Last year at this time, Auburn Mountainview senior Christi Ometu wasn’t even in the state, let alone the state 3A championship track-and-field meet.

“I made it to districts last year in Virginia,” she said. “But not to state.”

This year, back at Auburn Mountainview, which she attended as a sophomore, Ometu not only found her way to the state tourney, but also managed to take home a sixth-place finish in the shot put with a 36-foot, 3.75-inch toss. Ometu also finished 16th in the discus with an 80-10 throw.

“I’m very pleased with my finish in the shot put,” Ometu said. “I was expecting to get my PR, but I was pleased I placed higher than I did in my sophomore year. I’m not very consistent with discus, I’m much more consistent at the shot put.”

Ometu returned home just in time to see the Washington state combined 2A/3A/4A meet return to the Western side of the mountains, as opposed to Pasco where the meet was held in year’s past.

“It was crazy,” Ometu said of this year’s meet. “I went my sophomore year (Ometu placed 14th at the 2007 3A meet) but this year was crazy.”

Ometu said it was nice not to have to stay in a hotel the evening of the event.

“It was nice we got to sleep in our own beds,” she said.

Additionally, Ometu said she was glad she got to experience the state meet with several teammates from Auburn Mountainview.

“I”m glad our 4×400 girls made it,” she said. “Otherwise, I would have been alone with the guys. It was nice that they got to watch my event, too. Usually they are off running, but they were able to watch me this year.”

Next year Ometu will attend Eastern Washington University where she’ll major in pre-law. She said she plans to try out for the track-and-field team as a walk-on.

But for now, she’ll take off the summer and bask in the glow of a successful high school career.

“The highlight was probably the big PR at district, beating my old one by over four-feet,” she said. “And learning a new way to throw.”

ALSO: In addition to Ometu, 14 other athletes from Auburn Mountainview, Auburn Riverside and Auburn high schools competed at the Washington State 3A and 4A championship track-and-field meet in Tacoma this past weekend.

For the Lions, competing in the 3A classification, senior Seth Rumbaugh wrapped up his prep career with a second-place finish in the 800 meter with a 1-minute, 54.40 second time. Rumbaugh also finished 16th in the 1,600 – with a 4:32.38 time – and led the school’s 4×400 relay team, with Matt Gayman, Jarey Suiter and Vince Wagner – to a 3:23.12, third-place finish.

The Auburn Mountainview girls 4×400 team of Kendra Alexson, Krystal Clark, Tayla Alfrey and Kylie Olenick finished 16th with a 4:13.98 time.

In the team competition the Auburn Mountainview girls finished in a five-way tie for 39th place with 3 points. Rainier Beach was first in the 47 team field with 65 points.

The boys team was 18th out of 49 teams with 14 points. North Central took home first in the 3A boys team competition with 52 points.

In the 4A boys competition, Auburn was led by sophomore Danny Shelton, who finished fifth in the shot put with a 53.00.75 throw. The boys team finished in 39th place with four points. Mead led the pack of 52 teams with 49 points.

The Auburn Riverside boys team eked out a three-way tie for 40th place with 3 points. Senior Julian-Blake Cowan was ninth in the 1,600 with a 4:21.21 and sixth in the 3,200 with a 9:15.70. Teammate Kenny Krotzer, a junior, finished 14th in the 1,600 with a 4:23.87 time.

Krotzer, who for much of the year was one of the frontrunners in 4A in the 800 and 1,600, said he came down with a serious fever the day after the district meet.

“I was running like a 104-degree fever,” he said.

Because of the severity of his fever, Krotzer said he wasn’t able to put in the miles training for the state meet like he normally would. Krotzer said he is all healed up now and planning to compete in a track meet in the next couple of weeks.

“I’m really looking forward to next year,” he added.

Senior Raven Thomas Hartwell finished just off the podium with a ninth-place, 22-01.25 leap in the long jump.

In the girls 4A Auburn Riverside finished in a four-way tie for 42nd with four points, courtesy of junior Rebecca Turnbow’s fifth-place finish in the pole vault. Turnbow turned in a personal best 11-00.00 vault.

Auburn junior Micheal Paulston, who was first in the 3A in the 1,600 last season, finished 13th in the 1,600 with a 5:14.66.

Bellarmine Prep bested 53 teams in the 4A girls team competition with 56 points.