WHS senior clinches third in the high jump and ninth in the long jump

Katie Wright had a lot of fun flying through the air against the best jumpers in the state Friday.

The Washougal High School senior cleared the high jump bar set at 5 feet, 3 inches to get into the top three at the 2A state track and field championships, at Mt. Tahoma High School.

“I wanted to make a clean 5’ and then go as high as I could,” Wright said. “Clearing 5-3 felt so great. I was at the height I was usually jumping and going after my PR again.”

With her tank running on empty, Wright gave all she had left for Washougal on those final three attempts to clear 5-4. She just couldn’t get over the bar one more time, but Wright jumped high enough for third place at state.

“I’m real happy with how I jumped. I gave it my all,” she said. “I was starting to get tired at the end. Jumping does that.”

Wright wasn’t finished yet. On Saturday, she notched ninth in the high jump with a leap of 15-11.75. Not bad after her junior year ended in disappointment at districts.

“I was ecstatic when I got back to state,” she said. “I didn’t want to have something bad to happen again like last year. As long as I focused on having fun, I knew it wouldn’t.”

Wright went with the same approach at state, and was rewarded.

“Top three [in the high jump] is fantastic,” she said. “It means I get to stand on the podium one more time as a senior. I’ll never forget that.”

Five other Panthers represented Washougal in the state meet. Sean Eustis earned 11th place in the 2-mile run with a time of 9 minutes, 28.4 seconds. He also finished 13th in the mile in 4:32.74.

Nathan Milojevic cleared 13-6 for 10th place on the pole vault. Michelle Greear tossed the discus 104-9 for 11th place. Mackenzie Pfeifer took 12th with a throw of 100-11. Isaac Bischoff scratched all three of his throws in the discus.