Lady Braves show mettle, win medals at State

The La Conner High girls’ track team made a strong run for the State 2B title in Cheney last week.

And freshman Matty Lagerwey, who earlier this year made great strides for the Lady Braves volleyball and basketball teams, was — by leaps and bounds — a top competitor at the Eastern Washington University campus.

Lagerwey easily won the gold medal in the long jump at 17’-11”, more than a foot longer than runnerup Maggie Nelson of Liberty-Spangle. And then she ran legs of La Conner High’s second place sprint and 4x200 relay entries.

Her performance, plus those of sprinter Emma Lee and hurdler Sofie Thulen, helped the tireless Lady Braves clinch fifth place in team standings, a mere 19 points behind State champion St. George’s of Spokane.

Lee captured bronze medals in the 100 and 200 meter dashes, respectively.

The sophomore speedster clocked a :12.88 in the 100 meters, just two one-hundredths of a second behind silver medalist Scout Cai of Colfax.

Lee finished just back of Cai, a multi-sport standout, in the 200 as well. Cai finished in :26.54. Lee turned in a :26.62 finale, the same time she sported when edging Cai in the prelim.

Grace Hamre of Napavine swept both the girls’ 100 and 200.

Lagerwey and Lee joined Thulen and Sage Burgmeier to post a :51.06 finish in the 4x100. Lagerwey, Lee, Brianna Porter, and Kamea Pino went 1:46.99 in the 800 relay.

Thulen, meanwhile, likewise enjoyed a fast and furious State Meet, finishing fourth in the 300 meter hurdles and fifth in the 100 hurdles while joining Burgmeier, Porter, and Pino to place eighth in the mile relay.

The La Conner quartet had placed sixth in the 4x400 prelim with a time of 4:22.25.

La Conner head coach Peter Voorhees was impressed afterward that his charges were able to balance speed, stamina, and strength over the course of the three-day trials — coming on the heels of a 300-mile trip — and excel in multiple events.

The La Conner boys also drew praise from Voorhees for a Top Twenty finish in a tough State field.

Hurdler Josh Summers led the Braves with a fifth place effort in the 110s. He was timed at :16.29.

Brady Nelson added to the La Conner point total with a sixth in the javelin at 161’-4”, while Harrison Orkney finished seventh in the 100 meters in :11.86 and Budda Luna was eighth in the triple jump, 40’-1”.

Okanogan won the boys’ side of the 2B State Meet, compiling 77 points. Northwest Christian of Lacy was runner-up with 51.

The Braves, sandwiched between College Place with 12, and Waitsburg-Prescott with 11, totaled 11.5 points.