La Conner thinclads go long distance to step on the track

Long before their long distance events began, La Conner High track teams had gone the distance.

And then some.

La Conner ventured 300 miles last weekend to take part in the Undeberg Invitational Track Meet — held in Ritzville, near Spokane — which traditionally draws many of Eastern Washington’s top small school programs.

This year’s event, featuring nearly three dozen schools, was no exception.

La Conner, Lakeside, and Seattle Academy joined the field from west of the Cascades, and each left its mark.

The La Conner boys, for instance, placed seventh overall, just behind Lakeside. The Braves edged eighth place Asotin by two points in a meet won by Colville.

The La Conner girls, meanwhile, finished 19th. Colfax, whom the Lady Braves met in last month’s State Basketball Tournament at the Spokane Arena, won the girls’ side of the Ritzville meet by a wide margin.

Junior sprinter Mitchell Grant paced the Braves at Ritzville, placing second in the 400 meters and taking third in the 200.

Grant was clocked at :52.8 in the 400, just six-tenths of a second behind winner Ryan Thayer of Liberty-Spangle.

Grant turned in a :24.16 effort in the 200 dash, trailing only Thayer and Odessa-Harrington’s Sam Schafer, who mined gold with a :23.78 finish.

Nor was Grant’s big day complete.

He joined La Conner teammates Wylie Thulen, Harrison Orkney, and Rafael Ponce-Venegas to claim silver in the sprint relay. The Braves quartet hit the tape in :45.83, only three-tenths of a second off the pace set by Medical Lake’s winning entry.

Grant also ran a leg of La Conner’s mile relay, which finished a strong fourth, in 3:45.79. He teamed with Orkney, Kolbe Rasler, and Ponce-Venegas on that finish.

Ponce-Venegas, a senior, added to La Conner’s point total by placing fifth in the 800 meters, clocking a time of 2:09.28.

Rasler, a freshman, chipped in another Top Ten finish for La Conner by capturing eighth place in the 300 meter hurdles. He ran a :47.31 final heat.

La Conner’s Zach Harris made the Top Ten as well, securing ninth place in the crowded discus field, with a toss of 118’-0”.

Sophomore Josh Summers and freshman Budda Luna both placed in the upper tier of the high jump for La Conner. Summers finished fifth with a leap of 5’-6”. Luna tied for ninth at 5’-2”.

La Conner senior Sidney Lease twice finished just outside the Top Ten. He was 11th in the shot put, with a throw of 38’-8½”, and 12th in the 100 meters, at :12.36.

Orkney finished the 100 right behind Lease, taking the 13th spot, with a time of :12.38.

In the girls’ division, La Conner’s Anna Cook placed fifth in the long jump and seventh in the 800 meters. She went 14’-3½” in the long jump and was timed at 2:42.14 in the 800. Her 6:06.53 finish in the 1600 meters placed Cook just outside the Top Ten of that event, in 11th place.

Her Lady Braves teammate, senior Jessica Kiser, ran eighth in the 3200 meters with a 13:30.05 clocking.

Kiser, Heather Henriksen, Ashley Carlson, and Kyla Crawford posted a combined 2:01.79 to clinch seventh place for the Lady Braves in the 4x200 meter relay. Their time was seven-tenths back of sixth place Pomeroy, but well ahead of eighth place DeSales.

If nothing else, La Conner’s travel time will be cut significantly this week. The school is hosting the two-day Skagit County Track-and-Field Championships, with prelims set for today, Wednesday, and finals scheduled on Friday.