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State hurdles champ Murdock soars in season track debut

La Conner High School junior Tommy Murdock has picked up where he left off last year.

Which is in the winner's circle.

Murdock, the reigning Washington state class 2B 300-meter hurdles champion, opened the 2023 track and field season by sweeping two hurdles events in a 10-school invitational meet at Whittaker Field last Wednesday.

Murdock captured his signature event, the 300 hurdles, with a 0:42.75 finish. He also took top honors in the 110-meter hurdles, clocking a winning time of 0:16.32.

He paced a Braves team that placed sixth overall with 140.33 points. Coupeville amassed 326 points to clinch the boys' team title.

On the girls' side, Mount Vernon Christian emerged as the frontrunner with 298 points. La Conner, led by long jump winner Maeve McCormick, totaled 62 points for sixth on the team leaderboard.

The Braves received strong individual performances from Jacob Pommels, Alexzander Martin and Isaiah Price.

Pommels was second in the 100 and 200-meter sprints. He ran the 100 in 0:11.92 and the 200 in 0:24.78.

Pommels also joined Brenden Kitchen, Simon Bouwens and Isaac Kitchen on La Conner's silver medal entry in the mile relay. The Braves quartet clocked a 3:56.07 finish in the 4x400 finale.

Martin, meanwhile, placed second in the discus with a 105'-9" toss and Price claimed bronze in the javelin with a heave of 121'-3".

McCormick continued La Conner's strong tradition in the girls' jumps – Lady Braves alum Matty Lagerway, a multiple state gold medalist, now competes in those events at Western Washington University – by taking the long jump with a 13'-5.5" effort in front of the home fans.

Teammate, Emily Smith was fourth in the high jump at 12'-5" and finished sixth in the triple jump (25'-1").

McCormick rounded out the day taking sixth in both the 100 (0:14.52) and 400 (1:10.18) and adding a seventh in the javelin at 60'-1."

Morgan Huizenga and Shaniquah Casey added to the Lady Braves point total.

Huizenga was third in the high jump (4'-6") and sixth in the 400 (1:15.50). Casey took fourth in the javelin (65'-8") and sixth in the 300 hurdles (1:01.62).

The La Conner thinclads resume action today (Wednesday) at an NW2B/1B meet in Coupeville.

 

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