Nelson’s gesture golden

PASCO – Gold isn’t exactly what Andrea Nelson of Shadle Park and Kelly McNamee of Ferris wanted.

McNamee disappointedly accepted hers and Nelson eagerly gave hers away Friday at StarTrack XXVI at Edgar Brown Stadium.

Nelson was declared the winner of the State 4A 3,200 meters when Nicole Cochrane of Bellarmine Prep was disqualified for running three consecutive steps on the inside line of a turn in the seventh lap.

“That’s not fair, she won,” Nelson, a sophomore, said, choking back tears before the awards ceremony. “She totally deserves it, she crushed everybody. I’m in a tough situation. That’s not how you win state.”

After accepting her medal, she ran over to Cochrane, a senior, and gave her the gold medal. Then all the girls who medaled passed them around.

“I feel a lot better; that’s the way it should be,” Nelson said. “I’m glad I got the opportunity to make things right. I feel proud to take second.”

McNamee was disappointed because she only cleared 5 feet, 8 inches, 2 inches shy of last year’s winning mark, which she has matched three times this season, including last week. Her goal was to become the fourth Washington girl to clear 6 feet.

“If I’m going to do this bad, I might as well win,” McNamee, a Ferris senior, said after defending her 4A high jump title. “But I know what I wanted to do today and I didn’t do it.”

Nelson’s win puts the Highlanders in first place with 20 points, with Ferris third at 16.

Mead tops the 4A boys with 15½ points, led by pole vaulter Keith Webber, who had a 3-inch PR to finish third at 14-9.

Thanks to a dramatic stretch run, North Central junior Andrew Kimple finished second in the 3A boys 3,200. NC is expected to be in the hunt for a team trophy but only has eight points. All of its competitors are on the track and the 3,200 was the only running final. Mt. Rainer leads with 15 points.

Kamiakin leads the 3A girls with 31 points with rival Hanford one of three teams tied for second with 13.

4A: Nelson settled in with a large pack in the 3,200 that stayed together, paced by Sandra Martinez of Davis, until Cochran, the state leader, took off with about 250 meters to go.

Nelson waited a little longer and edged Sarah Lord of Redmond at the finish for a time of 10 minutes, 40.04 seconds, more than 8 seconds better than the personal record she set here last year in finishing third.

“Better than last year, that’s all I wanted,” said Nelson, who was more than 3 seconds behind Cochran. “It was a good pace, pretty consistent. I used to go out way too fast. I felt good. Looking back at my season, I’ve had kind of a weird season. I was hoping for a PR and that’s what I got.”

McNamee wasn’t in perfect form from the beginning.

She quickly cleared 5-4 and 5-6, but scraped the bar pretty good, before going off to run the 100-meter hurdle prelims. On her return, it took three tries to get over 5-8.

“I don’t know if I had the confidence coming into state; it wasn’t there,” she said.

While McNamee was hurdling, Christine Rice of Mountain View, the only other high jumper in the state to make 5-8 this season, cleared that height on her first try.

McNamee hit the bar pretty hard on her first attempt at 5-8 and barely grazed it off on the second before easily clearing it on the third.

McNamee tried to put on a happy face before heading over to the long jump, where she managed to have her best jump of the day on her last attempt, 17-6½, but it was 5 inches short of her season best and only good for sixth place.

3A: Kimple wasn’t satisfied with being satisfied.

Hoping for a top-three finish, the junior charged down the homestretch and slipped into third with a time of 9:19.08, a half-second PR.

“I didn’t start feeling (the pace) until the last lap,” he said. “I was kind of surprised I got (second) at the end. It was kind of like last week. I saw it and went to get it. Points are key for our team.”

Ryan Prentice, the state leader, ran a conservative race but blew past Seth Bridges of Lakes, who Kimple passed in the final 10 meters, with 200 meters to go. Kimple, who sat in the fifth or sixth spot most of the way, started his charge with just more than 300 meters to go.

“I feel pretty good about it,” he said. “I wish I could have stayed a little closer, something could have happened, maybe.”

Third on her team, sixth in regionals, Mt. Spokane’s Holleigh Bergstrom knew the odds were against her earning a medal in the javelin. She was seeded 10th overall among the 21 girls, not even the best in the second of three flights.

But the sophomore unleashed a throw of 126-4 on her second attempt, a 2½-foot PR, which was enough to get her into the final eight and eventually, the fourth-place medal, which meant beating a pair of senior teammates for the first time this season.

Lindsey Snyder was sixth after finishing second last year and Jackie Goldman, sixth a year ago, didn’t make the finals.

“It’s really bittersweet,” Bergstrom said. “They’re so amazing. They really pump me up. I’m going to miss them next year.

“I’m really surprised but I’m really happy. I really wasn’t sure about the top eight. There were 21 girls.”

Enumclaw senior Conner Larned, whose father, Russ, graduated from Central Valley in 1975, defended his discus title with a throw of 177-6. All three of his legal throws were farther than the runner-up.