The spring sports season is officially over, with a pair of Blaine High School track and field athletes competing in multiple events at the 1A state championships in Yakima starting on Thursday, May 28.
Blaine junior Landon Brown and senior Brietta Sandell were the school’s two representatives at the 1A state finals. Although neither were able to capture a state championship, both capped off fantastic seasons with state appearances, a feat many athletes never accomplish.
Brown competed in the high jump, finishing in eighth place out of 17 with an official height of 5 feet, 10 inches. Brown had the highest jump for a 1A Whatcom County athlete, beating out Nooksack Valley’s Treven Scheenstra and Blue Hankins.
Brown had a stellar junior season, finishing second in the 1A District 1/2 Championships on May 23 in the high jump, again posting the best finish among 1A Whatcom County competitors. After such a strong junior season, expect Brown to add a few inches to his high jump by this time next year.
Tygh Manfredi, a senior from Naches Valley, won the competition with a 6-feet, 4-inch high jump.
On the girl’s side, senior sprinter and hurdler Brietta Sandell didn’t make it out of the preliminary rounds.
Sandell finished 16th in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 52.99, which was not fast enough to push her into the final heat.
In the 100-meter hurdles, Sandell finished 17th out of 22 with a time of 17.15, and did not qualify for the final.
Both Sandell and Brown had great seasons that ended where head coach Roberto Aguilera hopes every Blaine athlete can reach: the state finals.
BORDERITES EARN ALL-CONFERENCE HONORS
Multiple Blaine athletes were named to their respective All-Northwest Conference teams over the past week, with the softball team leading the way with three selections. All-Conference honors are awarded by a vote from the head coaches from each school.
For the Blaine softball team that finished with a solid 14-9 record and was just a few wins away from qualifying for the state playoff, three athletes earned All-Conference honors.
Mesa Puls led the way as Blaine’s lone first-team selection, being named as a pitcher. The senior led the Borderites from the pitcher’s circle and the batter’s box, racking up 53 strikeouts over 107 innings, all while hitting for a whopping .525 batting average with nine home runs and 43 RBIs.
On the second-team, senior catcher Aaliyah Bowman earned her selection after absolutely mashing on offense, and directing Blaine’s pitching staff through most of the season.
Bowman finished the year with career highs in virtually every offensive category, bringing in 40 RBIs while striking out just 12 times in 70 at bats. That’s a real feat while taking a beating behind the plate in the game’s most physically demanding position.
Rounding out the awards for softball was sophomore Courtney Roff, who held down shortstop for the Borderites. Roff improved upon a fantastic freshman year with 37 hits, 39 runs, and 20 stolen bases.
For Blaine baseball, junior Aaron Garza was named to the All-NWC first team after leading the Borderites from the shortstop position (and wherever else he was needed on the diamond, even as a relief pitcher). Garza was Blaine baseball’s lone first-team selection. He finished the season with a .413 average and a solid OPS of 1.015.
Junior pitcher Josh Cochran was named to the second team, after accruing a whopping 80 strikeouts through 51 innings pitched, en route to a 0.96 earned run average.
Cochran was also an honorable mention in the position player category, along with sophomore George Streeter and senior Ashton Vezzetti. Vezzetti was also named as an honorable mention in the pitcher category.
Boys soccer also snagged two All-Conference selections, with senior midfielder Dima Yuryev earning first team honors, and senior defender Wade Lottimer named to the second team.
