Track teams off to a good start

By Ian Ferguson

The Blaine track and field teams had a strong showing against regional rivals Mount Baker and Anacortes in the first meet of the season, a Northwest Conference meet at Anacortes March 19.

Blaine athletes took wins in 12 girls events and 10 boys events.

In comparison to most of the schools Blaine will be up against this season, Mount Baker and Anacortes have small teams. For that reason, head coach Cary Bacon was cautious in his optimism following the meet.

“Their teams are about our size, so we have to temper our enthusiasm a little bit,” Bacon said. “Most of the schools we’ll be competing against to get to the postseason have much bigger teams. Still, it was great for us to start the season with a lot of wins.”

Sprinter and hurdler Kieya Villars stood out on the girls team. She won all four of her events: the 300m hurdles (51.39 seconds), the four-by-100m relay (53.06), the four-by-200m relay (1:54.10) and the four-by-400m relay (4:25). Blaine’s relay teams looked strong at Anacortes, but Bacon said it’s too early to tell how they will fare down the stretch against larger teams.

“So far, the relay teams are looking better than they were last year at this time,” Bacon said.

Senior Elle Moore and sophomore Kiana Gray swept the throwing events, with Moore throwing the discus 101.25 feet and tossing the javelin 89 feet, 8 inches. Gray won the shot put with a throw of 30 feet, .5 inches.

“This was Kiana’s first time throwing in competition, so for her to win was impressive,” Bacon said.

Olivia Adams had the highest pole vault of the day, although the measured height of 12 feet, 3 inches is in question.

“They may have been measuring from where the pole gets planted rather than from the ground,” Bacon explained. “Either way, she had the highest jump at the meet.”

Taylor V’Dovec won the high jump with a leap of 4 feet, 10 inches. Hillary Kiele won the 800m run with a time of 2:26.35, and Ashley Delligatti won the 400m with a time of 66 seconds. Alejandro Campos won the triple jump with a distance of 28 feet, 4 inches.

On the boys team, senior Jon Fakkema won the shot put and the discus, with distances of 42 feet, 7 inches and 130 feet, 11 inches respectively. Sophomore Alfonso Dermendziev set personal records in the 100m and 400m runs, winning both events. Dermendziev ran the 100m in 11.35 seconds and the 400m in 56.01 seconds.

“He’s already shown a lot of improvement from his freshman year,” Bacon said.

Senior Steven Crafts easily won the long jump with a leap of 18 feet, 3.5 inches. Haden Anthony cleared 5 feet to win the high jump, and Alev Gehringer and Gage Lott tied to win the pole vault, clearing 11 feet. Tucker Jensen won the javelin toss with a distance of 122 feet, 3 inches, and the relay team won the four-by-100m with a time of 46.84 seconds.

Overall, it was a good start, Bacon said.

The Borderites will travel to Lynden for their next meet, the Bedlington Invitational, on Friday, March 27. The meet begins at 3:30 p.m.