Sports - High Schools

POSTED: Saturday, May. 30, 2009

PREP TRACK AND FIELD: Bjornsson first in 100 hurdles

TACOMA - In the moments following the Class 3A girls' 100-meter hurdles finals, Ferndale senior Tanya Bjornsson was sure she'd finished third. Or second. Maybe even fourth. But certainly not first.

It's a good thing she didn't waste even a moment looking over her shoulder at the rest of the field, as it turned out she needed every step to win the gold medal.

Bjornsson turned in a career-best time of 14.66 seconds to edge Diana Keller of Mount Si by less then half a second and win a state title at Star Track XXVII at Mount Tahoma High School in Tacoma on Friday, May 29. After the race Bjornsson was still in disbelief.

"I thought maybe I finished third," Bjornsson said. "I knew it was close, but I didn't think I had won. It's exciting."

Friday's race marked just the second time in Bjornsson career that she broken 15 seconds in the event. The first came a day earlier when she turned in a 14.95 to qualify for the final.

"I've never broken 15 seconds before in my life and I did it today and yesterday," Bjornsson said. "I guess all of that hard work is paying off."

Bjornsson, who plans to run at Western Washington University next season, ran in the sixth lane and led basically from start to finish. Keller tried one final kick to catch her at the end, but Bjornsson had just enough left to hit the line first.

"Before the race I just told myself that this was my last 100 as a high schooler," Bjornsson said. "I just decided to go out there and run. Just run faster is my motto."