Track and field teams post strong start in season debut

Tommy Murdock picked up where he left off a year ago.

The La Conner High School senior, who is the reigning Washington State 2B boys’ 110- and 300-meter hurdles champion, swept his signature events during a 10-team season debut meet at Whittaker Field last Wednesday.

Murdock cruised to triumphs in the 110 (16.00) and 300 (41.10), setting the tone for several solid performances by a slimmed-down La Conner track-and-field program that is focused on quality rather than quantity to kick off the 2024 campaign.

Murdock picked up a third solo triumph with an 11.92 finish in the 100-meter dash, edging teammate and runner-up Simon Bouwens with a 12.36.

Murdock ran a leg of La Conner’s 4x100 relay with Marlin Bralens, Mitchell Page and eighth-grader Yandel Rosales-Rojas. The team placed third in 48.07.

“Tommy did what he does,” La Conner head coach Peter Voorhees said.

Murdock earned La Conner’s Athlete of the Week recognition for his work on the boys’ side of the meet.

Sophomore Maeve McCormick was the Lady Braves’ Athlete of the Week after winning the girls’ 100 (13.80) and 200 meters (28.79), placing third in the high jump (14-3.5), and teaming with Morgan Huizenga, Lydia Grossglass and her eighth-grade sister Nora McCormick on La Conner’s first-place sprint relay (53.56).

Individual relay team members enjoyed a strong meet as well.

Huizenga won javelin with a toss of 104-0 and went 4-8 to clinch the high jump. She placed sixth in discus.

Grossglass claimed the 300-meter hurdles (51.96) and finished third in the 100-meter hurdles (19.01) and 100-meter dash (14.10).

Nora McCormick won the 100-meter hurdles (18.33), took second in the long jump (14-10.5), and was third in the 300-meter hurdles (54.06).

Addison Wigal, a Lady Braves’ junior, picked up third place in the javelin at 79-2.

As a team, the La Conner girls tied for second with Mount Vernon Christian, each amassing 110 points.

Coupeville, with 113 points, narrowly won the girls’ crown. Lopez placed fourth with 73 points.

The La Conner boys, who totaled 79 points, finished third on the team leaderboard behind Coupeville (155.5) and Mount Vernon Christian (128). Friday Harbor was fourth (76.5).

Rosales-Rojas, Flint Huizenga and Alexzander Martin contributed to the Braves’ point total.

Rosales-Rojas finished second in the long jump at 17-4. Huizenga placed second in the javelin with a personal-best throw of 111-0. Martin was fifth in the shot put (33-3.5).

“Teamwise, we performed pretty well,” Voorhees. “It was very encouraging that we had people who are new to track and weren’t intimidated out there.”

The La Conner track teams resume action at 3 p.m. March 20 at Mickey Clark Stadium in Coupeville.