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SPECIAL DELIVERY – La Conner’s hopes in the mile relay were in good hands with senior Raphael Ponce-Venegas during District trials in Seattle last week. Ponce-Venegas joined with teammates Kolbe Rasler, Harrison Orkney, and Mitchell Grant to place second and thus earn a State meet berth. Ponce-Venegas is also entered in the 800 meters at Cheney. – Photo by Eric Grant
All spring long, regardless of distance or venue, La Conner High has remained on track.
And now the school’s thinclads — who have competed at home, in Cashmere, and as far away as Ritzville — will get to run on the big oval.
That being the State 2B Track & Field Championships at Eastern Washington University this weekend.
This after La Conner’s Braves ran away with the District title and the Lady Braves were a strong runnerup in last Friday’s fast-paced, eight-school field gathered in Seattle.
Junior sprinter Mitchell Grant leads an eight-member Braves’ contingent to Cheney.
Senior distance runner Jessica Kiser and six other Lady Braves travel to the EWU campus as well.
Grant swept the 200 and 400 meters on the boys’ side of the District meet and will join teammates Rafael Ponce-Venegas, Kolbe Rasler, and Harrison Orkney in the State mile relay.
Grant was clocked in :23.51 at 200 meters and :52.56 in the 400. He nipped Ponce-Venegas’s :53.02 at the wire in the 400 meters.
Ponce-Venegas, a senior, won the 800 meter crown with a time of 2:05.50.
Orkney, meanwhile, placed second in the 100 meter dash, turning in a 12:06 finish, just behind Tacoma Baptist’s Abram Jackson.
As a quartet, the La Conner entry posted a time of 3:36.41 in the 4x400 meters, just over a second back of Tacoma Baptist’s mile relay team.
Senior Alec Azure continued his strong second half of the season with a 4:54.10 effort in the 1600 meter run, good enough for a silver medal and berth to State.
Senior Sid Lease qualified for Cheney by winning the District javelin championship and placing second in the shot put.
Lease went 141’-9” in the javelin, and tossed the shot 41’-7 1/4”.
La Conner’s Zach Harris and Josh Summers likewise punched tickets to Eastern Washington May 30 and 31. They placed second in the discus and high jump, respectively.
Harris clinched a spot in the State discus field with a throw of 112’-8”. Summers cleared the high jump bar at 5’-6”.
In the girls’ half of the meet, Kiser and La Conner junior Anna Cook finished 1-2 in both the 800 and 1600 meters.
Kiser was timed at 2:31.41 at 800 meters, and 5:34.98 in the 1600.
Cook clocked a 2:35.75 800 and a 5:54.40 1600.
Kiser completed a solo hat trick at Seattle by also winning the 3200 meters with a 12:38.04 finish, nearly a minute better than silver medalist Chayse Jones of Crosspoint Academy.
Kiser and Cook will also run legs of the mile relay at State.
They joined Nicole Henriksen and Sofie Thulen to mine District gold in the 4x400 at Seattle.
The La Conner quartet finished in 4:29.29.
Thulen, a freshman, advanced to State in both hurdles events. She clinched second in the 100 meter hurdles with a time of :18.18, edging Concrete’s Jasmine Hopfield. Thulen won bronze in the 300 meter hurdles with a :54.93 finish.
Nicole Henriksen, Heather Henriksen, Kyla Crawford, and Ashley Carlson also qualified for State in the 4x200 meter relay, placing third at District, with a time of 2:00.71.
In District field events, Heather Henriksen and Cook parlayed third place finishes into spots at Cheney. Henriksen was third in the discus, with a toss of 75’-8”, while Cook matched that finish in the triple jump with a leap of 30’-5 1/2”.
In related notes:
• Some La Conner athletes could draw added duty in Cheney this week. Azure qualified as an alternate in the boys’ 3200 meters. Thulen (triple jump), Nicole Henriksen (400 meters), Heather Henriksen (javelin), and Ryan Kiser (3200 meters) are alternates at those events in the girls’ meet.
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