By Christopher Duclos

Ballard High School ended their season with great success following the Washington state track meet, where BHS had nine participating student athletes. While they all fiercely competed with the top track talents in the state, some brought home bragging rights.

It was a day to be had for the girls 4 by 400 relay. The girls squad that consisted of Nicole Godbout, Cat Banobi, Mia Wrey, Carolyn Birkenfeld, and Jamie Smith-Emma Onstad-Hawes was the first girls relay to take first place at the state meet since 1999.

This year’s female competition at the state 4 by 400 relay was no easy task, according to coach Mirenzi. By the end of the season, there were four teams that finished this race with a sub 3:56 time. The teams facing the lady beavers were capable and hungry.

“We are all very proud to watch these girls cultivate each other’s strengths, insights, fears and guts,” said Mirenzi on the state win. “This would not have happened if this group of ladies were not all here at the right time and right place. They were all able to offer what they could and take what they need. The level of trust and confidence that this requires is never a matter of happenstance.

BHS track coaches knew from the start that the state-winning lady beavers would be successful this year. “We as coaches saw very early on that this group of girls was a unique combination of all the right stuff to make this happen. I sat with the girls at Kingco and told them. We all knew this specific groups of six ladies were the ones who would be standing there preparing for this job. We knew at the first day of practice.”

Following the meet against Eason, the 4 by 400 relay posted times that showed improvement. And the times kept improving, starting at 400.4, then 3:59.9, 3:53.8 and finally the state time of 353.08.

The success story of girl’s track and field doesn't end here, though, as Ballard sent two freshman athletes to state: Nicole Godbout and Jamie Smith-Emma Onstad-Hawes. “(Nicole and Jamie) are very great athletes, both were able to experience, perform and excel at very high levels of competition while, in a sense, being mentored and protected by the older girls Cat, Emma, Mia and Carolyn, from the great stress and pressures dumped on them,” Said coach Mirenzi of the freshman girls.

When coach Bob Mirenzi took over as BHS head track coach, it was his goal to refocus the team to be well represented by relay squads. Three years later, his goal started to materialize as this year’s state track meet showcased Ballard’s own 4 by 400 meeting relay take first place in the tournament.

Coach Mirenzi had this to offer on the season now gone:

“It’s pretty cool to be able to witness a group of kids realize that they are very good, not by some new thing they were able to develop on the track, but by their ability to understand and employ the great things they bring to the track from the years they have spent on the soccer field, the basketball court, the tennis courts, the football field, the orchestra pit, jazz ensemble and even the chess board.”

With the success now part of Ballard sports history, student athletes and coaches will look onto even more success in the future. For now, the day Ballard high competed at the 2013 Washington State Track Meet will always go down as what Mirenzi calls “a good day to be a coach.”

BHS athletes sent to state:

Dominique Smith: 100 Meter Dash, Long Jump

Stuart Thomas: 110 meter high hurdles, 300 meter low hurdles, LH 38.66, Set School Record

Nicole Godbout, Cat Banobi, Mia Wrey, Carolyn Birkenfeld, Jamie Smith-Emma Onstad-Hawes: Girls 4 by 400 meter relay, 03:53.1, 1st in State, Set School Record

Nicole Godbout/Maddy Hanson/Cat Banobi/Carolyn Birkenfeld: Girls 4 by 100 meter Relay, 50.44, Set School Record

Mia Wrey: Girls 800 Meter, 02:12.5, Set School Record

Carolyn Birkenfeld: Girls 200 Meter

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