Juanita's Alanna Coker Repeats as State Triple Jump Champion

TACOMA -- Exhausted, gasping for breath, Alanna Coker tried to explain how she felt after her final competition in the 3A state track and field championships.

Words were not needed, her accomplishments spoke for themselves.

Coker repeated as 3A state triple jump champion and finished top-five in three other events to help lead the girls track team to a seventh place finish at the WIAA state track and field championships on Saturday at Mt. Tahoma High School in Tacoma.

Coker was faced with the difficult task of competing in three straight competitions on the final day of the three-day event. But she managed three top-five finishes in a matter of three hours to go along with an earlier fifth-place finish in the long jump to lead the Lady Rebels to a top-10 team finish.

The junior defending state triple jump champion got off to a fast start on the final day, taking second in a photo-finish in the 100-meter dash. Coker finished with a time of 12.28 seconds, just 0.03 seconds behind champion Chantel Jaeger of West Valley-Yakima.

“It’s my first year running it, so it’s pretty good I guess,” Coker said.

After taking a few seconds to recover from the 100 meter, Coker ran off to defend her state triple jump title. Despite tweaking her hamstring in that event, she managed to improve her personal best jump by 10 inches and defend her title with a distance of 39 feet, ½ inch.

“I don’t even know how to describe it, it’s a really good feeling,” she said.

Coker was not able to accept her first-place medal for the triple jump because of the 200 meter dash. A tired Coker still managed to finish fifth in that event.

Kate Cryderman picked up two top-eight finishes for Juanita, taking seventh in the 3A girls shot put and eighth in the girls discus throw, despite coming in seeded 14th. Juanita picked up its other team point in the 4x200 meter relay.

The tournament was hampered the first two days by inclement weather that brought heavy rain, casting a cloud over certain competitions. Nonetheless, a number of records were broken and several reigning champions repeated in their respective divisions.

Kasen Williams of Skyline provided highlights in the boys 4A division, taking home three state titles to cap off his remarkable senior season. The future University of Washington football player swept the long, high and triple jump competitions, setting a new state record in the triple – an event his father once owned the state record in – with a jump of 50 feet, 9 ¾ inches.

“Me and my dad kept saying, ‘it’s got to come back in the family,’” Williams said of his record-setting jump. “So I threw something out there…and just gave it a shot.”

Perhaps the highlight of the three-day event came in the final field activity, the 4A boys long jump. Williams took home the win, but not before a spirited battle with a field that included Edmonds-Woodway’s Alec Fellows, Kentwood’s BJ Arceneaux and Justin Browne of Gig Harbor.

The Renton boys track team dominated the 2A field behind, taking first place behind a combined five state titles between P.J. Benedictus and Justin Bennett. Benedictus repeated as the triple-jump champion and finished second in the long jump and high jump, while Bennett took first in the 100 and 200 meter dashes, as well as anchoring the first place 4X100 meter relay team.

Overall team winners were as follows: 4A girls – Kentwood; 4A boys – Kent-Meridian; 3A girls – Holy Names Academy; 3A boys – North Central; 2A girls – Sehome; 2A boys – Renton.