Community Sports
The final sporting event of a busy year ended in spectacular fashion as the Gig Harbor girls 4×100 relay team blazed to a Class 3A state championship.
The Tides finished third as a team at the WIAA State Track and Field Championships at Mount Tahoma High School on May 29-31.
The relay team of sophomore Eisley Hering, junior Karin Heikkila, senior Aejanae Humphrey and sophomore Isabelle Harruff jumped out to a fast start, performed flawlessly in the transition zones. They held off a talented field to win the state title in a season-best time of 47.96, before bursting with emotions on a day that will always remain in their memories.
Tides track and field coach Kevin Eager said the team hadn’t ran together in a single regular season invitational because of various outside obligations and illnesses. The goal was “to just get this team into the finals and then we would shoot our shot.”
The Gig Harbor 4×100 relay team (from left): alternate Nadia Schwab, Eisley Hering, Aejanae Humphrey, Karin Heikkila and Isabelle Harruff. Photo courtesy of Russell Moore
A fast start
Hering, who ran the first leg, shot out of the blocks and used her long strong strides to navigate a perfect corner. She passed to Heikkila with the Tides in second place. Eager said Hering, a natural sprinter from a family tree of successful athletes, was moved from anchor last year to this year to improve the team’s time and help her with her starts.
The strategy worked in two ways: Hering ran a terrific first leg in the relay and also finished fourth in the individual state 100 meter hurdles, just 1/10th of a second off of the winning time.
A first leg runner relay can’t win the race but they can certainly lose it with a bad start. Hering controlled the pre-race anxiety and produced a solid first leg.
Eisley Hering. Photo by Kristi Eager
“Before the race and when I go into the blocks, all I think about is music. I try to find a way to just let loose, forget about my nerves and just dance,” Hering said. “When I handed off the baton, I had so much adrenaline and honestly shock. I felt like I had run my fastest leg that season as we were the second team to hand off out of seven.”
Running the second leg was Heikkila, also a soccer star, who finished fourth in the Class 3A 300-meter hurdles earlier in the day, in a time that was the the second fastest in Gig Harbors history.
Middle legs
Heikkila took the baton and did what Eager can always count on her to do. “She competed, like she always does” he said. Heikkila held off the field and gained speed as she went down the back stretch.
Karin Heikkila hands the baton off to Aejanae Humphrey down the back stretch. Photo courtesy of Ruby Savage
Humphrey had the next leg, and Eager said she “ran the leg of her life.”
Humphrey is a different type of runner than her two previous teammates. She’s lower to the ground with legs and arms that whirlwind. The all-conference soccer star is a quick-twitch athlete with an explosive burst who ran the corner faster than she ever has before.
Her handoff to Harruff might have won the Tides the race. “Both Oak Harbor and Silas anchors had batons in hand early in the exchange zone while Anjanae was forced to continue sprinting at the top end, in order to catch Isabella.” Eager said. “They matched perfectly and instantaneously, Izzy found herself with a two-meter lead with the fastest anchors in the state coming at her with everything they had, but Harruff didn’t panic and never gave up that lead.”
“Yes, we were in the lead, but it was really anyone’s game at that point,” Humphrey said. “When I gave her the baton, I just started to yell at her to run, but I had full faith in her because I know that once she (Harruff) gets it, she’s going to do her thing.” Humphrey said.
Close finish
Harruff shifted it into sixth gear and leaned into the tape at just the right time, with tears welling in her eyes to win the race in 47.96, just a tenth of a second faster than Silas, who had won the previous league and district titles this season.
The race was so close that officials had to check the times and replay to determine the winner before announcing that the Tides were victorious.
The Tides’ Isabelle Harruff crosses the finish line to win the girls 4×100 state championship. Photo courtesy of Russell Moore
“When I was 10 meters from crossing the finish line was when it hit me that we may win. All the emotions I had were happy for how far we had come,” Harruff said. “It was also a bit bitter for it was Nae’s (Humphrey) last race handing off to me and it felt too soon that it was over. I was a bit anxious waiting for the times to come in but in my gut, I knew we had won it.”
Humphrey was emotional as it only took a little under 50 seconds for her high school career to end. “When I found out we had won I immediately started crying just because I have built such a bond with the girls, so knowing that we showed up when we needed to, and let the angels sing, was really amazing,” Humphrey said.
“Honestly I was in total shock, we came into the finals seeded third but the four by one relay is the most unpredictable race in all of track because the baton handoffs are so high-pressure,” Heikkila said. “I didn’t fully know until I ran over to the finish line that we had won and that definitely has to be one of the best moments of my life.”
Credit to coaches
The Tides were quick to credit their coaches who have now produced relay champions in back-to-back years despite only having one runner that made the state finals in that individual race. The Gig Harbor 4×400 relay team won a state title last year.
That speaks to the ability of the coaches.
“The coaching staff deserve all their flowers. They put everything they had into making us better and took risks because they believed in us,” Humphrey said. “All the coaches have their different strengths so being able to have all of them help us really brought everything together. So a huge shout out to Meaghan McCluskey, Patty Ley, Kevin Eager, and Jacob Lawson.”
The team will be one of the favorites for a repeat title next year with Hering, Heikkila and Harruff returning plus freshman alternate Nadia Schwab, but each runner said losing Humphrey’s leadership will be difficult.
Humphrey will attend Howard University in the fall to study economics and psychology.
Carlson earns two silvers
Lejla Carlsson of Gig Harbor finished second in both the 800 meters and the 1600 meters, chasing down runners in the final 200 meters of both and narrowly missing two state titles. Carlsson was one of the Tides who won a 4×400 title last year.
Carlsson broke a 31-year-old Tide school record when she ran a 2:10.82 in the 800 meters to eclipse the 2:11.76 that belonged to Michelle Teodoro in 1994. That record was the last major distance record from a great era of Gig Harbor track and field that produced multiple state championships.
Lejla Carlsson. Photo by Gig Harbor HS track
“I am just very grateful and proud of myself for my placement because I was not expected to place as high as I did,” Carlsson said. “I PR’d by three seconds in the 1,600 and two seconds in the 800 and will definitely keep working hard this summer to do the best I can next year.”
Longtime Tide coach and past Gig Harbor star runner, Patty Ley said, “Lejla is certainly rising to be in the conversation as one of the best ever at Gig Harbor. As a junior, she sits second all-time in the 1,600 and first all-time in the 800. Fantastic racer, great teammate.”
Senior Taylor Sletner finished fourth in the 3,200 meters to close out a distinguished cross country and track and field career.
“We have been so lucky to have Taylor here and she joins only a few athletes who have been podium finishers at two distance events in the same year. She is also one of the finest people and leaders that we’ve ever had in our program,” Eager said.
Boys relays
The Tides and Peninsula Seahawks boys also had a surprising showing in the 4x100m relays. The two teams barely made state out of districts and were ranked below 20th in Class 3A ahead of the state meet.
Gig Harbor finished sixth and Peninsula seventh.
“Our whole track teams from each school, both boys and girls, are friends as well as competitors as we do not get caught up in petty things. So it was a fun thing to see both teams going at it with the best in state.” Eager said.
Peninsula’s 4×100 relay team consisted of Trever Bingham, Jack Robbins, Tristen Rodriguez and Jacob Johnson while the Tides team featured Justin Morris, Atzel Chavez Avelar, Troy Arnold and Gavin Olson.
Peninsula junior Suri Sardinia placed fourth in the girls discus with a throw of 126 feet and two inches. Sardinia also had a top ten finish at state in the shot put with a heave of 35 feet.
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