Oly’s Shafer goes 12-6, Nelson wins 100M title

Olympic High pole vaulter Erin Shafer and sprinter Jarrell Nelson were among the standouts during major track and field competitions held on the other side of Puget Sound on Saturday, April 27.

Shafer established another personal-best and meet record with a vault of 12 feet, 6 inches while winning the Lake Washington Invitational, passing her previous best of 12-4, which she set at the Eason Invitational in Snohomish on April 20.

Nelson, who has established himself as one of the state’s elite sprinters, won the 100 meters (10.95 seconds) and placed second in the 200 (22.48) at the Shoreline Invitational, where the weather wasn’t conducive to fast times.

Nelson helped the Trojans’ sprint medley relay, which included Robert Hodge, Andrew Nelson and Chris Hunt, to fourth with a time of 1:37.7, and ran the anchor on Oly’s 4x100 relay (A. Nelson, Ryan Benko, Hodge, J. Nelson) that placed seventh (44.7). Benko placed eighth in the 400 (52.14) for Olympic, which took ninth in the meet with 39 points. Auburn won with 61.

Shafer’s 12-4 had been the best mark in the state to that point, but wasn’t an all-time state best as reported in The Reporter last week. Richland’s Sara Rowse cleared 12-6 a year ago. That mark, however, was topped by Kentlake junior Stevie Marshalek, who set an all-time state best by going over the bar at 12-7 1/2 on Thursday, April 25, in an SPSL North dual meet against Sumner.

Shafer missed three attempts to break Marshalek’s mark at Lake Washington after clearing 12-6 on her first attempt.

Olympic’s Megan Walker-Richards was seventh in the 3200 (10:51.2) at Lake Washington.

At the Shelton Invitational, Bremerton’s Kelley Alley lost a duel with Kent-Meridian’s Jacob Foyston, the defending 4A state champion in the 300 hurdles. Foyston ran 39.51 (Alley 39.78) to remain unbeaten in the event this season.

Bremerton’s MarCia Abrams held off defending state 3A champion Brynne Lieb of Tumwater (59.55 to 59.51) to win the 400 at Shelton. It’s the first time Abrams has dipped into the 59s.

Bremerton hosts the Narrows League meet on May 10-11 at Memorial Stadium.

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