The West Seattle Wildcats boys came in third overall last year at the state meet and track coach Tom Burggraff led the Wildcats to the SeaKing district championship.

Burggraff was named spring coach of the year last year by the Seattle PI.

“I was honored, but really was a result of being blessed with a talented team and some great performances,” said Burggraff.

The Wildcats were undefeated in the 4x100 meter relay ran by Aaron Grymes, Markeem Adams, Christian Crain, and Brandon Brown. The group won by an unbelievable margin of 0.01 seconds.

Grymes and Adams are returning, leaving the other two spots up for grabs. Grymes took fifth place in the 100 meter dash at the state meet, while Adams took fifth at 200 meters.

The girls who are returning this year are seniors Tanya Tarabochia, Lizzie Perkins, Chandler Dennison and sophomore Kendall Kielbon. Senior April Johnson is currently recovering from knee surgery. Burggraff refers to her as one of the premier track athletes in the state, and a centerpiece of the team.


The returning boys are seniors Grymes, Jeremy Darden, Jules Guay-Binion, Ian Kiethly, Kyle MacDonald, juniors Adams, and Caleb Fisher.

The team practices from 3 to 5 p.m. on Mondays through Saturdays.

Burggraff expects the boys to gain a third place trophy just like they did last year. As for the girls, Burggraff expects them to have more depth and should improve on their state presence at state from last year.

“This year we plan to repeat what we did at the four by one last year,” said Grymes. “We will run like a team in state, and win state.”

Burggraff would like for everyone to check out the 2008 Track banner in the gym, as well as the 2008 Track trophies in the case.

Shin Tran is a West Seattle High School journalism student and this article appears originally in the school newspaper, The Chinook.