La Conner High track teams show mettle, win medals

The La Conner High track team stayed in the running at the Skagit County Championships last week in Anacortes.

Well in the running, at that.

While one of the smaller enrollment schools at Rice Field, La Conner High proved long on talent during the intense two-day event.

Consider that La Conner sprinter Emma Lee, hurdler Sofie Thulen and jumper Matty Lagerwey were double gold medalists on the girls’ side of the County Meet, which saw the Lady Braves place a strong third in the team standings—ahead of Mount Vernon High, among others.

Throwers Kaden Murdock, Brady Nelson and Geoffrey McGaughey and multi-event specialist Budda Luna medaled for the La Conner boys, who finished sixth in the team competition.

Lee swept the girls’ 100 and 200 meter sprints. She edged Mount Vernon Christian’s Jaiden Hill at the tape in the 100. Lee was timed at :12:80 in the finale. Hill’s finish was clocked at :12.84.

The two ran 1-2 in the 200 as well, with the same results.

Lee posted a winning time of :26.05. Hill finished in :26.75.

Thulen, meanwhile, captured both the 100 meter and 300 meter hurdles crowns. She went :16.21 in the 100s, winning by a wide margin over Lauryn Boelke of Anacortes.

Thulen was the only entrant to break the 48-second mark in the 300s, crossing the finish line at :47.74.

Lagerwey flew to the girls’ long jump and triple jump titles. She was the only long jumper to top 16-feet, hitting the sand at 16’-9¼”. Her 34’-10½” effort in the triple jump was more than a foot longer than that of runner-up Kenna MacKay of Burlington-Edison.

Joining Lee, Thulen, and Lagerwey on the Skagit County medal stand was La Conner teammate Sarah Hastings, who took silver in the shot put 32’-10½” and bronze in the discus 109’-1½”.

The Lady Braves also made a strong showing in the relays. La Conner won the sprint relay with a time of :51.68. The Lady Braves were third in the 4x200 and sixth in the mile relay.

Other solid finishes were turned in by Brianna Porter, Addison Reinstra and Sage Burgmeier, who placed sixth, respectively, in the discus, 100 meter hurdles, and javelin.

Justine Benson placed in the Top Ten in the high jump, as did Porter in the javelin.

The javelin was also a point of pride for the La Conner boys.

Nelson, an Everett Community College track signee, placed second to Mount Vernon High’s Kristopher Bonn with a heave of 156-3”. McGaughey claimed bronze at 147’7”.

Luna finished in second in both the long jump and triple jump. He was 20’-5” in the former, 41’-4½” in the latter.

Luna added a :24.01 prelim heat in the 200 meters.

The individual highlight for the Braves was turned in by Murdock. He was the boys’ lone gold medal winner, edging Andrew Hayes of Anacortes for top discus honors.

Murdock’s best toss was 135’-1”. Hayes was one inch back, at 135-feet even. Nelson came in fifth with a 114’-2” throw.

Arjuna Adams finished fifth for the Braves in the 300 meter hurdles, sliding under the 45-second mark by six-one hundredths.

Distance runner Charlie Cram placed fifth in the 3200 meters. His time of 10:31.80 was just behind that of fourth place finisher Kendall Van Zanten of Mount Vernon Christian.

In the shot put, La Conner’s Michael Page and McGaughey finished sixth and seventh.

Jeffrey Johnson picked up a Top Ten finish in the high jump.

For the La Conner High thinclads, it’s a case of no rest for the weary. They turn around and host the league championships today, Wednesday, at Whittaker Field.