TACOMA — Sydnee Boothby gave the Class 2A girls 1,600 meters all she could and more.
“I put everything I had into it,” she said.
The Washougal High senior did what she always likes to do on the track: lead a race from the start, and in the case of the first day of the Class 4A/3A/2A state track and field championship Thursday at Mount Tahoma Stadium, she led by a wide margin, too.
Boothby impressed the crowd with a lead as wide as 50 meters two laps in. Then, the roar of the crowd again grew as Anacortes’ Jessica Frydenlund chased Boothby down in the final meters, and took the lead for good at 40 meters to the finish to edge Boothby for the state title.
Frydenlund finished in 4:59.87. Boothby’s runner-up time was 5:01.30, a personal-best and school-record time.
But those last several meters of the race? Boothby recalls it in full detail.
“I was pushing it like I always do,” she said, “and trying to kick it as fast as I always do. I knew (Frydenlund) would bring a good finish to it. I tried my best, but her kick is fantastic. I couldn’t beat her no matter how hard I tried.”
There’s familiar history with the two, too. At state cross country in the fall, Frydenlund finished second and Boothby was third in Pasco.
And it won’t be the last time they face off on the track at state this weekend, either.
