Fourth, fourth..... and fourth.

Fourth place seemed to be the finish of the day for Highline and Des Moines area teams and athletes at the state high school meet that concluded Saturday, May 27.

The Mount Rainier baseball team finished fourth in the 3A competition after a 4-1 first day loss to Peninsula followed by an 8-3 loss to Burlington-Edison in the game for third and fourth place.

Meanwhile, the Kennedy boys soccer team took fourth after a 2-1 loss to Mercer Island in the Lancers' game for third and fourth.

Seattle Christian also finished fourth in Class 1A baseball, losing to Newport of Spokane, 2-1, in the third place game.

Highline's Nkeiru Ugwoaba appeared to have caught the fourth place bug by herself. Ugwoaba took fourth in the girls 100-meter dash in a time of 12.53 seconds and fourth in the 200 in 25.76

But Ugwoaba broke the string in the triple jump with a third place finish at 37-10.5 and she helped the Highline girls 400-meter relay team to a victory in 49.20. She teamed up with Kaitlyn Heinsohn, Whitney Wagner and Kelly Mason for the win.

The Pirates posted their relay win and Ugwoaba's high finishes at Edgar Brown Stadium in Pasco, while the baseball "final four" took place at Safeco Field in Seattle and the boys soccer final four was held at Sunset Chevrolet Stadium in Sumner.

Safeco Field was especially pleasing to the eyes of the baseball players and coaches.

"You can't explain it. It's just great," said Peninsula head coach Marco Malich. "We're just happy to be here and we hope we come in first. This is very exciting for us, being with a team from Gig Harbor."

Peninsula went on to take second to Newport in the championship game.

But Malich also felt worried about the game against Mount Rainier, thanks to a five strikeout in three inning performance by Rams pitcher Cody Cox.

"Cody did exactly what we needed from him," said Mount Rainier head coach Darren Rawie. "Today we really outplayed them. It was like two games night and day."

Cox lasted until two outs in the fifth, and held a 1-0 lead going into the inning.

Darryl Morrow led off the first inning with a single, and he came around on a Justin Thornton grounder and a Garrett Cochran single.

Peninsula's Seahawks answered in the top of the fifth.

Rye Philips and Zachary Hobein both walked ahead of a wild pitch. Travis Huntley singled to drive Phillips in and leadoff hitter Tyler Wherry doubled in Hobein.

Two insurance runs were produced in the top of the seventh.

Hobein led off the inning with a walk and scored on a second double by Wherry. An outfield error was followed by a run-scoring single by Stephen Hagen.

The Seahawks shut down the Rams in the bottom of the inning to wrap up the win. A grounder to shortstop was followed by two fly outs to right field.

"This is huge," said Malich, who is in his 28th year at Peninsula -- where he graduated in 1959.

Kennedy soccer

Kennedy had its chance at a higher finish fade away with a 2-1 loss to Mercer Island in the game for third -- and fourth.

Eli Gordley scored the Lancers' lone goal with 9:28 elapsed in the first quarter.

The Mercer Island scoring was split between Derek Johnson and Charles-Antoine Vallieres. Johnson scored on an unassisted goal with 7:01 left and Vallieres put in a penalty kick with 65:20 elapsed.

2A, 1A, B Track

Foster finished fifth as a team with a score of 38, compared to Pullman's winning score of 54.

Adnan Mujic took eighth place in the 100-meter dash in a time of 11.72 and teammate Abdi Guiire finished third in the 3,200 in 9:56.82.

Danny Sullivan of the Bulldogs posted a victory in the 300 intermediate hurdles with a time of 38.77 after coming in fourth in the 110 high hurdles in 15.73. Foster followed Sullivan's finishes off by winning the 400-meter relay in 43.73.

Seattle Christian came in eighth in the boys 1,600 relay at 3:36.38 and had Candy Ofterbro take fifth in the triple jump at 34-7.5.

Kalee Cipra of Evergreen Lutheran placed fifth in the Class B girls 800 in 2:24.71 before nabbing fourth in the 1,600 in 5:24.59.

Ashley Daniels took fourth in the shot put at 33-0 for Evergreen Lutheran.

3A Tennis

Bryan Thorp of Kennedy captured fifth place at the state 3A tournament, losing the game for third by a 6-2, 6-1 score. Donnie Stallman of Highline lost the game for fourth by a 6-2, 6-0 score. Kennedy's Jason Lim and Fraser Chan lost the doubles game for fourth 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.

Jennifer Cheadle and Maddie Guidos of Highline lasted the longest of the area girls teams at state, before taking a 6-1, 6-0 consolation loss to Ellie Chapman and Andree Burns of Mercer Island.

Fastpitch

The Lancers lasted three games before being knocked out of state Class 3A tournament action.

Kennedy opened with a 3-1 victory over Sammamish, but turned around to lose, 3-2, to WF West in the quarterfinals. The Lancers bowed out with a 1-0 loss to Kelso in nine innings.

Girls golf

Stephanie Corey of Mount Rainier came through with a second place finish in the 3A girls competition, scoring a total of 146 behind the 141 of Seattle Prep's Katrina Hegge.

Elizabeth Keith of Seattle Christian, meanwhile, tied for 10th in Class 1A with rounds of 85 and 87.