It’s all in the legs.
At least that was the explanation Auburn Riverside junior McKenzi Williams gave when she was outlasted by Auburn sophomore Rebecca Thareek during the 100-meter hurdles during Friday and Saturday’s Class 3A West Central/Southwest bi-district track and field meet at Sunset Chev Stadium in Sumner.
Thareek won that event in 14.9 – seven-hundredths of a second faster than Williams.
“Those legs of hers,” Williams said, “I don’t know what I can do against them. I can get her with my speed from the start, but her (long) legs will catch me no matter what. She’s a true athlete.”
Both will have an opportunity to compete in that event again during the 3A state championships, which run Thursday through Saturday at Mount Tahoma High School in Tacoma.
The victory was just the beginning of a successful district meet for Thareek. She also won another Auburn School District showdown in the 300 intermediate hurdles in 45.61 seconds on Saturday. Auburn Mountainview junior Molly House was second in that event (45.95).
“Molly’s very nice and she’s very good at what she does,” Thareek said. “We keep each other competitive.”
Thareek almost won a third individual title in the high jump, but was unable to clear the bar at 5 feet, 2 inches, which Hazen senior Michelle Lilly accomplished. Thareek had to leave and return to that event in order to run the 110 hurdles Friday.
“I was just totally wiped out and tired,” Thareek said. “Hopefully, there’s a little more time (at state). That would help a lot.”
While Thareek stood out in the individual events, Auburn Mountainview had the area’s top relay team. The Lions’ 800 team of Malia Brudvik, Brianna Zaragoza-Jones, Chloe Wagner and Lily Lavine finished second in 1:46.36 behind Enumclaw (1:44.61).
On the boys side, Auburn Mountainview’s Talan Alfrey followed up his league championship in the triple jump with a district title at 45-10 1/4. That was a significant improvement on his then-personal-best 43-10 mark that won the league meet the previous week in Sumner.
“I just keep improving,” Alfrey said. “That’s the goal.”
Alfrey’s teammate, junior Benjamin Mose, placed second in the high jump at 6-0 behind Lincoln senior Terrell Bromer (6-02). Those performances helped the Lions finish sixth 29.33 points.
Auburn Riverside (14.33) and Auburn (six) placed 16th and 20th, respectively. Lincoln won the team title with 133.33 points.
Auburn Mountainview also finished sixth on the girls side with 66 points. Auburn had 28 points, while Auburn Riverside scored 18 to finish 16th and 17th, respectively. Hazen won the team championship with 145 points.
