Prep girls track and field: Ingram making mark in first year with Mountaineers

May 11—DISTRICT QUALIFIERS

(Out of 18 events)

Rainier — 17

Adna — 12

Morton-White Pass — 9

Winlock — 8

Napavine — 7

Toledo — 6

Onalaska — 5

KALAMA — It is one of the most brutal schedules for the Class 2B state track and field championships.

Running all three distance events — 800, 1,600 and 3,200-meter runs — is not for the faint of heart. The mile is on Thursday, then the 800 and 3,200 are separated by roughly 2 1/2 hours on Saturday.

Add in the 1,600-meter relay finals three hours after the two-mile, it leads to minimal rest.

And Madison Ingram is signing up for it.

"Last week, I decided I'm all in," the junior said. "I want to do it all and prove people wrong."

The Rainier High School standout won the distance triple and kicked off its winning 1,600 relay to fuel the Mountaineers to take the C2BL Championship crown with 163 points on Friday night at Chinook Stadium.

It is another meet win for Rainier, its eighth this spring and just the second from a field with at least 10 teams. Adna was second with 112 points while Winlock took fifth with 59 points. Napavine (50.67), Toledo (47), Morton-White Pass (43) and Onalaska (29) finished sixth-through-ninth.

"Just one step," Mountaineers head coach Rob Henry said. "Everybody performed, which was fantastic."

Ingram is in her first year at Rainier after transferring from NW Christian in Lacey. Her family lives in Rainier, so the move was motivated to be in the home school district.

Plus, she's part of a team. The Wolverines didn't have enough girls to score points.

"It brought back my love for running," Ingram said.

Coming off a stellar cross country season that featured a state meet berth, Ingram has rolled that momentum into track.

She hasn't lost in six times running the 800, setting a new PR on Friday with a time of 2 minutes, 31.23 seconds. Ingram has won six of seven times in the 1,600 and five of six 3,200 races.

Henry has seen the trickle down effect to the rest of the distance runners viewing what Ingram is accomplishing.

"She knows what it takes to reach the state level," he said. "She's been a great leader, kind of a silent leader."

Ingram admitted he didn't know what her goals were at the beginning of the season. Now, they've come into focus.

She wants to be on the podium in all four events.

"That's going to be my goal," Ingram said.

"She is more than strong enough and smart enough runner to conserve her energy," Henry added. "I wouldn't put her in there if she (couldn't). I'm not going to ask her to do all that work and not get something out of it."

Rainier's Acacia Murphy and Ella Marvin each set new school records in the high jump and pole vault, respectively.

Murphy cleared 5-5 in the high jump for the first time this season. It comes after the junior cleared 5-4.25 at the Activators Classic three weeks ago, but missed all three attempts at 5-5.

"They felt amazing, everything was spot on," Murphy said. "I felt more jumpy. As soon as I jumped, I knew I was over the bar."

She couldn't get over 5-6. Still, Murphy is more than happy with her standing heading into districts.

"I feel like getting 5-5 brought a big release off my shoulders," Murphy said.

Marvin set a new PR by clearing 10-10 in the pole vault. She did it in darkness as it was one of two field events still going on once the running events were completed.

She beat the rest of the field by over three feet.

"I love it, that is so cool," Henry said.

Haleigh Hanson (shot put) and Jazzlyn Shumate (400) also were winners for Rainier.

The Mountaineers qualified for 17 of 18 events in the Class 2B District 4 meet next week at W.F. West High School. Adna is bringing 12 while Morton-White Pass (nine), Winlock (eight), Napavine (seven), Toledo (six) and Onalaska (five) are bringing at least a handful.

Winlock's Victoria Sancho claimed the 100-meter dash in 12.94 seconds. It marks the first time the sophomore ran under 13 seconds in her career.

"One part of it was definitely the weather," Sancho said. "I have to get out of my head and let my body go."

It was a battle with Murphy, running side-by-side, but Sancho clipped the returning state medalist. After weeks of not seeing improvement, Sancho soaked in the win afterwards.

She also was the runner-up in the 200 and triple jump.

"I think I can do better than that," Sancho said. "For me, it is endurance. That helps in the 100, working on my form and my block start."

Cali Scofield secured the long jump for the Cardinals.

Adna had three lifetime bests from Megan Price, Lillian Boyd and Karsyn Freeman.

Price became the new 2B leader in the 200, claiming the event in 26.61 seconds. Boyd reset her own school record in the discus with a toss of 127-01. Freeman broke 16 seconds in the 100 hurdles, cruising to a victory. Freeman and Price also ran on the winning 400 relay.

"I'd like to think we're inching closer and we'll always compete," Pirates head coach Todd Penman said of the team race with Rainier. "They've got some kids, but we do too. We'll fight to the end."

Napavine's Keira O'Neill brought home the triple jump win and Morton-White Pass' 800 relay crossed the finish line first. Onalaska had top-eight finishes in five of the seven field events and Toledo recorded four runner-up performances.