Derrick Daigre nearly pulled off a dandy double Saturday afternoon during the Class 4A state track and field meet at Mount Tahoma High.
Instead, Kent-Meridian’s sophomore sensation settled for one – and a golden one at that.
Daigre, who sports a lanky 6-foot-4, 156-pound frame that is built for speed, lit up the oval on a sunsplashed afternoon, bolting to personal-best 1:52.57 and leaving the competition behind in the 800-meter dash.
Yet, Daigre came within an eyelash of winning a pair of titles. He brought home a silver medal in the 400 meter, a race in which he nearly caught winner Jacob Sealby of Wenatchee in the final 15 feet. Sealby stopped the clock in 49.01, just ahead of Daigre’s 49.05.
“I thought maybe he would die or give up a little bit,” said Daigre. “But he stayed strong. I couldn’t have asked for a better race.”
Trying to chase down titles in the 400 and 800 is a particularly difficult task for any athlete to attempt due to the proximity of time in which they’re run at during the state meet. After winning the 800, Daigre had a few hours to rest before trying to chase down Sealby.
“That’s a tough double, coming back with tired legs, especially after setting a (personal record) by two seconds in the 800,” said K-M coach Ernie Ammons.
Daigre’s two big performances keyed Kent-Meridian’s second-place finish in the team standings. The Royals collected 34 total points, tying for second place with Central Kitsap and Beamer. Mead won the team title with 49 points.
The top four teams earn a trophy.
“We just want to bask in the glory of what we had this year,” Ammons said. “It was a pretty good run. To walk away with a state trophy on the boys’ side is icing on the cake.”
The highlight of the day, however, belonged to Daigre, who became K-M’s first champion in any sport since Jessica Duran won the 300 hurdles in the 2006 state track meet.
And though he didn’t pull off a victory in the 400, it proved to be one of the most exciting races – boys or girls – of the afternoon. The K-M sophomore trailed considerably with 70 meters remaining before finding his kick. At the finish line, Sealby’s chest simply broke the tape a fraction of a second ahead of Daigre.
“The kid has a reserve tank in there that we didn’t know about,” said Ammons. “I’ve never seen that much foot speed out of him in the 800 … he just put it in overdrive and didn’t look back.”
Nor did the rest of the K-M boys.
Marlowe Brim, making his second-straight state appearance, delivered a fourth-place performance in the shot put. Brim, who did not place at state last year, heaved the shot put 53-feet-1.75 inches.
“On the Internet, I was already ranked fourth,” said Brim. “I was happy in that sense, but I really wanted to move up and get first, second or third. I wanted to place in the top three.”
In addition, K-M also received a third-place finish from its 4 x 100 relay team of B.J. Arceneaux, Brandon Harris, Andrew Smith and David Jones. The contingent stopped the clock in 42.90 to earn the silver.
Arceneaux, however, wasn’t finished, taking home a fourth-place finish in the 200 with a time of 22.32.
Add it all up, and things could not have gone much better for the Royals.
“(The second-place finish) exceeded any expectations we had going into the meet,” said Ammons.
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