Track & Field: Lakes' Russell Settling into New Event

It was the season's first benchmark and Lakes' Marquinn Russell is showing promise in a relatively new event.

The sophomore sprinter earned a lifetime best by winning the 400-meter event at the Tacoma Invitational meet on Saturday at Lincoln Bowl in 49.59 seconds, shaving 3 seconds off his previous best. He edged Andrew Brown of Tumwater (49.98).

Russell decided to test his speed in the 400 this season, and he's found success early on.

"My tactic was to get a big lead and keep it," Russell said who never trailed in the close race.

Russell landed third in the 200 in 22.62 and took the podium at the Class 3A state meet last year His goal is to reach state in each of the three sprint events.

Lakes senior Taylor McAllister also captured a first-place victory with a personal best mark of 45 feet, 3 3/4 inches in the triple jump. Similar to Russell, McAllister's experiment has paid off.

In the 1,600 distance event, Lakes junior Izaic Yorks gained confidence with a lifetime best finish of 4:18.08 after recovering from a minor injury that kept him from training for about a week.

It was his first race back and he was satisfied with his performance.

"The race was good," Yorks said. "I felt kind of bad for the guy (Elma's Todd Jackson) in first. He did most of the work but the ending was tremendous."

White River's Marcus Dickson slipped by with a stronger kick in the last 200 meters to win (4:17.59), a difference of less than 2 tenths of a second.

Yorks added the meet allowed him to guage where he's at, especially after the injury.

"The main thing is keeping the injury in check," he said. "And a lot of speed work. That’s going to be a big key."

York advanced to the state meet in the 1,600 and 3,200 but his eyes are set on taking the podium. Time will tell where or if he finish as one of the state's eight best distance athletes.

The Lancers boys track & field team finish fourth with 41 points.

On the girls' side, Lakes senior Mahana Lutali earned a lifetime best in the shotput with a heave of 35-5 and senior Brooke Mortensen placed fourth in the discus with a toss of 104-8.

The Lady Lancers tied for 24th with 13.5 points, respectively as the Gig Harbor track & field team swept the competition.

Click here for complete results of the Tacoma Invitational.