14.02 during his prelim heat on Thursday. “I really pushed myself to be able to go under that 14 seconds.”

Moll takes a stab at history

The 3A state pole vault title and meet record already was in hand. But Amanda Moll thought she could add one more historic cherry on top.

The Capital junior on Friday morning came within an arm brush against the bar on her way down of becoming the first high school girl in the country to vault 15 feet. Back on March 26, Moll made a National Federation record 14-9.25 at the Clyde Littlefield Relays in Texas.

“I thought I was over,” Moll said. “But I nicked it on the way down. In the back of my head, I think 15 is the bar – always.”

Moll settled for a 3A meet record 14 feet, 6 inches on Friday. Her sister, Hana, was the runner-up at 14-0, a mark that tied the previous meet record set in 2019 by West Seattle’s Chloe Cunliffe.

Hana earned a state title of her own later in the day, winning the 100 meters hurdles in 14.66 seconds. That was just ahead of runner-up Olivia Conklin from Hazen, who ran 14.72.

“I really had to earn that one, but I’m excited for that,” Hana said. “I always like to come in thinking positive. I really fought for it and I got it.”

Record-setting Sirmon

Dash Sirmon knew it was in there. Though his qualifying mark entering the 3A state javelin officially was 199 feet, Sirmon had consistently been throwing over 200 feet the past couple of weeks, he said, and has a personal best of 219.

So when the Walla Walla senior let go of his first throw at the state meet on Friday morning, and it felt good, he wasn’t surprised.

“Going into this meet there was a lot of energy, a lot of people,” Sirmon said. “I just had to stay calm and know what I do.”

That throw stuck at 216 feet, 3 inches, good for a new meet record. Sirmon took down the previous mark of 211-0, set by Bellevue’s Robert Hintz in 2009.

“I’ve been working this week at staying back, really hitting the block and it worked out,” Sirmon said. “I was battling a little bit of a headwind, but so was everyone. It felt really good.”

McGloflin can’t quite catch former Bear

A.J. Acoy McGloflin never wavered from his goal.

He wanted to keep the 4A state meet high jump record right there at Central Valley. He just wanted to replace the name of Brent Harkin from 1980 with his own.

While the Bears senior came close, he fell a couple of inches shy. Neverthless, McGloflin did earn the state title in the event with his personal-record tying leap of 6-10.

McGloflin went for seven feet three times after securing the state championship in the event, hoping eventually for a try at Harkin’s record of 7-1. While close, McGloflin couldn’t quite make it over the bar.

“I feel great,” McGloflin said. “I just wanted to break the state record today – the meet record. That’s what I was disappointed about. I wanted that record. I wanted it bad.”

Anticipation becomes an Orange title, not record

Saydi Orange couldn’t wait to compete in the 3A girls javelin. So much so that her mind woke her early on Friday.

“I didn’t compete yesterday, I just came to see what it was about and see all the people,” Orange said. “It made me even more excited to come out today. I woke super early, like 6 a.m., just naturally because I was just so excited.”

The Kentridge senior won her first state title Friday afternoon with a throw of 153-9. She came to the meet fresh off a personal record 157-0 at the bi-district meet just a week ago.

A similar throw would have easily taken down the meet record of 154-6 that Tanya Simora of Puyallup set in 2018. High wind gusts and rain that arrived just as the javelin competition took place kept that goal from happening.

“It was kind of tough,” Orange said. “I would throw it and then the wind would kind of push it back and then it wouldn’t go through the point like I wanted it to. But, (coach) helped me out, he told me to drive it so I could keep it a little bit lower. That’s when I hit the 153 and I felt a little bit more confident after that.”

More for the Record Book

Isabella Nilsen, from Newport (Bellevue), eclipsed her personal record in the pole vault by six inches, going 13-1.5 to win the 4A state title and set a new meet record, beating the 13-0 set in 2019 by former Knight Ashleigh Helms.

Foster’s Lyricc Lopez gave a preview of what could be possible in Saturday morning’s 2A 300 hurdles final, lowering the meet record to 36.77 during an almost loping victory in his prelim heat. The former record of 37.33 was set in 2013 by North Mason’s Craig Allen.

Emerald Ridge freshman JaiCieonna Gero-Holt became a double winner, leaping over the Federal Way duo of Cassandra Atkins and Esther Akinlosotu, who went 1-2 in the triple jump on Thursday, to win the 4A long jump at 18-4.25. Gero-Holt then won the 100 hurdles later in the evening (14.71).