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You know the old expression, "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts"?
The Southridge 4x200-meter relay team proved the truth of that adage Saturday afternoon at Star Track XXVI.
The team, comprised of junior Kasey McNeill, sophomores La'Quilla Upton and Chelsea Bourque, and freshman Andrea Smith, didn't have the marquee names found on some of the other relays in the 3A final.
Eastmont had senior Morgan Clem, a WSU signee and two-time winner of the 300 hurdles and the 100.
Skyline had Kiara Williams, runner-up in the 100 hurdles, and Shealee O'Donnell, runner-up in the 200.
Issaquah had 100 runner-up Johanna Carr.
But who was it standing atop the medals podium?
The Suns, who blazed around the track in a Mid-Columbia record time of 1 minute, 42 seconds, the 21st-fastest time in state history.
"There's not one star on this team," McNeill said. "I mean, there's some girls out there who've won state titles or have run some crazy times. But we work well together. We came together as a team."
This time, though, everyone had an extra-special thank you to Upton, who moved up from third place after getting the baton to start the third leg and gave McNeill about a 5-meter cushion when she handed it off to the anchor.
"I was watching everyone, and it looks like we're in fifth place over there, and I'm freaking out," McNeill said. "La'Quilla just picked it up for us."
"I knew I had to ride the corner and catch whoever I could," Upton said. "I had to get as big a lead as possible to Kasey."
The Suns bounced back after the same quartet came up short in the 4x100 final, losing by 16-hundredths of a second to Skyline to place second in 48.54.
"We came together and just said, 'Stuff happens,' " Upton said. "We wanted to get back out there and prove that we can win."
Richland junior Jessica Christian also put a pair of so-so performances behind her in winning a marathon playoff to capture the 4A pole vault title.
Christian and Walla Walla senior Shanie Bushman finished tied for first after both cleared 12 feet on their third attempt and each had a previous miss during the competition.
That necessitated a vault-off, where each would get one attempt at a particular height. If both made or both missed, the bar moved up or down and they'd go again. First person to make while the other missed was the champion.
"I wanted to arm wrestle for it, but they didn't go for that," Bushman said, smiling.
For 16 rounds, the two matched results. Six times, they both cleared 11-9. Once, they both went 12-0, Christian hitting the bar on the way down but somehow watching it stay on the standards.
"It was barely on there," Christian said. "I was like, 'Oh, wow! I can't believe it.' "
Finally, with the bar back at 12-0 again, Christian went over cleanly. Bushman followed but knocked the bar off, and just like that, Christian became Richland's second pole vault state champion, following Sara Rowse's victory in 2001.
"I was just better prepared mentally today. I was more confident," said Christian, who had lost to Bushman at the district and regional meets the past two weeks. "I wasn't worried anymore about making it to regionals or making it to state. I was here. This was it."
Christian's victory -- joined with third-place finishes for Richland's 4x100 and 4x200 (the latter in 1:42.63, tied for fourth on the all-time area list), Galia Deitz's pair of medals in the hurdles (third in the highs, fifth in the lows), a pair of sixth-place finishes (Martha Sanford in the 300 hurdles, Maggie Jones in the 800) and Shaniae Lakes' seventh in the triple jump -- all contributed to the Bombers finishing in a tie for third with Garfield in the team standings with 40 points.
Only Deitz, headed to Brown University in the fall, won't be back for the Bombers, who placed fifth the last two years and last won a team trophy in 1993.
"It's exciting. We're a good team, and a lot of us are young," said Sanford, a sophomore. "We've got a bright future ahead of us."
Kamiakin also brought home a third-place team trophy from the 3A meet, scoring 45 points (Eastmont won with 51) despite bringing only five girls and none winning an individual title.
"I'm just looking at how many people Eastmont had, something like 14 to our five," said senior Richelle Stewart, who supported the cause with a third-place finish in Friday's javelin. "I've been waiting all day for this. It feels amazing for the four seniors. It's a good way to finish our season ... heck, our high school careers."
Classmate Olivia Johnston, who like Stewart heads to Eastern Washington in the fall, finished second in the 300 hurdles (44.84) for the second time in three years (she finished third last year, losing both times to Clem) and also placed seventh in the 100 highs (15.41).
"I'm disappointed that a state championship eluded me," Johnston said. "I'm not completely satisfied, but I had a good three years and I get to run next year in college."
Pasco junior Peter Gilbert gets to come back next year and try again in the 800 after coming up just short in the 4A boys final, running a school-record 1:54.27 (No. 5 on the all-time area list) but losing by six-hundredths of a second to Puyallup's Jesse Jorgensen.
"There were a lot of expectations from my friends, my family, and I feel like I let them down," Gilbert said. "I know they're proud of me, though, and I'm looking forward to next season."
Gilbert led much of the race -- much to his surprise -- and looked to have held off a late charge by Jorgensen and Eastlake's Dan Sloat before Jorgensen made one final surge to nip Gilbert at the finish line.
"He had a better kick than me. He ate me up," Gilbert said. "But I've set the bar for next year now. This was a really big building season."
Kamiakin junior Elise Jepsen took fifth in the triple jump, but her mark of 37-2 1/2 moved her into sixth place on the all-time area list.
"My goal was to get into the 37s, and I was able to," she said. "I PR'd. You can't ask for more than that, so I'm happy right now."
