Months of hard work came to fruition in Pasco May 23-24 as track athletes competed in the 3A state meet.

Both Renton and the Seamount were well represented with numerous finals placings.

Top three placers from Renton include Renton High’s Roylanda Jackson in the shot put, Hazen’s Kaysie Rozsonits in the high jump and Hazen’s Andrey Levkiv in the shot put.

More details about all of the Renton-area state performers below.

Boys

Shot put

Hazen’s Andrey Levkiv came close for the second year in a row, but couldn’t take the title. The junior tossed a distance of 56 feet, nine inches, good for second place behind Bellevue’s David Decastro (58-9 3/4). The throw was six inches short of Levkiv’s season-best, but the difference wouldn’t have mattered the in standings. Levkiv was the only non-senior in the top 13 of the event, meaning he should enter the 2009 season as a big favorite.

The big change in 2008 was distances. In 2007, Levkiv finished third with a distance of 52-8; that distance would have netted him a fifth-place finish this year. Seven competitors cleared 52 feet in 2008, while only three did in 2007.

Renton’s Armin Basic finished 16th in 2008 (46-8 1/4) with a distance that would have given him 12th in 2007. The talent pool in this event seems to be pretty full this season.

Discus

Lindbergh’s Zack Nielson finished 16th with a toss of 117 feet, six inches. Nielson’s first throw went slightly out of bounds, his second slipped out of his hand and he couldn’t make a solid toss in his third attempt. If Nielson had thrown his season-best distance, 157-3, he would have placed third.

Liberty’s Kyle Dennison threw a season-best 157-1 and placed third. The senior threw a 109-1 in the first meet of the year and gradually worked up to an elite distance in the state. Dennison also placed 13th in the javelin at state with a throw of 170-5.

Hazen’s Levkiv placed 12th with a distance of 140-10. Levkiv threw five better distances in the season, his best (147-4) would have placed him eighth.

Jumps

Lindbergh’s Chris Jones finished seventh in the triple jump (43-3 1/4) and 14th in the high jump by clearing six feet. Jones started to get going at exactly the right time: He set season-best distances consecutively in the league meet, district meet, then state meet. Jones’ high jump height was two inches off of his season-best.

Liberty’s Chris Freeman placed 15th in the long jump at 19-11 1/4. Freeman had jumped seven long jump distances better than that distance this season. His best (21-5/ 3/4) would have placed him ninth at state.

Hurdles

Hazen’s James Holland finished 13th in the 110-meter hurdles preliminary race. The sophomore ran a time of 15.57 seconds, a season best.

Distance

Lindbergh’s duo of Matt Miland and Trevor Thompson did well in the 1600- and 3200-meter races. Miland ran a 4:25.24 in the 1600 and finished 10th, while he ran a 4:20.1 the week before at districts (which would have placed him in fifth). Thompson finished 13th in the 1600, at 4:28.94 (His season-best would have pushed him to 11th).

Miland finished seventh in the 3200, with a time of 9:25.73. Thmpson finished 10th with a time of 9:29.23.

Liberty’s Ian Smith finished second in the 800-meter finals. The senior ran a time of 1:55.90. He finished .32 behind the winner (Spencer Head from Camas) and .06 ahead of the third-place finisher (Paul Winger from Bonney Lake) in a tight finals race.

Sprints

Renton’s Jasen Meyers placed fifth in the 400-meter finals, with a time of 50.92. While it wasn’t Meyers’ best time of the season, or of the state meet since he ran a 49.88 in the preliminary race, he would have finished in the same spot if he would have finished with his season-best 49.72.

Lindbergh’s Frank Cange finished 10th in the 100-meter preliminary race, with a time of 11.26. His season-best time of 11.05 would have placed him third in the preliminary race and sixth in the finals.

Girls

Sprints

Renton’s Kanisha Calcote finished 16th in the 200-meter preliminary race with a time of 26.22. Calcote’s season-best time of 25.90 would have put her in 13th place.

Renton’s Starr Williams finished 16th in the 100-meter preliminary race.

Hazen’s Erin Anderson placed 12th in the 400-meter preliminary race. It was the freshman’s season-best time by nearly a full second.

Distance

Renton’s Adrienne Hardin finished 12th with a time of 2:23.04. The senior’s time was a season-best. Lindbergh’s Shelby Reiter finished 13th with a time of 2:24.30.

Hurdles

Renton’s Victoria Fernandez finished 16th in the 100-meter high hurdles with a time of 16.39. Fernanez’s season-best time (16.04) would have bumped her up a couple of notches to 14th.

Hazen’s Anna Shure finished 13th in the 300-meter hurdles. Shure ran a season-best 47.46. Shure improved her times gradually at nearly every meet through the season and shaved a total of 4.13 seconds from start to finish.

Relays

Renton’s 400-meter relay team placed fourth in the finals with a time of 49.43. Williams, Nai Chao, Mary Powell and Calcote ran the team’s best time of the season (excluding a 49.27 in the preliminary race). The four also ran in the 800-meter relay, but were disqualified.

Renton’s 1600-meter relay team of Hardin, La Basha Alexander, Fernandez and Williams placed 13th in the preliminary race with a time of 4:12.39.

Throws

Renton’s Roylanda Jackson placed third in the shot put with a distance of 37-7. It was Jackson’s best distance this season by three and a half inches.

Jackson’s teammate, Boryana Atanasova placed seventh in the shot put with a distance of 35-6 1/2. Atanasova threw her season-best (36-7) all of the way back on April 5, the distance would have moved her to fifth in this meet.

Atanasova also threw the javelin and discus at the state meet. She finished seventh in the discus (117 and 10th in the javelin (118). The discus distance was her season-best, the javelin distance was her third best of the season.

Lindbergh’s Kenisha Macklin placed 15th in the javelin with a distance of 105-2. It was the second time Macklin topped 100 feet this season.

Jumps

Hazen’s Kaysie Rozsonits tied for third in the high jump with a height of five feet. The junior has jumped at least five feet seven times this season. Teammate Brittany Phillio has topped five feet six times this year, including a jump of five feet at districts, but couldn’t get the height at the state meet.

Lindbergh’s Makala Williams placed tenth in the long jump with a distance of 16-3. Williams’ season-best distance is 16-9 1/2, which would have placed her in sixth place at the state meet.

Renton’s Alexander placed 16th in the triple jump with a distance of 33-8.

Adam McFadden can be reached at amcfadden@reporternewspapers.com or 425-255-3484, ext. 5054.