The Cashmere Bulldogs track and field team opened the WIAA 1A State Track and Field Championships with an impressive showing Thursday at Zaepfel Stadium in Yakima.

With competition continuing Friday and concluding Saturday, the Bulldogs are already piling up team points and qualifying athletes for championship finals.

Junior Mackenzie Van Bogart led the way for the Cashmere girls with a standout performance in the girls 1600-meter run. Van Bogart placed third in the state, crossing the finish line in 5:09.16 to earn valuable team points for the Bulldogs.

Van Bogart will also look to add to Cashmere’s success in the 800-meter run. She is scheduled to compete in Friday’s preliminary heats and enters with the third-fastest seed time in the event.

On the boys side, junior Zane Pace delivered a strong finish in the pole vault. Pace cleared 13 feet even to earn fourth place in the state competition, collecting five team points for Cashmere.

Freshman Ryan Thayer also competed in the boys pole vault and turned in a solid performance. Thayer cleared 12 feet even and finished 11th overall.

Additional highlights from Thursday included junior Brynne Patrick advancing to Saturday’s finals in the girls 100-meter dash. Patrick finished fourth overall in the preliminary heats with a time of 12.47 seconds.

Freshman Kiana Baty also secured a spot in the finals after placing seventh overall in the preliminary heats of the girls 300-meter hurdles. Baty clocked a qualifying time of 47.19 seconds to move on to Saturday afternoon’s championship race.

Senior Isaac Zavala narrowly missed advancing to the finals in the boys 100-meter dash. Zavala finished 10th overall in the preliminary heats with a time of 11.03 seconds, just missing the top eight qualifying spots.

In the boys 1600-meter run, Rylan Reiber finished 24th overall with a time of 5:05.17.

The Bulldogs return to action Friday with a full slate of athletes competing on the big stage at the WIAA 1A State Meet.