Track teams run strong, take second at league title meet

The La Conner High School track teams show they have a finishing kick.

The Braves and Lady Braves posted strong performances at the NW2B/1B League Championship Meet in Mount Vernon on May 1, a prelude to Bi-District trials in Coupeville on Saturday, May 11.

La Conner teams placed second on each side of the five-school league title showdown. The Braves were runners-up to Coupeville on the boys’ team leaderboard. The Lady Braves were silver medalists behind Mount Vernon Christian.

“I was super proud of how everybody competed,” La Conner head track coach Peter Voorhees said. “It was our best team showing of the season.”

Coupeville claimed the boys’ crown with 148.5 points. La Conner compiled 126 points. MVC (104.5), Orcas Island (73) and Friday Harbor (65) rounded out the field.

MVC outpointed La Conner 174.5-132 in the girls’ half of the meet. Coupeville (131), Friday Harbor (51.5), and Orcas Island (46) finished third through fifth.

The Braves were paced by reigning state 2B hurdles champion Tommy Murdock, who was in especially dominant form – winning four individual events – including a sweep of the 110- and 300-meter hurdles.

Murdock captured the 110s in 14.63 and the 300s in 39.46.

And that was only half the story for Murdock. He added gold medal finishes in the 100-meter (11.48) and 200-meter (23.40) dashes.

Thrower Flint Huizenga and jumper Yandel Rosales-Rojas joined Murdock in the winner’s circle for the Braves.

Huizenga won the javelin with a toss of 148’-9”. Rosales-Rojas, an eighth grader, went 37’-8” to take top honors in the triple jump.

Rosales-Rojas led a 1-2-3 Braves finish in the triple. Lane Tenborg placed second (37’-6.25”) and Marlin Bralens was third at 36’-8”.

Rosales-Rojas added a second-place finish in the long jump (19’-5.75”). The versatile Tenborg placed third in the long jump (18’-4.5”) and fifth in the 400 meters (56.34).

Bralens finished fourth in the 110-meter hurdles (18.86) and 300-meter hurdles (47.77), respectively. He reached the finish line in the 110s just behind teammate Simon Bouwens, who was timed at 18.09, clinching third place.

Bouwens, who placed second in the 300s with a 46.98 finish, added a third-place finish in the 100 meters with an 11.83 clocking.

Alex Martin placed third in the discus (121’-4”) and sixth in the shot put (37’-2”).

On the girls’ side, La Conner’s Kiana Jenkins, Lydia Grossglass and Morgan Huizenga won two events apiece.

Jenkins, another of the La Conner track program’s eighth graders, placed first in the 200 (27.64) and 400 meters (l:01.55). Her 200 time was a personal best.

Grossglass swept the hurdles events, hitting the tape first in the 100 (16.79) and 300 (50.65).

Huizenga was best in the javelin (112’-8”) and high jump (4’-10”).

Grossglass and Huizenga also teamed with Jenkins and Maeve McCormick to win the league sprint relay title, recording a time of 53.23 in the 4x100.

Grossglass also medaled with a third-place finish in the 100-meter dash (13.96), just ahead of McCormick, who was fourth at 13.99.

McCormick added to the Lady Braves point total with a third-place effort in the long jump at 14’-3”, matching teammate Aisley Zimmerman, who mined bronze in the triple jump with a 29’-5.5” leap.

Eighth grader Nora McCormick took second in the 100-meter hurdles with an 18.16 finish. Zimmerman was sixth in the event at 19.63.

La Conner’s Addison Wigal placed second to Huizenga in the javelin with a toss of 96’-1”. Teammate Reese Bird’s 86’-1” throw secured fifth place.

Distance runner Finley Hancock was third in the 1600 meters (6:23.92), seventh in the 800 (3:07.76), and joined Bird (sixth in the 800 at 2:50.31), Wigal and Nora McCormick for a fifth-place run in the 4x200 meter relay with a time of 2:02.89.

Jenkins shuttled between the oval and jumping area. She finished fourth in the high jump at 4’-8”.

Huizenga likewise split time between field events and the sprints, contributing a fifth-place effort in the 200 meters (28.76).

Josie Adams was fifth in the discus (70’-1.5”) and sixth in the shot put (22’-2”). Kim Williams had a similar day, placing fifth in the triple jump (28’-5”) and sixth in the 400 (1:10.16).

Bird (64’-9”) and Wigal (59’-9.5”) finished sixth and seventh in the discus, placing just back of Adams.

The May 11 Bi-District competition, which will determine berths to the Washington State 2B Meet, gets under way at 11 a.m. at Coupeville’s Mickey Clark Stadium.

Voorhees is confident going into Bi-District based on results at the league meet.

“We had a lot of consistently good performances,” he said.