Pirate Men 2nd at Regionals

RITZVILLE–Pirate senior Tyler Slaybaugh will lead the Pomeroy Track and Field team to the state championships this week in Yakima, looking for a repeat of his first-place finish in the 100m. dash, along with a myriad of promising Pirate tracksters. Slaybaugh is also a contender in the 200m. dash, pole vault and as a member of the 4X100 Relay along with Jacob Reisinger, Jett Slusser and Boone Schmidt.

Pomeroy's track and field athletes will compete in events beginning with Slaybaugh's preliminary heat of the 100m. dash on Thursday, May 23 at Eisenhower High School's track complex.

At the D7/9 Championships, eleven Pirates qualified for State. Slaybaugh will compete in the 100m., 200m., pole vault and 4X100 Relay), Levi Bowen will go in the pole vault and high jump, Robby Van Vogt and Jacob Reisinger qualified in the pole vault, Jett Slusser will run the 400m. and a leg of the 4X100 Relay, eighth grader Kaleb Miller is going in the 800m. run, and three women, Carmen Fruh, Reagan McKeirnan and Tatum Jones all qualified for state in pole vault. The men's 4x100 Relay team of Reisinger, Slusser, Boone Schmidt, and Slaybaugh finished as regional champions to advance to state.

"Just making regionals is a major accomplishment as only the top 16 times/marks/heights are accepted into the meet from these regions that feature 19 schools and hundreds of athletes," said Head Coach Adam Van Vogt. The top five men and top four women at regionals advance. 

Carmen Fruh and Levi Bowen are also regional champions by virtue of winning the pole vault and high jump, respectively. Bowen's 5-9 high jump was a personal best this season, Van Vogt said.

"Tyler Slaybaugh finished as one of regionals' most decorated athletes," Van Vogt said. "He captured first in three events (4x1, 100, pole vault) and finished third in the 200. His anchor run in the 4X100 was one of the most impressive legs I've witnessed in a relay in the 23 years I've coached."

Kaleb Miller did not finish in the top five of a stacked 800, but he beat the qualifying time by running a 2:08 in the 800. "He actually beat that with a 2:07 personal best in prelims and this time usually places in state," Van Vogt said, "which is why the qualifying mark exists. Exceeding this qualifying time as an eighth grader is just something really special to witness."

Reagan McKeirnan and Tatum Jones also head to state as an eighth graders in pole vault. "Tatum advances in pole vault but qualified for regionals in the maximum four events," Van Vogt said. "She participated in the 100 hurdles, too, and ran on the 4X100 and 4X200 relays with Haven Kimble, Hollie Van Vogt and Natalia Larios. The 4x2 missed state by one place, finishing fifth and both relays set season-best times.

"We had other athletes who had a great regional meet but did not quite make it to state in what was one of the most loaded regional meets that I can ever remember," the coach observed.

David Tejero competed in three throwing events, discus, shot put and javelin, and missed state by a couple of feet.

Ariah Bingman was in three events. She set personal bests in all three (1600, 100 hurdles, 300 hurdles) at her first regional meet and will come back as a top competitor in each next season. Hollie Van Vogt qualified in four events (javelin, pole vault, 4x1, 4x2) and set a personal best with a 95'7" javelin throw. Carolina Morfin also qualified in javelin and finished 10th with a personal best 79'8" throw and both her and Hollie should be top contenders in the event next year. Layton Neely set a personal best with a 21.52 in the hurdles, narrowly missing state in a photo finish. Jett Slusser also set two personal bests with a 24.96 in the 200 and his 53.84 in the 400 that qualified him for state.

Robby Van Vogt and Jacob Reisinger both punched their tickets to state with their 8'6" pole vaults, which were personal bests for both by at least a foot. I'm very proud of how well our kids did. They competed so well and pretty much all of them controlled what they could control and did their events at a season-best or near best level for the year. The state meet is in Yakima next week and am excited to watch these kids build on their success this week.

Pirate men's team finish second in D7/D9 Regionals with 80 points behind Valley Christian with 136. The Pomeroy women finished eighth with 41. Gar-Pal was first with 147.5.

Meet Location and Date: Regionals at Ritzville on May 15 and 18.

Athletes who competed in regionals and their marks:

(Top 8 placed and top 5 boys/top 4 girls advance to state):

Tyler Slaybaugh: 1st in the 100 (11.41), 1st in pole vault (12'6"), and 3rd in the 200 (24.02)

Jett Slusser: 4th in the 400 (53.84)

Kaleb Miller- 7th in the 800 (2:08.61)

Layton Neely- 6th in the 110 hurdles (21.52)

David Tejero- 7th in discus (106'10"), 8th in shot put (36'8"), and 11th in javelin (118')

Levi Bowen- 1st in high jump (5'9") and 2nd in pole vault (11')

Robby Van Vogt- 3rd in pole vault (8'6") and 11th in triple jump (34'11.25")

Jacob Reisinger- 4th in pole vault (8'6")

Carmen Fruh- 1st in pole vault (9')

Reagan Mckeirnan- 3rd in pole vault (7')

Ariah Bingman- 5th in the 300 hurdles (1:02), 7th in the 100 hurdles (22.06) and 8th in the 1600 (6:07)

Tatum Jones- 4th in pole vault (7') and 8th in the 100 hurdles (22.22)

Hollie Van Vogt- 6th in javelin (95'7") and 6th in pole vault (6'6")

Carolina Morfin- 10th in javelin (79'8")

Boy's 4x100 Relay- 1st (46.45) Jacob Reisinger, Jett Slusser, Boone Schmidt, Tyler Slaybaugh

Boy's 4x400 Relay- 7th (3:48) Levi Bowen, Boone Schmidt, Kaleb Miller, Jett Slusser

Girl's 4x100 Relay- 7th (58.05) Haven Kimble, Hollie Van Vogt, Natalia Larios, Tatum Jones

Girl's 4x200 Relay- 5th (2:04) Haven Kimble, Hollie Van Vogt, Natalia Larios, Tatum Jones