In track and field, the Ballard Beavers made the long journey to Skyline High School in Sammamish and finished second to the Spartans last Thursday.

Some of Ballard's best athletes were nursing injuries and sat out the meet.

Skyline dominated the meet 106.5 to Ballard's 42.5 points. Juanita came in third with 21 points. Skyline is a top athletic power and has been a thorn in the sides of KingCo teams in all sports. The school will move to the 3A level next year.

Ballard is 1 and 2 for the season. They beat Lake Washington and lost to Woodinville last month.

Head Coach Bruce Drager was not expecting to beat Skyline due to a rash of injuries to Beaver athletes in recent weeks. Key runners Cole Manahan and Kalie Campbell were both kept out of action, along with others. Manahan is a top competitor in the 400 and Campbell in the 800.

"I don't think we will win today, we are dinged up. We will be lucky to make it through this meet," said Drager, prior to the start of the Skyline and Juanita event.

Ballard was the second best team in state last season. This year the team has 125 athletes and the coaching staff is still figuring out who to assign to the various track events.

Miles Schwaab went 18-feet 11-inches in the long jump. Zack Gussin ran a 10:07.2 in the 3,200. Felicia Tyson had a 1:01.01 time in the 400 and Bridget Berg had a time of 11:59.1 in the 3,200.

Schwaab's performance impressed Drager. It's Schwaab's first year doing the long jump and it can take several years for athletes to learn it. "Schwaab has already gone 20-feet, that's pretty darn good. As soon as he learns to jump, he can go 22-feet with no problem," said Drager.

Jimmy Brown is coming on in the hurdles. "He gets better every week. It takes two years to get good at it," said Drager.

As a group, the boys distance runners are ahead of where they were last year said Mirenzi.

Drager is excited at the prospects of the Ballard girls distance runners.

"We have eight girls who can run under six minutes (in the mile). I've never had a team like that. We've had years with one or two girls under six minutes by the end of the season. These girls can break six minutes at mid-season. They are going to do great," said Drager.

Freshman Rebecca Hailemariam, who is from Ethiopia, has emerged as a rising talent. Drager describes her as a "superstar," and says she is really going to be good.

Some freshmen boys and girls have also come on as sprinters to go along with new distance runners. "It will be exciting to see them all develop," said Drager.

This year's team will be hard pressed to repeat as the state runner up. With young athletes, there is room to grow.

Ballard meets Inglemoor on the road April 20 and will be at Redmond on April 27. Their final meet is May 4 against Franklin, Garfield and Roosevelt at Rainier Beach High School.

Meets begin at 3:45 p.m.