By Matt Phelps
The Seattle Academy High School girls track and field team dominated the Class A level state meet Saturday at Eastern Washington University. Mercer Island residents Yael Grundstein, Mimi Maritz and Liz Ramsden were a big part of that victory, as they helped their team earn 121.50 points, more than double second place Bellevue Christian’s and Rainier’s scores of 54 points.
Grundstein and Maritz were named their team’s co-Most Valuable Players for their performances during the meet.
Last season Seattle Academy took second at state.
“We had a lot of girls injured last year and we were so close,” said Maritz. “But it definitely felt good to win it this year.”
Grundstein’s accomplishments were made even more impressive by the fact that she has been competing over the last half of the season, as well as during the state meet, with a stress-fracture in her foot.
“It hurt, but I was still able to run and jump through it,” said Grundstein, who will attend the University of Oregon in the fall.
Grundstein, who is a senior, took second in three separate individual events and helped the 4X100-meter relay team to the state title.
Maritz, who was the anchor on the state championship 4X100-meter relay team, also competed on the third place 4X400-meter relay team and came in fourth in the 200 meters.
“It was really exciting,” said Maritz. “We were in front the entire race, so I just had to keep it up.”
The team took the championship in a time of 50.27, as Maritz and Grundstein were joined by teammates Kiera Hayes and Chloe Jourdan.
Ramsden was a part of the first place 4X200 relay team and she also medaled in the hurdles.
The 4X100-meter and 4X200-meter relays were two of three events that Seattle Academy took first place in during the meet.
Grundstein took second in the 100-meter dash with a time of 13.19, finishing just .26 seconds behind Kelsey Sutherland of Cascade Christian and barely beating out her teammate Allison Leonard. The senior went on to compete in the 200-meters, where she took second as well. She was again 0.79 seconds behind Sutherland with a time of 26.87.
During the triple jump Grundstein finished three-fourths of an inch behind Leonard, taking second in state with a distance of 36-feet 2 1/2-inches. Grundstein’s mark was eight inches better than her previous best in the event.
“I surprised myself,” said Grundstein. “I had a lot of encouragement from my teammates and the competition was good, which really pushed me.”
Maritz 4X400-meter team finished in third place overall with a time of 4:11.04.
During her freshman year of high school Grundstein ran and attended Mercer Island High School. She competed in the 4X100-meter relay team for the Islanders that made it to the 3A state meet. Grundstein transferred to Seattle Academy during her junior year.
Maritz competes for Mercer Island High School in gymnastics, as Seattle Academy does not have a girls gymnastics team.
