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La Conner High School senior Tommy Murdock continued to set the gold standard for the state’s Class 2B boys’ hurdlers on Saturday.
For the second year in a row, Murdock swept the 110- and 300-meter hurdles events at the Washington State 2B Track and Field Championships in Yakima.
Murdock capped his amazing Braves career – one in which he collected five state gold medals dating to the 2022 campaign – by leading the La Conner boys to an eighth-place finish out of 31 schools competing in the 2024 2B trials at Zaepfel Stadium.
Murdock accounted for all 28 of La Conner’s points on the boys’ team leaderboard. He claimed the 110 hurdles in 14.84 seconds and the 300 hurdles in 39.88.
He also finished third in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.86 and seventh in the 100-meter dash at 11.43.
His brilliant state performance drew praise and congratulations from numerous posts on social media, including ultra runner and former La Conner assistant track coach Yvonne Naughton, who now resides in Durango, Colorado.
Murdock wasn’t the only La Conner thinclad to shine at state.
On the girls’ side, head coach Peter Voorhees saw his 4x200-meter relay team of Kiana Jenkins, Lydia Grossglass, Morgan Huizenga and Maeve McCormick clinch second place in 1:50.34. The quartet ran just behind event victor Brewster.
Jenkins, Grossglass, Huizenga and McCormick also teamed to record sixth in the sprint relay, posting a finish time of 53.40.
Jenkins, an eighth grader, took fourth in the 400 meters (1:01.69) and seventh in the 200 (27.24).
Grossglass ran sixth in the 100-meter hurdles (17.15) and eighth in the 300 hurdles (54.27).
Nora McCormick, another of the La Conner track program’s eighth graders, contributed an eighth-place finish in the long jump with a leap of 15’-5.25”.
The girls’ team placed ninth overall with 25 points.
The La Conner teams finished ahead of their NW2B rivals Coupeville and Friday Harbor.
In another state-level competition, La Conner’s Kendall Lee won one of three matches at the Yakima Tennis Club, defeating Riley Tax of Cle Elum 2-6, 7-5, 6-3. Lee, who competed with 2A Anacortes during the regular season, fell one match victory shy of advancing to the 2B/1B trophy round. Her opening round loss was to eventual gold medalist Avi Sahota of Chewelah.
In Tumwater, at the state 2B/1B golf tourney, La Conner’s Sammy Williams (90) and Corran Eisen (92) fell just below the cut line on the first day of play and didn’t advance. Abigail Udlock narrowly missed the cut in the girls’ bracket.
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