Meridian’s Van Dyke finishes second in 1A state pole vault

Meridian’s Lucas Van Dyke beat his own personal best to finish second in the pole vault at the Class 1A Boys’ State Track and Field Championships on Friday, May 27 at Eastern Washington University.

Van Dyke cleared 13 feet, 6 inches, which is three inches better than his previous personal best to earn his first state medal.

Seattle Christian’s Evan Shimasaki won the event at 15-6.

Nooksack, Meridian throwers medal

Though Nooksack Valley’s Colton Kautz finished fifth and Meridian’s Chris Poortinga finished sixth in the discus, they probably came away feeling very different about their days.

Kautz entered Friday with the second-longest 1A throw in the state this spring (166 feet, 3 inches). His throw Friday of 153-5 was short of that mark, but still strong enough to earn the junior his first state track and field medal.

Poortinga, meanwhile, uncorked a throw of 144-9 — almost 10 feet more than his personal best — on his second throw to earn his medal.

Burgess claims eighth

Meridian’s Camden Burgess’ first jump was good enough to earn him an eighth-place medal in the triple jump.

Burgess jumped 41-3, to keep Nooksack Valley’s Connor Beard (40-10.25) just off the podium in the event.

Beard didn’t have all that bad a day, though, as he claimed the final qualifying spot in the 100 meters with his preliminary time of 11.67 seconds and helped the Pioneers’ 4x100 relay team do the same with a qualifying mark of 44.63 seconds.

Clearing the hurdle

Whatcom County will have three runners in the 110 hurdles final, as Meridian’s Marcus McGuinn was fourth fastest in 15.34 seconds, Nooksack Valley’s Aaron Bosscher was fifth fastest in 16.30 seconds and Meridian’s Harlon Struit was seventh fastest in 16.57 seconds in Friday’s preliminaries.

Lynden Christian’s Stephen Cummins also made it through to the 400 meters final with the fourth-fastest qualifying time in that event (51.05 seconds).

This story was originally published May 27, 2016 at 9:34 PM with the headline "Meridian’s Van Dyke finishes second in 1A state pole vault."