LAKE STEVENS — Lyndsay Leatherman was back on top of a podium at the 4A Bi-District track and field meet Friday, which is hardly surprising news.
The Arlington senior did, after all, win all three throwing events here a year ago. But while Leatherman’s win in the shot put Friday was expected, it followed a somewhat surprising result from two days earlier when fellow Arlington thrower Justean Landis won the discus, relegating Leatherman to a rare second-place finish.
Leatherman still won two events this week — she also won the javelin Wednesday — but the more significant story might have been the depth Arlington has with its throwers, getting wins out of two different athletes, and three qualifiers to state in the shot put with Landis finishing third and Jayla Russ finishing fifth.
“We’re all really close, so it’s nice to have competition with teammates,” Leatherman said.
For Landis, Wednesday’s win was the first one she felt she “earned” over Leatherman — the junior beat Leatherman on a couple of occasions this year, but never when Leatherman was 100 percent healthy — and Landis says she is only able to push Leatherman now because of the rivalry between teammates.
“I love competing against Lyndsay Leatherman,” Landis said. “She’s such an inspiration to me. Honestly I couldn’t ask for a better teammate. She pushes me every single day in practice, and she’s such a good leader and such a good captain.
“Honestly, I can tell you I wouldn’t be where I am today at all without her there. She just helps me so much at practice. Even though we’re teammates, we always want to win. It’s kind of friendly competition … We get pretty competitive, but at the end of the day, we’re still friends.”
Kind of friendly, she says.
Or as Leatherman put it, “Sometimes we bicker and stuff, but yeah, it’s mostly friendly.”
That their “sometimes” friendly rivalry has a little bit of an edge only helps Leatherman and Landis, and in turn the Eagles, who won the team competition with 73 points, three better than second-place Inglemoor.
“I always tell Justean she can do it, but Lyndsay usually doesn’t let her,” Arlington coach Judd Hunter said. “… Justean just stepped up and took that spot. It’s nice to have girls who are 1-2 where one doesn’t get it, the other one can.
“There’s a good competitive edge to both of them.”
For Leatherman, that competitive edge now means trying to not only beat Landis, but to improve upon last year’s performance at state, which saw her finish third in all three events. Landis would like to see two Arlington throwers on top of the discus podium, regardless of the order.
“My goal is that we get 1-2,” Landis said. “Honestly, if I’m going to lose to anyone, I’d want to lose to Lyndsay Leatherman.”
Snohomish sophomore Kellianne Calvin won the high jump with a mark of 5 feet, 4 inches. Calvin has gone as high as 5-6 this year, which is only half an inch shy of the best mark in the state this season, so she’ll be one of the favorites at next week’s state meet.
Jackson’s Anna Pischer qualified for state in three events, finishing second in the triple jump, third in the 300 hurdles and fourth in the 100 hurdles. Pischer led a strong Wesco finish in the triple jump, with area athletes — Pischer, Arlington’s Jessica Ludwig, and Snohomish’s Alexa Simons and Hannah Berntson — taking places two through five to qualify for state.
Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com.
Team scores: 1. Arlington 73, 2. Inglemoor 70, 3. Skyline 66, 4. Bothell 62, 5. Snohomish 55, 6. Issaquah 54.5, 7. Eastlake 50, 8. Garfield 43, 9. Lynnwood 40, 10. Jackson 35, 11. Edmonds-Woodway 29, 12. Ballard 23.5, 13. Woodinville 19.5, 14. Monroe 19, 15. Newport 17, 16. Cascade 13.5, 17. Lake Stevens 10.5, 18. Redmond 10, 19. Kamiak 6.5, t-20. Mariner 3, t-20. Roosevelt 3, 22. Mount Vernon 1.
State qualifers: 100 hurdles—1, Darhian Mills (Inglemoor) 14.40; 2. Ellie Woerner (Eastlake) 14.69; 3. Claire Moses (Inglemoor) 15.36.100—Sarah Stavig (Bothell) 12.17; 2. Madison Lichter (Snohomish) 12.27; 3. Gabrielle Gevers (Issaquah) 12.33.1,600—1. Olive (Garfield) 4:58.45; 2. Mikayla Pivec (Lynnwood) 4:58.62; 3. Cayla Seligman (Issaquah) 4:59.74. 400 relay—1. Bothell 48.20; 2. Edmonds-Woodway 48.68; 3. Eastlake 49.15,400—1. Dorie Dalzell (Skyline) 56.37; 2. Carolyn Birkenfeld (Ballard) 57.23; 3. Anna Carskaden (Eastlake) 57.72.300 hurdles—Mills (Inglemoor) 43.24; 2. Emily Bland (Monroe) 44.84; 3. Anna Pischer (Jackson) 45.60,800—1, Alexis Daugherty (Skyline) 2:12.16; 2. Emma Lower (Garfield) 2:12.44; 3. Isabelle Olive (Garfield) 2:13.40. 200—1. Maya Harewood (Bothell) 25.40; 2. Stavig (Bothell) 25.53; 3. Dalzell (Skyline) 25.69.3,200—1. Pia Richards (Eastlake) 10:46.46; 2. Seligman (Issaquah) 10:48.87; 3. Amber Rose (Inglemoor) 10:51.10.800 relay—1. Issaquah 1:41.19; 2. Skyline 1:41.94; 3. Snohomish 1:42.81.1,600 relay—1. Skyline 3:54.84; 2. Issaquah 3:56.44; 3. Lynnwood 3:58.57. High jump—1. Kellianne Cavin (Snohomish) 5-04; 2. Alexander (Monroe ) 5-02; 3. Iman Brown (Garfield) 5-00.Long jump—Brown (Garfield) 19-00.50; 2. Jessica Ludwig (Arlington) 17-01.25; 3. Sidney Trinidad 16-08.50. Triple jump—1. Anna Richards (Inglemoor) 36-10.25; 2. Pischer (Jackson) 35-07.25; 3. Jessica Ludwig (Arlington) 35-05.Shot put—1. Lyndsay Leatherman (Arlington) 40-11.75; 2. Paris Flenoy (Cascade) 37-08; 3. Justean Landis (Arlington) 37-04.75.Discus—1. Landis (Arlington) 132-04; 2. Leatherman (Arlington 128-07; 3. Tara Harms (Snohomish) 115-04; Javelin—1. Leatherman (Arlington) 136-01; 2. Pivec (Lynnwood) 130-00; 3. Brooklyn Walker (Inglemoor) 124-05. Pole vault—1. Candace Ho (Newport) 11-03; 2. Rebecca Peoples (Bothell) 11-00; 3. Makenna Barton (Woodinville) 10-06.
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