Fresh off track trials, Braves prepare for league title meet

The La Conner High School track teams should feel at home today at Mount Vernon High School’s Bulldog Stadium for the NW2B/1B Championship Meet.

That’s because La Conner enjoyed strong showings on the Mount Vernon oval last week during the 116th Skagit County Track and Field ­Championships.

With reigning state 2B hurdles champion Tommy Murdock leading the way, sweeping his signature events, the La Conner boys placed fifth on their side of the county meet which was paced by 2A Anacortes.

The Anacortes girls topped the team leaderboard while the Lady Braves ran sixth overall as eighth-grader Kiana Jenkins finished second in the 400 meters and teammate Lydia Grossglass mined bronze in 300 hurdles.

Murdock defeated entrants from the county’s larger schools in both the 110- and 300-meter hurdles. The La Conner senior clocked 14.95 in the 110 and 39.58 in the 300.

In addition, Murdock was runner-up in the 200-meter dash (23.01) and finished sixth in the 100 meters at 11.46.

La Conner’s Simon Bouwens joined Murdock in the 110-meter hurdles finale, placing sixth with an 18.59 finish.

Bouwens later teamed with Marlin Bralens, Maxwell Page and Lane Tenborg on the Braves’ 4x100 meter relay entry, whose 46.79 time was good for fifth place. The quartet was sixth in the mile relay at 3:53.01.

In the field events, Alex Martin set the standard for La Conner with a fourth-place toss (120’-11”) in the discus.

La Conner eighth-grader Yandel Rosales-Rojas finished fifth and seventh, respectively, in the long jump (19’-0”) and triple jump (37’-5”).

Flint Huizenga added to the Braves point total with a 130’-4” throw in the javelin, clinching sixth place, right behind Sedro-Woolley’s Quentin Cobbs (130’-10”).

In the girls’ half of the meet, Jenkins hit the tape in the 400 meters at 1:01.25. She also placed eighth in the 200 meters with a 27.73 finish.

Grossglass medaled in the 300-meter hurdles (50.72) and was eighth in the 100 hurdles at 17.38. A junior, Grossglass joined Jenkins, Morgan Huizenga and Maeve McCormick for fifth place finishes in the 4x100 (52.95) and 4x200 (1:50.16) relays.

In the mile relay, eighth-graders Kim Williams, Aisley Zimmerman and Reese Bird teamed with junior Addison Wigal to place sixth in the mile relay at 4:31.60.

Huizenga, Wigal and Bird finished in the top six in the javelin as well. Huizenga was third (104’-7”), Wigal placed fourth (94’-8”), and Bird took sixth (89’-6”).

Huizenga added a fifth-place finish in the high jump (4’-6”), edging Williams, who placed sixth.

Bird (discus) and McCormick (long jump) each chipped in seventh place finishes for the Lady Braves while Williams and Zimmerman tied for 10th in the triple jump.

Today’s league trials in Mount Vernon get under way at 4 p.m. Contestants will vie for slots at the NW2B/1B District Meet May 11 at Coupeville’s Mickey Clark Stadium.