South Whidbey sends three track and field stars to state

There were two repeats and one surprise at the District 1 track and field meets in Bellingham.

For the South Whidbey Falcons, that means three athletes will represent the school at this week's state championships in Tacoma.

From the boys team, Will Hallberg qualified for the long jump and triple jump. The Falcon senior soared 44 feet, 8 inches in the triple jump and 21 feet, 7 inches in the long jump.

He won the triple jump by 5 feet, 9 inches and finished second in the long jump (by 3 inches). Hallberg’s career mark in the long jump is 22 feet, 5.25 inches and he set it this year. Last year, Hallberg won first place in the triple jump at the state championships with a career-high jump of 46 feet, 7.5 inches.

He competes in the long jump at 4:40 p.m. Thursday, May 26.

Angelina Berger, a sophomore, qualified in the shot put. She threw 35 feet, 3.5 inches and finished in second place by 4 feet, 6 inches behind Gina Flint from Squalicum. The thrower also competed in the discus and javelin and missed qualifying in the discus by 6 feet (she threw 100 feet, 5 inches and third place was 106 feet, four inches).

Berger finished in 16th place at the 2010 state track and field championships with a throw of 29 feet, 10.5 inches. Her shortest throw this season was 32 feet, 1.25 inches in the preseason jamboree in March. She competes in the shot put at 4:10 p.m. Friday, May 27.

No Falcons qualified in any lane or running events.

Then the first-timer, Nick French finished in third place in the javelin. French, a freshman, threw the javelin 161 feet, 5 inches and passed the fourth place thrower, Connor O’Kinsella from Lakewood, by 4 inches. He passed his previous career-high mark by 8 feet, 8 inches.

The 2A state shot put competition begins at 1:10 p.m. Friday, May 27.

For a complete list of results from the two days of the District 1 track and field meets, visit this site.

The WIAA 2A state track and field championships are at Mount Tahoma High School in Tacoma and run from Thursday, May 26 to Saturday, May 28. The meet is a combination of 2A, 3A and 4A schools. Here is the link for the schedule from the WIAA website.

Contact South Whidbey Record Sports, South Whidbey School District, South Whidbey Fire/EMS Ben Watanabe at bwatanabe@whidbeynewsgroup.com or 360-221-5300.

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