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SEAN CARTER/Stat Hound contributor
Leopards' Garcia erases letdown of 2025 with two first places
Leopards senior wins 200, anchors 4x100 victory; Naches Valley's Manfredi wins high jump
By JERREL SWENNING/Stat Hound
May 31, 2026
YAKIMA – It was redemption day for Zillah’s Aysia Garcia at the Class 1A state track and field at Zaepfel Stadium.
A year after a broken bone in her right heel ended her state-championship pursuit, the Leopards senior made up for it Saturday.
Garcia won the 200-meter dash, anchored the winning 400-meter relay and took second in the 100 meters on the final day of her high school career.
“I was just waiting for this day,” said Garcia, who fractured the talus bone in her heel during last spring’s 100-meter final.
Saturday did start with a bit of a downer, however.
In the 100, an event Garcia was the top qualier and held 1A’s best time of the season, a quick start propelled Hoquiam’s RanaèJah Burtenshaw to a repeat in the event, winning at 11.07. Garcia was second, clocking a 11.17.
“I was just a little upset because that’s my favorite event,” Garcia said.
But with three finals packed into four hours, Garcia had little time to sulk, and quickly moved on, reconciling that Burtenshaw ran better than the Idaho signee’s personal best (11.09). “Today she was better,” Garcia said.
Her roll-with-the-punches approach has served her well.
“You could see she was upset after losing, but she rebounds pretty fast on stuff, virtually everything,” Zillah coach Brock Anderson said. “Just the way she dealt with the broken foot – on the Monday after she was back to herself.”
Next up was the 4x100 relay, an event in which Zillah qualified third. The Leopards needed a photo finish to beat SCAC rival Cashmere in their heat.
“Before the race, I said this isn’t impossible, this is on the table,” she said.
Indeed, it was. Taking baton for the final 100 meters in a tight race, she pulled away from the pack, beating top-seeded Riverside for the victory. Paige Favilla, Vikki Walle and Isabella Gillihan, the first three legs of the relay, raced to the finish to celebrate with their teammate.
“Once she had the baton, you knew it was over,” said Anderson, crediting assistant coach Melissa Favilla for Zillah’s sprint and relay success.
It was the 200 which Garcia was most unsure about. After finishing seventh as a freshman, she missed the podium with a ninth-place finish two years ago before the injury kept her from last year’s final.
“The 200 stresses me out, and I go into it with no expectations,” she said.
Garcia, though, PR’d Saturday in 25.09 seconds, beating Seton Catholic’s Violet Heidt by a few strides for another top spot on the podium.
Naches Valley high-jumper Tygh Manfredi provided the SCAC with its third championship, clearing 6 foot, 4 inches to take the top spot.
Cashmere’s boys were runners-up in the 4x100 relay, while College Place’s Joel Hutchison and Zillah’s Tyson Colton took third in the shot put and 300-meter hurdles respectively.
On the girls side, the Rangers’ Amarylis Mendoza, College Place’s Emma Niemeyer (javelin) and Cashmere’s Taylor Kunz (100-meter hurdles) were third, and Mia Staggs leaped to fourth in the triple jump.
The Bulldogs finished sixth in the girls team standings.