After four years of competing in track and field and logging hundreds of hours on the rubber, St. Paul senior Meredith Coleman culminated her high school career with her first-ever individual medal at the OSAA track and field state championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, clocking in at 13.20 seconds to finish sixth in the girls 1A 100 meters on Friday, May 17.
“I feel awesome," Coleman, a University of Puget Sound volleyball commit, said. "It just feels great to be able to show off what I've been working on over the past four years that I've been doing this.”
Coleman recorded a personal best of 13.18 in the prelims on Thursday to advance to the finals. Entering with the 10th-fastest entry time, Coleman's personal best ensured she would leave Eugene with some hardware.
It wasn't her only medal, however, or even her first of the afternoon.
In the 4x100 relay, Coleman, Gracie Koch, Stella Koch and Ariana Campos finished in 52.85, a season best, to finish third. The quartet's entry time seeded them sixth, as they leapt over Southwest Christian, Myrtle Point and second-seeded Trout Lake in the final.
And though the Buckaroos were favored to reach the podium, the result left the relay in disbelief.
"Stella Koch, she saw us on the board as seeded fourth before Imbler got (disqualified)," Coleman said. "And she was like, ‘I don't think they got that right. I think they must have got mixed up with the jerseys or something.’ We were all just shocked. It was crazy.”
The team ran it back in the 4x400 relay, finishing fifth in 4:24.95 to cap off the seniors high school career.
In the boys triple jump, Branson Cook finished eighth, leaping 38 feet, 2.25 inches. Ashur McClister, meanwhile, finished 10th with a mark of 37-6.5. James Davidson threw 121-0 in the discus, finishing 11th. The St. Paul boys team finished fourth in the team standings, totaling 35 points.
C.S. Lewis Academy
Junior Faith Larsen added a second podium finish to her weekend performance, as she finished seventh in the 1A girls shot put, launching a personal best of 33-3.25.
“I feel like today was just so much more exciting,” Larsen said. "It just felt overall so happy and just upbeat — state is incredible and I can't wait for all the people that get to come to state because they're going to have a blast.”
Despite not quite throwing to her potential in the discus, where she entered seeded first and ultimately finished fourth, her outing in the discus paved the way for her execution in the shot put.
It was a lighthearted atmosphere during the shot put, with Larsen visibly cheering on her peers, building connections and offering congratulations.
“I decided to let go of all expectations," Larsen said. "Just wanted to make friends and encourage people and then I ended up (setting a personal best), so I'm really happy about that.”
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