La Conner track teams weather storm at Langley

The weather was the worst, but La Conner High School thinclads were at their best in Langley Thursday.

The track teams fought off heavy rain and gusty winds to post several personal bests at a non-league invitational meet hosted by South Whidbey High School.

As has been the case throughout the spring, reigning state 2B hurdles champ Tommy Murdock paced the Braves, who placed second out of seven team entries, trailing only the hometown Falcons by a 141-101.5 margin.

"Tommy's been really consistent in the hurdles," head coach Peter Voorhees told the Weekly News. "His level of consistency has been remarkable. No matter what meet he's been at and who he's competed against, he's been successful."

That didn't change at Langley for the Braves junior.

Murdock swept the 110 and 300-meter hurdles events, hitting the tape in 15.95 and 41.77, respectively.

His La Conner teammate, sophomore Isaac Kitchen, also produced strong showings in the hurdles, taking second in the 110s, 18.17, and fourth in the 300s, 46.54.

"He and Tommy have been working together a lot," Voorhees said of Kitchen, "It's great that Isaac has someone in Tommy who he can train with in the hurdles."

Murdock also placed second in the 100-meter dash at 11.76 and was fourth in the 200 with a 24.33 finish.

Voorhees was pleased as well with middle distance runner Brenden Kitchen and long-distance specialist Floyd Dent, each of whom recorded personal bests. Kitchen clocked a 2:19.53 in the 800 meters, for third place. Dent finished fourth in the 3200 meters at 12:27.86.

The relay quartet of Jacob Pommels, Isaiah Price, Kali Adams and Thomas Kitchen also established a new standard for themselves in the sprint relay. They were timed at 46.13 while placing second in the 4x100.

In field events, La Conner's Finn Hakenson took gold at the triple jump pit by going 34-9 1/4, placing just ahead of Brenden Kitchen, at 33-4, who clinched second.

Alexzander Martin battled the windy conditions with an 88-2 fifth place throw in the discus.

"Of all the events," said Voorhees, alluding to this spring's chilly weather, "discus is probably the one most affected by the wind."

On the girls' side, Voorhees said Lydia Grossglass and Morgan Huizenga continue to progress from early season foot injuries. Grossglass placed third in the 300-meter hurdles 52.76 and fourth in the 100-meter dash 14.27. Huizenga was fifth in the discus with a toss of 52-8.

Addison Wigal turned in a fourth place throw in the javelin of 81-8 and ran a leg of the Lady Braves 800-meter relay entry that finished third in 2:07.25.

Maeve McCormick finished sixth in the 100 meters, 14.44. She joined Wigal, Addison Keller and Emily Smith in the 4x200. The Lady Braves ended up seventh on the team scoreboard with 26 points.

"Maeve," Voorhees said of the versatile McCormick, "has had a really consistent season for us."

Next up for the La Conner track teams is the 115th annual Skagit County Track & Field Championships at Kirkby Field in Burlington today through Friday.

But before that, they will have scored points off the track with another weekly session at the Braves Club after-school program.

"Every Monday," said Voorhees, "we volunteer at the Braves Club. It's an awesome way to start out our week."

Their hope is to bookend that with equally awesome results at the county trials.