From the finish line, the formidable foursome of Cole Brundige, Carlo Ruggiero, Carter Hall and Wyatt Longley beat fleet feet back to the Rock, carrying with them the state 3A title in the 4×400-meter boys relay in the event and a new Bainbridge High School record (3:20.47).
Supported by alternates Evan Kimmerlein and Kyle Hammer, the speedy Spartans dominated the competition at the State Washington 3A Track & Field Championships in Tacoma on Saturday.
“No other high school team in Washington or Oregon, at any level, ran the 4×400 that fast this year,” said Paul Benton, the Spartans’ assistant coach and team spokesman. “With flawless baton exchanges, all but Brundige substantially exceeded their individual 400 [personal records].”
At the end of a sizzling first leg, Brundige (49.8) had his team tied for the lead.
Sprinting out of the curve of the second lap, sophomore Ruggiero (50.9) pulled three meters ahead. Fellow sophomore Hall (51.1) then held that small lead until his furious kick extended it to 10 meters for closer Longley (48.7), who steadily stretched the gap to almost three full seconds over Mount Spokane (3:23.26) and Nathan Hale (3:23.31).
Longley said the team went in confident and favored, which put them in the right frame of mind to win.
“I wasn’t that much surprised; we were seeded two seconds ahead of the next team,” he said. “I felt like if we just perfected the hand offs and positioned ourselves correctly, we’d pull off the win. Which we did.”
Gig Harbor and Kennwick were the Spartans’ supposed closest competition, Longley said.
“I was surprised when I got the baton and they were nowhere in sight,” he recalled. “It felt good they were nowhere near us.”
Brundige, a first-year member of the track team, said he knew as soon as he saw Longley take the baton that the Spartans were going to claim the title.
“There were a couple of teams we were worried might do something big,” he said. “But they didn’t.
“I could see it during Wyatt’s leg. He was so far ahead of everyone. I was like, ‘It’s actually happening!’”
Seniors Longley and Brundige, Benton said, have been closely competitive teammates this season.
At the district qualifying meet on May 19, Brundige set the new Bainbridge 400 record (49.48), eclipsing the old record (49.77) that Longley had set as a junior.
But, in the state championship 400-meter run on Saturday, Longley took sixth place (49.82), just ahead of Brundige in eighth (50.75).
The relay team were not the only Spartans to return from the championship event with honors, either.
On the girls team, Bainbridge record-holder Sarah Lucioni completed her outstanding high school career as a high jumper with a fourth-place tie (5 feet, 2 inches).
Junior Anna Scott was 14th in the preliminary 800-meter run (2:25.39), while freshman Emma Brundige finished 11th (61.04) in the preliminary 400.
The girls 4×400 team of Emma Brundige, Scott, Elizabeth Messinger and McKenzie Korican was also 11th (4:08.22), which left middle distance coach Garry Osmond excited about next year’s prospects, since “all these girls are young and returning.”
“This year,” Osmond said, “because of their talent and months of hard work, our athletes — not just the boys 4×4, but many others too — achieved great things. I’m proud of all of them.”
The BHS track & field team is led by longtime Head Coach Andy Grimm. Additional assistants include John Bierly, Dustin Johnson and Anne Howard-Lindquist.
Photo courtesy of Tim Longley The boys of the state champion 4×400-meter relay team — Cole Brundige, Carlo Ruggiero, Carter Hall, Wyatt Longley, and alternates Evan Kimmerlein and Kyle Hammer — pose for a commemorative photo.
