The Tualatin boys track team won the state title with an impressive showing at Hayward Field at University of Oregon.
The best showing for the boys team came in two races, one of which was the 100 meter, where Auralleus Hicks set a record for the state championship meet with a time of 10.25 seconds.
The senior ran the 100 meter seven times this spring season, and finished first in five of those seven races.
Hicks also finished second in the 200 meter, and was a part of the Tualatin 4×400 relay team, which won the state title at the championship meet. The team was made up of Rowan Hampson, Cole Hachmeister, Ethan Coddington, and Hicks.
Other strong showings for the Timberwolves included sophomore Brock Estes, who finished second in the 300 meter hurdles and third in the 110 meter hurdles.
Tualatin’s 1×100 meter relay team also finished second. The team was made up of Johnathan Baker, Coddington, Hachmeister, and Hicks.
On the girls side, sophomore Nahla McCrae finished third in the long jump. The 4×100 relay team finished fourth, with a team of Emily Rufener, Mara Leenders, McCrae, and Giselle Gates.
Baseball team reaches state semifinals for the first time in over a decade
As of our publication date, there is still one Tualatin spring team still going this season, and that’s the baseball team.
The Timberwolves were ranked No. 2 heading into the playoffs, and have shown why through the first three rounds. Tualatin beat Sandy, 4-1, in the opening round, followed that up with an 8-1 win against Lincoln in the second round, and had a comeback 11-4 victory in the quarterfinals against Newberg.
In Tualatin’s first playoff game, it was all about Trenton Hertzog. The senior started the game on the mount, and with things scoreless after a few innings, he connected with a pitch and blasted it over the right field fence to give Tualatin a 3-0 lead. He tacked on another RBI single later in the game.
The quarterfinals found Tualatin in a rare position for the Timberwolves this postseason: trailing. Newberg struck first, scoring a run in each of the first two innings. Tualatin had some chances to score early with runners on, but never converted.
Senior Owen Hagerman led off the bottom of the fourth with a double, and he was quickly brought home on a single by Dylan Brenton, who moved up a base on a single by Hunter Grubb.
Carson Nell dunked a single into right field to bring in the tying run, and Tualatin took the lead for good on a sacrifice fly by Mehki Pressley. Calen Simonelic dropped down a bunt and beat out the throw to also bring in another run, giving Tualatin a 4-2 lead.
The next three Tualatin batters were all hit by pitches, bringing in a fifth run in the fourth inning. Tulatin’s final two runs in the inning came on a two-run single by Brenton.
The win puts Tualatin in the state semifinals for the first time since 2014. To reach the state title game, Tualatin will have to get by perennial powerhouse West Linn in the state semifinals. The two finished tied atop the Three Rivers League standings this year. West Linn won the first two matchups between the teams this year, winning 5-3 and 5-4, before Tualatin cruised to a 9-0 win in the third matchup.
Spring sports roundup
There was plenty of other success this spring at various Tualatin sports.
The softball team made the playoffs and won its first-round matchup, 11-0, against Aloha. The Timberwolves fell in the second round on the road against West Salem.
The team should build on that success next season, as just four members of the team were seniors this past season, and more than half of the team was made up of freshmen and sophomores.
On the tennis courts, both the boys and girls teams saw some achievements this year that neither program has seen in quite some time.
For the girls side, the doubles team of Madelyn Tan and Jenelie Villanueva became the first girls double team from Tualatin to qualify for the state championship meet in 10 years.
On the boys side, Shingo Okazaki became the first boys single competitor from Tualatin to qualify for the state meet in eight years.
Tan and Villanueva didn’t just earn a trip to the state meet. They won their opening-round match on Thursday. The duo won the first set, 6-3, and then dropped the second. They cruised to the win with a 6-0 decisive third set.
They dropped their second-round matchup in the state meet. Okazaki dropped his first-round match.
Both the boys and lacrosse teams also made the playoffs, with the girls team bringing home a third straight conference title.
The boys team finished tied for the best record in their division and earned a spot in the Championship Bracket of the playoffs.
