Sprint to glory: Sophomore Laine Gardner, Mt. Spokane girls in prime position to take State 3A track meet by storm

There are a handful of qualifiers for the state track and field championships this weekend who are all but locks to capture gold.

Count the Mt. Spokane girls team as featuring one of the can’t-miss winners, even if a specific name can’t be attached to such a proclamation. This much is a given – a Mt. Spokane sprinter will win when the State 3A meet unfolds Thursday through Friday at Mount Tahoma High School in Tacoma.

She could be a multiple state title winner, too. And it could be by the same athlete.

Here’s why Mt. Spokane is seemingly assured of bringing home state champions: The Wildcats have two of the best sprinters in the 100, 200 and 400 meters in sophomore Laine Gardner and senior Makenna Ritter. They also run a lap on the state-leading 4x400 relay.

At the beginning of the season, it appeared Ritter was going to set a season-long sprint pace. She beat Gardner in the first four meets. But when the calendar turned to postseason, Gardner flipped the script.

Gardner won the 100, 200 and 400 and assisted Ritter, junior Kayli Eastham and freshman Kira Ritter, Makenna’s sister, to win the 4x400 at the Greater Spokane League subdistrict two weeks ago. Those feats were duplicated at the District 6 meet last week.

Ritter finished on Gardner’s heels.

Gardner has rewritten Mt. Spokane’s records and could likely lower them more if a favorable weather forecast holds at state.

“I put down some times I wanted to run at the start of the season and I’ve already met them,” Gardner said.

They were ambitious goals, too. She’s improved by nearly a second in the 100 from her freshman season to this spring, by 1.5 seconds in the 200 and by about 6 seconds in the 400.

With two more seasons, Gardner is being mentioned in the same sentence as Greater Spokane League royalty – Becca Noble of Rogers.

Rogers set league records during a career that spanned 2002-2005 when she won three state titles in the 400, once in the 200, once in the 800 and once as part of a 4x400.

“Becca was the best the GSL has ever had,” said Mt. Spokane coach Annette Helling, who has had a front-row seat as Mt. Spokane’s head coach since the school opened in 1997 and six years previously at Mead and even further back to the early 1980s when she won a hurdle state title and other medals at Central Valley.

Helling saw Gardner’s potential last year.

“We all knew what Laine had to offer,” Helling said. “It was just a matter of when she wanted to put the hammer down and do it. She has a lot left in her.”

Gardner is the youngest of three multiple-sport siblings. Her brother, Bode, is a redshirt freshman wide receiver at Eastern Washington. Her sister, Sloane, a senior, is headed to play basketball at Arizona Christian.

Laine played basketball and soccer through her youth, and she was a starting outside back on the Mt. Spokane soccer team last fall. She played one year of freshman basketball at Mt. Spokane but dropped the sport this year to focus on track, which has become her first love.

Gardner and Makenna Ritter are best friends. They are fiercely competitive in practice and in meets. They don’t shy away from the fact that they want to beat each other.

Gardner knows why she’s blossomed this year. She gives all credit to Ritter.

“I’m incredibly grateful for her,” Gardner said. “I don’t think I could ever run these times without her being on the team. It’s constant competition.”

They condition off the track together as well, doing plyometrics and ankle-strengthening training. Helling said that everything the sprinters do is marked by discipline.

“When we’re at races we warm up together, we slap each other’s backs before we run. And we hug after we run,” Gardner said.

Ritter is headed to Idaho to continue her sprint career.

“Her running with me has made me the athlete that I am,” Ritter said. “I just signed with a school that I didn’t think I’d be able to run at. I wouldn’t have that opportunity without Laine.”

Gardner wants nothing less than four state titles.

“I want to keep what I’ve started going,” Gardner said. “We want to go 1-2 at state. If I don’t win, I’ll still support Makenna if she wins. We just try to make each other better.”

The proof is in the rankings.

Gardner is hopeful that Kira Ritter will fill the shoes vacated by her graduating sister. Kira has run times this season faster than Gardner and Makenna ran as freshmen.

“Kira will definitely keep me on my toes,” Gardner said.

“It’s very hard mentally to train if you’re the only fast person on your team. So I’m looking forward to having a Ritter around for a while.”

“Kira is an amazing runner,” Makenna said. “She’s 10 times better than I was as a freshman. She’s been overshadowed by me and Laine a little bit. I’m excited to see what she can do at state.”

Gardner and the Ritters will begin training for their club summer season two days after state concludes. They’ll end up competing in national meets at the University of Oregon and in Savannah, Georgia, this summer.

First, though, is finishing the high school season. Mt. Spokane is taking 12 athletes to state, and Helling said each is capable of scoring points.

The Wildcats will need every point possible to challenge Mercer Island for the state title.

Mt. Spokane has earned state trophies for third and fourth places but never a state championship. Capturing a team title would be a fitting finish.

“Even if we don’t win state, we’ll probably have our best finish ever,” Makenna said. “So if we all perform as well as we can and we don’t win, we’d still be happy.

“All you can control is how well you perform.”