Camas-Washougal athletes bring home state titles

Camas and Washougal student-athletes are riding high this season, having brought home two team titles and four individual championships during state tennis, track and field and golf competitions.

The Camas Papermakers’ boys and girls tennis teams both won 4A state championships, as did Hailey Kerker (4A girls tennis singles), and Taryn Kerker and Fiona Zou (4A girls tennis doubles).

The Papermakers’ 1,600-meter relay team (4A girls track and field) and Washougal’s Sydnee Boothby (2A girls track and field 800 meters) also brought home state championship titles.

“We’re so proud of these Panther athletes for their hard work across this spring season, culminating with the chance to compete one more time among the best in Washington,” said Washougal High School Athletic Director Brian Wilde. “Our teams have accomplished amazing things this school year. We’re excited to see what the 2023-24 school year brings for our student athletes, and we’re sure that the class of 2023 senior athletes will continue to make us proud as they move forward to their next steps following graduation.”

4A tennis (May 26-27, Kennewick)

Hailey Kerker won her second consecutive 4A singles title, beating Anya Moravek (Bellmarmine Prep) 6-3, 6-3 in a semifinal match and Lucia Moravek (Bellarmine Prep) 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 for the title.

Taryn Kerker and Zou capped their title run by notching a pair of straight-set victories over teams from Newport. Kerker and Zou won their semifinal match 6-2, 6-2, then finished the tournament by posting a 6-4, 6-0 victory in the final.

Camas’ Sophia Rundle and Lena Trieu placed sixth to help give the Papermakers 32 points to beat out Newport (27) for the team title.

On the boys’ side, Aiden Brasier (third place, singles) and Leo Zhao placed (eighth place, singles) led the Papermakers, who finished with 15 points to edge out Issaquah, Jackson and Newport (11 points) for the team title.

4A/2A track and field (May 25-27, Tacoma)

The Camas girls’ 1,600-meter relay team, consisting of Rebecca Peddie, Kalei Moravitz, Amara Harris and Eliisa Marshall, posted a personal-best time of 3 minutes, 58 seconds, narrowly edging out a quartet of runners from Eastlake for first place.

Marshall, the anchor leg, passed two runners late, then ran down Eastlake’s Ava Hagwell in the race’s final meters to cap the comeback.

“I saw the finish line,” Marshall told The Columbian, The Post-Record’s sister publication, “and I knew how important this was. Our team had fought for this the whole track season. It’s the adrenaline that got me through the last 100 (meters).”

Camas’ Chase McGee vaulted a personal-best 14 feet, 9 inches to take second place in the 4A boys pole vault competition.

Boothby won the 2A girls 800 meter race in a time of 2:16.59, then took second place in the 3,200 (11:05.16) later in the day.

“I’ve been looking for a PR (personal record) all season, and the conditions were perfect today,” Boothby told The Columbian after winning the 800.

Boothby, who also posted a runner-up finish in the 1,600-meter race and anchored the Panthers’ 1,600-meter relay squad, accounted for 26 of Washougal’s 30 team points, which was good enough for a seventh-place finish.

4A boys and girls golf (May 23-24, Spokane)

Camas’ Jacinda Lee placed sixth with a two-day total of 144, and teammate Jasmine Chen tied for 13th at 153 as the Papermakers finished third in the 4A girls team standings behind champion Newport and second-place Issaquah at Indian Canyon Golf Course.

At the 4A boys tournament at Qualchan Golf Course, Camas’ Eli Huntington posted a two-day score of 140 (2-under par) to earn a third-place finish, three shots behind winner Ryan Takeshita of Sumner, Washington.