Twice is nice: MIHS girls track and field team repeats as state champs
Published 12:30 pm Sunday, May 31, 2026
It was repeat time for the Mercer Island High School (MIHS) girls track and field team, which massively triumphed at the 3A state championship meet on May 30 at Mount Tahoma High School in Tacoma.
By scoring in 14 of the 18 events and notching 101 points, the victorious locals left Gig Harbor behind in second place with 50 points to earn their second consecutive title.
With veteran leadership on board, co-head coach Stacy Edwards said the Islanders wanted to make a statement at the meet. Mission accomplished.
Standing tall in the championship spot on the podium for the Islanders were Aaliyah Khan, who won her second straight title in the long jump (19-0) and she also notched the triple jump (39-3) crown; Lauren Balousek, who won the 400 meters with a school record mark of 54.80; and the winning 4×400 relay team of Maia Shook, Maddie O’Brien, Rizah Despres and Balousek with a time of 3:51.86 (which was .3 seconds off the school record).
Also for the girls at state, Sarina Sawhney won the wheelchair shot put (17-10.5), discus (50-6) and javelin (36-8) with meet records.
A week earlier, the girls won the 3A District 2 SeaKing team championship.
On the MIHS boys’ side at state — which took place May 28-30 — Matthew Lawrence finished second in the 3200 (9:02.10) and fifth in the 1600 (4:09.03); Owen Clarkson took second in the pole vault (15-6); Aidin Azeem placed sixth in the discus (150-2); and the 4×100 relay team of Clarkson, Jonah Thiese, Parker Blosch and Nicholas Castaneda took eighth (43.61). The boys finished eighth in the team standings.
Edwards summed up how the Islanders snagged success in the girls and boys realms.
“It was really a team effort because if you look at our points and where they came from, they came from all over the place,” Edwards said. “And I think because of that, there was that kind of safety net from a mental standpoint of my teammate has my back, and I can really go out and be aggressive in my race and try to do the best that I can.”
Co-head coach Amy Posner Wolff said spirits were high amongst the athletes throughout the three-day event, which featured prelims and finals.
“This was new for some of them, because it’s just a lot in three days,” she said. “And despite that, they all just grinded and got it all done and woke up each day, even though they were a little sore — they got to business and had the positive attitudes and collaboration.”
The coaches also got their steps in while moving from races to throws to jumps throughout the meet to instruct the many MIHS athletes displaying their talent.
At the end, the girls celebrated their title by dumping some water on Edwards along with cheering, jumping up and down and recording TikTok reels, according to Posner Wolff, who added that all the MIHS athletes later feasted on burgers and shakes at Shake Shake Shake in Tacoma to close out their season.
