Embracing the Chaos: A Black and White Look at the OHS Tri-Meet
Embracing the chaos. Yelm senior Kailey Slevin recovers after a gritty, hard-fought 1600m performance in the wind and rain.
National Weather Service Wind Advisory Alert.
The notification pinged across the screen of my phone. Great. Not only was it going to be pouring at the Olympia Jamboree, but the wind was going to be howling.
Don’t get me wrong, I will shoot in the rain anytime. Even for a small tri-meet like this, I was as hyped as I would be for a state championship. But I made the executive decision to pack light: one camera, one lens. Keep it simple. The weather was going to be enough to manage on its own.
One of the most frustrating things about shooting in a deluge is how quickly the viewfinder fogs up. Playing the "is this actually in focus?" game is not one I enjoy. Add in the rain peppering the front element of my lens with nothing to do about it, and you just have to embrace the chaos.
Even before the first starting gun, I had practically made up my mind that this entire gallery was going to be processed in black and white. That meant nailing the exposure and not worrying about much else. Again, simplicity.
Relentless elements. The freezing, driving rain that defined the gritty atmosphere of the Olympia Jamboree.
My loadout: a Canon 1DX and a Canon 300mm f/4.0, paired with a Canon 1.4x Extender MKIII. For those keeping score at home, that puts me at a fixed 420mm focal length at f/5.6. To freeze the action in that gloom, I had to crank the ISO to 16,000. So if you are wondering—no, the heavy grain in these shots isn't added in post. It’s 100% organic.
If you follow my work, you know I usually run with a two-body setup: one long lens for reach, and one wider setup for intimate, environmental shots when the athletes get close. Trying to execute both vibes with a fixed 420mm lens was going to be impossible.
Adaptability is the name of the game. I ran around the infield with my prime lens, constantly trying to gauge the proper distance to get the framing I wanted. I knew going in that I wanted big, frame-filling, intimate portraits. I wanted you to see the water freezing on the athletes' faces. I wanted you to practically feel the soaked jerseys. Getting claustrophobic was the goal, and I think I did a pretty good job. I'll let you be the judge.
Steeling themselves for the elements. Yelm distance runners lock in at the starting line of the 1600m, mentally preparing for the freezing rain ahead.
Out on the track, athletes tried to stay warm by pacing the infield and hoarding whatever dry layers they had left. Some clearly didn't pack for the cold rain and stood shivering while waiting for their heats.
But the miserable weather didn't kill the spirit of the meet. As the boys' 1600m wrapped up, athletes hit the deck. High fives were exchanged. Hugs were given out of pure exhaustion. It was a melting pot of mutual respect between the three schools—Olympia, Yelm, and Capital. It felt like a shared acknowledgment of the sheer pain they all just pushed through.
Leaving it all out there. The absolute physical toll of crossing the finish line after a grueling race in freezing conditions.
Before and after the girls' races, there was fist-bumping, smiling, and laughing. These athletes are going to battle each other numerous times this season, so it’s great to see them let their guard down and just enjoy the competitive nature of the sport.
Finding the joy in the misery. A Capital runner shares a laugh trackside, letting the competitive guard down despite the pouring rain.
I’m not going to deep-dive into the technical times and splits from this meet, because honestly, in these conditions, nobody is having their career-best day. But I will say this: Olympia’s Leah Hennen kicked off her track season with the exact same pure dominance she ended cross country with. Yelm’s senior standout Kailey Slevin took it to the front for the first 400m of the 1600m. She dropped back a bit in the middle of the race, only to storm back with a strong finish to take second.
Leaving the pack behind in the rain. Olympia's Caden Durocher pushes through the misery for a dominant finish in the boys' 1600m.
On the boys' side, Caden Durocher shined in the 1600m. He sat patiently behind Yelm’s frontrunners, Marcos Andujar and Patrick Walsh, for the majority of the race before launching a dominant finishing kick.
Securing the win. Capital’s Jae Walz refuses to let the conditions slow his momentum on the way to a first-place finish in the 800m.
In the 800m, Capital High School’s Jae Walz and Malachi Cardona went 1-2. For the girls' 800m, it was Olympia’s Carolina Schilter and Megan Shen taking the top two spots. Carolina looked incredibly smooth from the gun, absolutely leaving the pack in the dust over the first 400m and crossing the line at a quick 2:27.73.
