For only the fifth time since 1976 and the first time since 1995, the All-City Track championship trophy belongs to the Hazen Highlanders.
Though the May 8 event at Renton Memorial Stadium is officially a Seamount League meet in which all three schools play against each other in “dual meet” format, many of the competitors give a bit extra as they play for school pride and intra-district bragging rights.
In the combined format, Hazen raked in 144 points while Lindbergh took second with 132 and Renton earned 101.
However, things were a little different in dual meet match-ups. On the boys side, Lindbergh topped Renton 78-67 and beat Hazen 83-62 while Renton bested Hazen 81-63.
On the girls side, Lindbergh beat Renton 84-62, but the Highlander girls brought it home with a 108-42 victory over the Indians and a 94-55 win over the Eagles.
According to Michael Maloney, one of Hazen’s coaches, one of the team’s goals this year was to beat Renton and Lindbergh, which he called “great programs that are well coached and never easy to beat.”
“Friday night was the culmination of all the hard work and dedication these guys put in to getting that trophy back to Hazen,” Maloney said in an email. “We had a great team full of special people this year and I couldn’t be more proud that they were the group to bring the trophy back to Hazen.”
According to Maloney, Hazen athletes set 72 personal records at the meet.
With the win over Renton, however, Lindbergh’s boys team secured a 7-0 finish and first place in the Seamount League standings. Renton’s boys fell to 6-1.
Hazen’s boys finish the year 5-2.
On the girls side, Hazen’s victory helped push them to a second-place finish in the Seamount with a record of 6-1, with Lindbergh following at 5-2 and Renton in fourth with a 4-3 record. Kennedy Catholic’s girls won the Seamount this season.
All three teams are scheduled to compete in sub-district meets this weekend. Lindbergh and Renton go on Thursday and Saturday in the 2A sub-district event while Hazen waits until Friday and Saturday for the 3A event. Both sub-district meets will be at Sunset Chev Stadium in Sumner.
