Kamiak’s Elizabeth Thayer competes in the high jump during the Eason Invitational on Saturday afternoon at Snohomish High School.

Kamiak’s Elizabeth Thayer competes in the high jump during the Eason Invitational on Saturday afternoon at Snohomish High School.

Kamiak boys finish 1st, girls 2nd to Glacier Peak at track invitational

SNOHOMISH — The Kamiak track and field coaches were talking about how well their athletes performed at the 28th annual Eason Invitational when the announcers started to read the team scores.

Both Kamiak boys head coach Paul Kirkpatrick and girls coach Charley LeWarne figured they’d place in the top six and bring trophies home.

The Knights did just that, with Kirkpatrick’s boys team jubilantly grabbing the biggest trophy to bring back to Kamiak after edging O’Dea by one point to win the team title. The Knights girls team finished second behind Glacier Peak at the annual Eason Invitational held Saturday afternoon at Snohomish High School.

“I said, ‘Well that went pretty well.’ He said, ‘Yeah,’” LeWarne said. “A couple of kids were asking how we’d done and as they started with the awards I realized we were probably in the top four or five but I didn’t know we were that high. (Kirkpatrick) was telling the kids we were in the top six. I guess we underestimated.

“It’s fun performing well and when kids are performing well and we end up first and second, all the better!”

The Kamiak boys scored 64 points, just ahead of O’Dea (63). It’s the second trophy in the boys program’s history, with the first also coming at the Eason Invitational two years ago when the Knights placed fifth.

“We’ve only got one trophy, ever, at Eason a few years back,” Kirkpatrick said. “This will be our second trophy here. It feels pretty good. I just didn’t expect it. The kids performed so well. There were a lot of kids that came out and worked really hard. … O’Dea is such a storied program and they’ve had state champions. It feels great to see the kids go out there and get success after all their hard work.”

Kamiak got a head start at the Eason with Friday’s hammer throw event, where Knights senior Tim Beard, the top-ranked athlete in the event in the state, won with a throw of 199 feet, 2 inches. The throw was a personal best by 11 feet for Beard, who improved his previous best of 188-0 — the best distance in the state before his latest throw.

Beard’s teammates, Poun Phongprasansak (175-9) and Tanner Kunard (130-10) finished third and fourth, respectively, in the hammer throw to get the Knights out to an early lead.

“It helped (Friday) getting first, third and fourth in the hammer,” Kirkpatrick said. “That doesn’t hurt to start out with 21 points.”

Beard and Phongprasansak were at a hammer throwing event in Oregon on Saturday, but the Knights continued to do well. Cullen McEachern won the 3,200 meter run with a time of 9 minutes, 34 seconds and Adam Alayli finished tied for first in the long jump (21-3.5) with Seattle Academy’s Daniel Norwitz.

“It’s our first championship at any invite ever,” Kirkpatrick said. “I started out as an assistant coach when we opened up. The only other trophy we ever got for the boys was at the Eason a few years ago. It feels pretty good. There’s some very good competition here and some very good programs. Now, the kids know what’s possible.”

On the girls’ side, Kamiak junior Katherine Slack led the Knights to victory in the 800 with a time of 2:17.75. She also anchored Kamiak’s 1,600 relay which took first in the final event of the meet and helped the Knights (58 points) hold off Lynden Christian (50) for second place.

“That was fun. Especially the last hour or so,” LeWarne said with a laugh. “Getting some points in the 800 and winning the (1,600 relay) is exciting. And both with great times from those kids. It was a great afternoon. Katherine Slack had a great meet in the 800 and anchoring the (1,600 relay).”

Kamiak and Lynden Christian finished well behind first-place Glacier Peak (73). Grizzlies head coach Loren Childers, who spent the day running results to the announcers and press box, was a bit surprised with the result once the meet was over.

“I wasn’t really expecting to win,” Childers said. “That is surprising. It was good weather, it was a great meet and we had a lot of good performances.”

Maya McFadden helped Glacier Peak’s score with a victory in the javelin event (136-9). Freshman Tamia DeSchmidt also placed second in the 200 and was in the finals for the 100.

“In a meet like this one or two individuals can really bump up your score,” Childers said. “You get a couple wins or a couple kids that are in finals that can really carry your team. It really gives us a lot of confidence going into the Wesco meet.”

The Arlington boys (56 points) finished third behind Kamiak and O’Dea. The Eagles were led by senior Nathan Beamer, who set a meet record in the 1,600 with a time of 4:12.26. It is also the fastest time in the state this season, beating Beamer’s previous best of 4:12.97.

“It was a tough race,” Beamer said. “The two guys that were behind me are both very fast 800 runners, so during the mile when I was going into the third lap I knew it was now or never. It was like, ‘I’ve got to move or these guys are going to blow by me.’

“With those guys it was run fast or die.”

Beamer said getting a meet record at the Eason was a pretty cool accomplishment. A couple hours after his record-setting mile it still hadn’t sunk in.

“It’s pretty exciting,” Beamer said. “I haven’t really had time to process it yet. The most fun part about this meet is watching when they stop the clock and it’s your time. You can look up there like, ‘Yes!’”

Arlington also got a win in the javelin event by Gabriel Green, with a throw of 179-3. The mark was more than 20 feet ahead of second-place Noah Forman from Glacier Peak (158-7).

Pieter Andrews (9:39.00) and Zachary Cushman (9:39.70) finished third and fourth, respectively, in the 3,200 behind McEachern. In the 110 hurdles, Race Porter of O’Dea edged out Arlington’s Cordell Cummings (15.35) by two hundredths of a second for the victory.

The Eason Invitational, which began in 1989, is one of the largest track and field events of the year with 53 teams and more than 1,200 athletes competing in the event. Everett’s Nicholas Blair was named the male Field Athlete of the Meet after winning the discus event with a throw of 165-3. Blair also finished second in the shot put (54-9.75).

The male Track Athlete of the Meet went to Evan Mafilas of O’Dea. The female Track Athlete of the Meet was Ballard’s Nicole Godbout and the Field Athlete of the Meet was Hannah Rusnak of Lynden Christian.

New to this year’s Eason Invitational was the Tuck Gionet Citizenship Award, named in honor of the longtime Snohomish track and field coach who helped create the Eason Invitational who passed away last August. The first-ever winners of the award, which honors one male and female athlete who had a 3.5 grade-point average or higher and demonstrate outstanding community service and leadership, were Glacier Peak senior Drew Forman and Meadowdale’s Kristin Yim.

First-year Snohomish head coach Paul Nicoletti said it was weird running the Eason without Gionet.

However, Nicoletti had a hunch about where Saturday afternoon’s sunny weather came from.

“It’s very weird,” Nicoletti said. “It’s bittersweet. It’s great to get it going and see that we can run the meet on our own without him but it’s bitter because he’s not here running it. When things went bad in the booth and we had questions he wasn’t there on the radio to call. He wasn’t there to say, ‘Tuck! How do we do this?’ But we got through it.

“I think he was looking down at us smiling. That’s why the sun kept coming out.”

Parle ekes out win in 1,600

The girls 1,600 featured a sprint to the end between Edmonds-Woodway’s Yukino Parle and Sarah Ball of Lynden Christian. In the end, it was Parle who emerged victorious — barely — edging out Bell by .02, with a time of 5:09.70.

“Man, it wasn’t by very much,” said Edmonds-Woodway assistant coach Al Bonney, who also coaches Parle in cross country. “That’s the strength of her game — her finish. In the last 150 meters I’d put her up against just about anybody.”

Parle also anchored the Warriors’ distance medley relay which broke the school record by 20 seconds with a time of 12:50.29. The team from Edmonds-Woodway, comprised of Susan Kim, Megan Kelly, Olivia Meader-Yetter and Parle, finished second behind Glacier Peak.

Lynnwood pair win titles

In the first track finals of the afternoon, Lynnwood’s Malia Pivec won the 3,200 with a time of 10:51.62. Pivec battled with Mt. Si’s Hannah Waskom around the track but pulled away late to defeat Waskom (10:56.43) by a comfortable margin.

Pivec’s teammate, Rita Sakharov, won the 300 hurdles with a time of 46.18, more than a second faster than the next closest time by Burlington-Edison’s Abby Dimock (47.30).

Down to the wire

The girls 100-meter dash was the closest race of the day, with Arlington’s Juliette Williams (12.67) edging out Madelyn Prigmore (12.68) of Snohomish by .01 for the title. Kailin Wiley (Kamiak) took third with a time of 12.93, just ahead of fourth-place Sidney Trinidad of Arlington who finished in 12.94.

Vaulting ahead

Snohomish junior Zack Thomas beat his best mark this season by a foot to finish second in the pole vault at 14 feet, just behind Mt. Si’s Baly Botten who cleared the mark.

At Veterans Memorial Stadium

Boys

Team scores: 1. Kamiak 64, 2. O’Dea 63, 3. Arlington 56, 4. South Kitsap 55, 5. Central Kitsap 40, 6. Mt. Si 34, 6. Decatur 34, 8. Edmonds-Woodway 33, 8. Glacier Peak 33, 10. Mt. Rainier 27, 11. Sehome 23.5, 12. Everett 23, 13. Snohomish 20, 14. Burlington-Edison 18, 14. Sedro-Woolley 18, 14. Meadowdale 18, 17. Nooksack Valley 17.5, 18. Interlake 17, 18. Monroe 17, 18. Seattle Academy 17, 21. Blaine 13, 22. Ballard 11, 23. Archbishop Murphy 10, 24. Timberline 8, 24. Mary Knight 8, 24. Woodinville 8, 24. Cedarcrest 8, 28. Mount Vernon 7, 28. Cascade 7, 30. Stanwood 5.5, 31. Kingston 5, 31. Squalicum 5, 31. Lynnwood 5, 31. Granite Falls 5, 35. Chelan 4, 36. Liberty 2, 37. Mountlake Terrace .5.

Top 3 placers

110 hurdles—1. Race Porter (O’Dea) 15.33, 2. Cordell Cummings (Arl) 15.35, 3. Harry White (Mead) 15.42; 100—1. Jacob Belceto (Mt. Si) 11.09, 2. Logan Armstrong (O’Dea) 11.19, 3. Dexter Carter (GP) 11.20; 1,600—1. Nathan Beamer (Arl) 4:12.78*, 2. Cameron Carroll (CK) 4:13.59, 3. Owen Buck (Bal) 4:16.74; 400 relay—1. O’Dea (Landon Armstrong, Logan Armstrong, Evan Mafilas, Race Porter) 43.61, 2. South Kitsap (Christopher Drum, Albert MacArthur, Kristian Blue, Isaijha Byrd) 44.18, 3. Decatur (Kemuel Santana, Francisco Velazquez, David Derkach, Marcelo Berganza) 44.38, 5. Cedarcrest (Joey Hixon, Gunnar Schultz, Alex Parnell, Ryan Golden) 44.52; 400—1. Evan Mafilas (O’Dea) 48.97, 2. Kemuel Santana (Dec) 49.52, 3. Bryant Welch (MtR) 50.81, 4. Dante Gadbois (GF) 50.88; 300 hurdles—1. Billy Hornbeck (S-W) 40.77, 2. David Derkach (Dec) 41.42, 3. Anton Arena (Seh), 4. Nick Harrison (Kam) 41.51; 800—1. Austin Regier (MtR) 1:55.78, 2. Chris Bianchini (GP) 1:58.62, 3. Blake Trujillo (CK) 1:58.77; 200—1. Evan Mafilas (O’Dea) 22.14, 2. Izaijha Byrd (SK) 22.23, 3. Kemuel Santana (Dec) 22.30, 5. John Gilbert (Cas) 22.91; 3,200—1. Cullen McEachern (Kam) 9:34.00, 2. Luke Beauchamp (Int) 9:36.00, 3. Pieter Andrews (Arl) 9:39.00; 1,600 relay—1. Central Kitsap (Christian Schwieterman, Blake Trujillo, Alex Stimac, Cameron Carroll) 3:27.45, 2. Kamiak (Nick Harrison, Patrick Olson, Adam Alayli, Taylor Barnes) 3:28.91, 3. Mt. Rainier (Samuel Allred, Stephen Baklund, Aiden Basco, Brian Pearson) 3:30.47; Distance medley relay—1. Edmonds-Woodway (Grady Okeson, Sterling Mahan, Matthew Park, Sam McCloughan) 10:37.89, 2. Arlington (Nathan Beamer, Ryley Nelson, Pieter Andrews, Ivan Baez) 10:49.07, 3. Glacier Peak (Chris Bianchini, Nathan Aguiraga, Nicholas Mullineux-Perrault, Garren Arnold) 10:53.54; High jump—1. Grant Whitcutt (E-W) 6-6, 2. Daniel Norwitz (SA) 6-4, 3. Race Porter (O’Dea) 6-2, 4. Taylor Devries (Sno) 6-2; Long jump—1. Adam Alayli (Kam) 21-3.5, 2. Daniel Norwitz (SA) 21-3.5, 3. Taran Lambert (B-E) 20-6; Triple jump—1. Albert MacArthur (SK) 46-2, 2. Jaylen Taylor (Tim) 43-11, 3. Zachary Larson (B-E) 41-10.5; Shot put—1. Nolan Van Amen (SK) 56-11.25, 2. Nicholas Blair (Eve) 54-9.75, 3. Ben Malquist (Seh) 47-6.5; Discus—1. Nicholas Blair (Eve) 165-3, 2. Colton Kautz (NV) 158-2, 3. Nolan Van Amen (SK) 155-3; Javelin—1. Gabriel Green (Arl) 179-3, 2. Noah Forman (GP) 158-7, 3. Tucker Jensen (Bla) 155-2; Pole vault—1. Baly Botten (Mt. Si) 14-0, 2. Zack Thomas (Sno) 14-0, 3. Tristian Norton (Mon) 13-0; Hammer throw—1. Tim Beard (Kam) 199-2*, 2. Ian Frost (MK) 179-7, 3. Poun Phongprasansak (Kam) 175-9.

*meet record

Girls

Team scores: 1. Glacier Peak 73, 2. Kamiak 58, 3. Lynden Christian 50, 4. Burlington-Edison 44.50, 5. Edmonds-Woodway 40, 6. Arlington 37, 7. Lynnwood 36.5, 8. Ballard 32, 9. Woodinville 29.5, 10. Timberline 26, 11. Snohomish 25, 11. Mt. Si 25, 13. Mount Vernon 24, 14. Central Kitsap 23, 14. Decatur 23, 16. Mt. Rainier 20.5, 17. Cedarcrest 18, 18. Monroe 14, 18. Nooksack Valley 14, 20. Interlake 13, 20. Mount Baker 13, 22. Squalicum 11.5, 23. Stanwood 11, 23. Franklin 11, 23. Liberty 11, 26. South Kitsap 10.5, 27. Cascade 10, 27. Terry Fox 10, 29. York House 8, 29. Granite Falls 8, 29. Shorewood Christian 8, 32. Sehome 7, 32. Meadowdale 7, 34. Archbishop Murphy 6, 34. Kingston 6, 36. Everett 5, 36. Inglemoor 5, 38. Mountlake Terrace 3, 39. Jackson 1.

Top 3 placers

100 hurdles—1. Hannah Rusnak (LC) 14.77, 2. Sidney Trinidad (Arl) 15.34, 3. Rita Sakharov (Lyn) 15.80; 100—1. Juliette Williams (Arl) 12.67, 2. Madelyn Prigmore (Sno) 12.68, 3. Kailin Wiley (Kam) 12.93; 1,600—1. Yukino Parle (E-W) 5:09.70, 2. Sarah Ball (LC) 5:09.72, 3. Brigette Takeuchi (Lib) 5:10.84; 400 relay—1. Lynden Christian (Brandy Bruneau, Brianna Bruneau, Libby Hielkema, Hannah Rusnak) 50.70, 2. Woodinville (Jasmine Jobe, Alex Howerton, Erin Cooper, Gabi Glessner) 51.35, 3. Archbishop Murphy (Tia Asher, Claire Doud, Kianna Garmanian, Holly Sudol) 51.53; 400—1. Nicole Godbout (Bal) 59.10, 2. Briana Devereaux (Ced) 60.17, 3. Tracey Hatch (Kam) 60.30; 300 hurdles—1. Rita Sakharov (Lyn) 46.18, 2. Abby Dimock (B-E) 47.30, 3. Gabi Glessner (Wood) 48.90; 800—1. Katherine Slack (Kam) 2:17.75, 2. Mya King (CK) 2:20.61, 3. Natalie Smith (MB) 2:21.18; 200—1. Nicole Godbout (Bal) 25.64, 2. Tamia DeSchmidt (GP) 26.52, 3. Curstyn Williamson (Mt. Si) 27.01; 3,200—1. Malia Pivec (Lynn) 10:51.62, 2. Hannah Waskom (Mt. Si) 10:56.43, 3. Camila David-Smith (Int) 11:20.83; 800 relay—1. Glacier Peak (Kiah Dayton, Tamia DeSchmidt, Hailey Grambo, Carolyn Yip) 1:47.70, 2. Ballard (Sonja Cox-Raman, Madison Hanson, Emma Inge, Nicole Godbout) 1:48.20, 3. Edmonds-Woodway (Morgan Davis, Selina Balllard, Ella Spillane, Gaby Chappell) 1:49.10; 1,600 relay—1. Kamiak (Alicia Anderson, Caroline Ferguson, Tracey Hatch, Katherine Slack) 4:05.73, 2. Lynden Christian (Gracelyn Weg, Brandy Bruneau, Brianna Bruneau, Libby Hielkema) 4:13.56, 3. Interlake (Riley Brown, Aurora Bays-Muchmore, Camila David-Smith, Ellie Erikson) 4:15.87; Distance medley relay—1. Glacier Peak (Elena Willems, Kiah Dayton, Brooke Wallace, Heidi Smith) 12:43.63, 2. Edmonds-Woodway (Susan Kim, Megan Kelly, Olivia Meader-Yetter, Yukino Parle) 12:50.29, 3. Arlington (Katherine Taylor, Marie Guadin, Kelsey Mutton, Emma Janousek) 13:30.62; High jump—1. Paige Greene (CK) 5-1, 2. Gabriela Aqualini (YH) 5-1, 3. Elizabeth Thayer (Kam) 5-1; Long jump—1. Hannah Rusnak (LC) 17-5, 2. Megan Wilburg (B-E) 17-1.75, 3. Keshara Romain (Tim) 16-9, 5. Madison Yerigan (Stan) 16-8; Triple jump—1. Keshara Romain (Tim) 35-11.5, 2. Skylar Benson (Sno) 34-11.5, 3. Alana Handy (B-E) 34-9; Shot put—1. Selina So’oto (Tim) 39-0.50, 2. Gabrielle Boyd (Dec) 38-4, 3. Jayla Russ (Arl) 37-3.25; Discus—1. Parris Watson (Dec) 124-7, 2. Abigail Brown (MV) 115-10, 3. Madeline Fletcher (MtR) 107-11; Javelin—1. Maya McFadden (GP) 136-9, 2. Abigail Brown (MV) 117-9, 3. Emily Smatlak (Lyn) 117-4; Pole vault—1. Makenna Barton (Wood) 11-6, 2. Katherine Dunford (MB) 10-0, 2. Emily Cristner (Kam) 10-0; Hammer throw—1. Kalia Butler (TF) 177-0*, 2. Riley Scocco (SChr) 150-4, 3. Emilie Pedersen (GP) 137-6.

*meet record

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