E-W soph shines at Eason

Published 11:01 pm Saturday, April 18, 2009

SNOHOMISH — The future seems bright for Alec Fellows, but the present is already pretty darn impressive.

Fellows, a sophomore at Edmonds-Woodway High School, is only partway through his second season of prep track and already he has displayed a potent blend of ability. He finished among the top four in three events Saturday during the Larry Eason Invitational track and field meet at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Fellows’ highest placing came in the long jump, where he was second with a top distance of 22 feet, 2.75 inches. He also finished fourth in both the high jump (clearing 6-2) and the 110-meter hurdles, which he completed in 15.56 seconds.

The E-W standout’s combination of speed, power and technique had Warriors assistant coach Anthony Williams grinning with excitement. Fellows, who last year placed sixth in the high jump at the Class 4A state meet, will continue to get better, Williams said: “He’s going to be special.”

Fellows’ best long jump came on his first try of the day. “I just came in with a lot of speed and popped up and got nice and high and held my legs up,” he said. “It just kept me reaching for something (better).”

Fellows was one of several area athletes who excelled at the 2009 Eason Invite, which was held again after frigid, snowy conditions forced its cancellation a year ago. The male athletes of the meet were Josh Fuller of King’s (track) and River Ridge’s Miles Coats (field). Coats launched 48-10.75 in the triple jump, beating the runnerup by more than 3.5 feet. Fuller won the 100 and 200 dashes in times of 11.02 and 22.42 seconds.

A Yale University-bound competitor, Fuller ran a season-best time in the 100 final. He improved on his prelim performance by 0.25 seconds — a huge margin in the shortest sprint.

“I’m really happy with the times at this point in the season,” said Fuller, who won the 400 and was second in the 200 at last year’s 1A state championships.

Many of the state’s elite sprinters competed at the Pasco Invite Saturday but Fuller still found plenty of solid challengers at the Eason.

“The competition always helps, when you have someone else to kind of push you along and make you work a little bit harder,” he said.

Representing well at the annual meet hosted by his school, Snohomish thrower Marlyn Anderson earned second-place medals in the discus and the shot put. He finished 11 inches behind the discus winner, Renton’s Armin Basic (162-9). Anderson’s best discus throw (161-10) was a season-best effort.

In the first boys track event of the meet, Jackson teammates Mitchell Briggs, Blake Nelson, Nathan Calacat and Ben Lance narrowly missed winning the distance medley relay. Running the rare event that features legs of 1,200, 400, 800 and 1,600, the Timberwolves foursome finished slightly more than four-tenths of a second behind first-place Burlington-Edison (10:33.84).

Jackson’s time of 10:34.27 was less than a second slower than the school record, T-wolves coach Eric Hruschka said. The race was close throughout, especially during the final section, the 1,600 portion run by Lance.

“That anchor leg’s kind of rough,” Lance said.

Other top local boys performers were Jackson’s Derek Woolsey (second place in 800), Everett’s Malaki Seanoa (second in javelin) and Shorewood’s Chip Jackson (third in 3,200).

Mike Cane: mcane@heraldnet.com. Check out the prep sports blog Double Team at cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/heraldnet/doubleteam.

At Snohomish H.S.

Boys team scores

1. Renton 48 points, 2. Puyallup 45, 3. Skyview 38.5, 4. Burlington-Edison 38, 5. Blaine 32, 6. Lynden 28, Tie-7. Abbotsford, Redmond 27, Tie-9. Lindbergh, King’s, River Ridge 26, 12. Sehome 25, 13. Snohomish 24, Tie-14. Franklin Pierce, Mount Spokane 21, Tie-16. Edmonds-Woodway, Mount Si 20.5, 18. Shorewood 19, 19. Jackson 18, Tie-20. Everett, Anacortes, White Rock Christian 17, 23. Issaquah 16, 24. Kajaks 15, 25. Sedro-Wooley 14, 26. Black Hills 13, 27. Glacier Peak 12, Tie-28. Liberty, Camas, Monroe 10, Tie-31. Kamiak, South Whidbey, Newport 7, Tie-34. Willapa Valley, Lakewood 6, 36. Olympia 5, 37. Centralia 4, Tie-38. Ferndale, Timberline 3, Tie-40. Cascade, Mount Baker, Grace Academy, Port Angeles, Chelan 2, 45. Nathan Hale 1, 46. O’Dea 0.5

Boys event winners and local top-8 finishers (For complete results go to Athletic.net)

Distance medley relay—1. Burlington-Edison 10:33.84, 2. Jackson 10:34.27, 5. Lakewood 11:16.52; 110 hurdles—1. Adams (Burlington-Edison) 14.51, 4. Fellows (Edmonds-Woodway) 15.56; 100—1. Fuller (King’s) 11.02, 3. Weber (Shorewood) 11.21, Tie-7. Martin (Edmonds-Woodway) 11.34; 1,600—1. Young (Redmond) 4:16.42, 5. Byrd (Glacier Peak) 4:31.97; 400 relay—1. Lynden 43.45, 8. Shorewood 45.17; 400—1. Jorgensen (Puyallup) 49.34; 300 hurdles—1. Moore (Blaine) 39.87, 7. Bennett (South Whidbey) 42.05, 8. Rasmussen (Edmonds-Woodway) 42.11; 800—1. Johnston (White Rock) 1:58.51, 2. Woolsey (Jackson) 1:59.08, 5. Bastian (Glacier Peak) 1:59.68, 6. Kane (Shorewood) 2:00.48, 7. Nelson (Jackson) 2:00.63; 200—Fuller (King’s) 22.42, 6. Weber (Shorewood) 22.73; 3,200—1. Irish (Redmond) 9:28.88, 3. Jackson (Shorewood) 9:33.82, 6. Sutter (Monroe) 9:51.61, 8. Bastian (Glacier Peak) 9:59.16; 1,600 relay—1. Puyallup 3:27.2; Long jump—1. Veltung (Puyallup) 22-4.25, 2. Fellows (Edmonds-Woodway) 22-2.75, 4. Bennett (South Whidbey) 21-5.5, 5. Donovan (Kamiak) 21-4.75, 6. Cooper (Kamiak) 21-2.5; Hammer—1. Prince (Abbotsford) 179-9, 5. Rodgers (Everett) 151-8.5, 6. Froland (Glacier Peak) 145-8; High jump—1. Lovett (Abbotsford) 6-8, 4. Fellows (Edmonds-Woodway) 6-2, 7. Young (Grace Academy) 6-0; Triple jump—1. Coats (River Ridge) 48-10.75, 4. Rusnak (Snohomish) 44-0.75; Discus—1. Basic (Renton) 162-9, 2. Anderson (Snohomish) 161-10, 4. Rodgers (Everett) 157-0; Shot put—1. Westlin (Sehome) 54-8.75, 2. Anderson (Snohomish) 54-0.25, 7. Mecum (Cascade) 49-2; Javelin—1. Stevens (Mount Si) 185-5, 2. Seanoa (Everett) 175-6, 4. Clauson (King’s) 166-3, 6. Melnrick (Monroe) 164-0, 7. Hess (Lakewood) 161-6; Pole vault—1. Roddewig (Mount Si) 14-0, 5. Moses (Monroe) 13-0, 6. Behla (Snohomish) 13-0, 8. Blatchford (King’s) 12-6