Friday Harbor’s Kayla Short came up big when it mattered most.

A junior and three-sport athlete, Short earned the right to compete at State in not just one, but two events thanks to a pair of fourth-place finishes Saturday at the Tri-District meet at King’s High School.

She threw the javelin 107 feet 6 inches to clinch fourth place in that event, and claimed a fourth-place finish in the long jump as well, with a jump of 15 feet 9 inches.

The top five finishers in each Tri-District event advance to the Division 1A Track and Field Meet, which begins Friday on the campus of Eastern Washington University in Cheney.

Nine Wolverines qualified for the Tri-District meet, however, Short was the only one to advance into the statewide meet. Senior Otto Schmidt set a school record in the 800-meter race with a 2:03.43 finish. The previous record — 2:03.8 — was set by Pete Markey in 1978. But Schmidt came up just short of qualifying for State after finishing seventh in the event.

“I am extremely proud of our track team this year,” Head Coach Darrin Scheffer said. “Taking nine athletes to Tri-Districts is a great step for our track team and five of those nine will be back next year.”

— Scott Rasmussen