Wesco 4A Boys Track

Published 12:03 am Saturday, May 14, 2011

LAKE STEVENS — In the first race he ran all evening, Allan Schmekel led through 50 meters but finished second in the 100-meter dash.

He made sure no one else passed him on Friday night.

The Lake Stevens sprinter, having barely lost to Edmonds-Woodway star Alec Fellows in the 100, held

off Jackson’s Grant Grosvenor in the 200, breezed to a win in the 400 and anchored the Vikings’ first-place team in the 4×400 relay to finish off Friday night’s Western Conference boys track meet. His three victories and runner-up finish helped Lake Stevens finish second behind Arlington in the team standings.

On an evening that saw Fellows steal the show early on, Arlington showcase the most balance, and two races go right down to the wire, it was Schmekel who stood out above the rest.

“He had a great meet,” Lake Stevens coach Jeff Page said after Schmekel ran the final 400 meters of the 4×400 relay to lead the Vikings to a win by more than four seconds — in a time of 3:25.49. “His goal was to win four events, and Alec beat him in the 100, but he didn’t let that faze him.”

After losing his lead to Fellows, Schmekel came right back to win the 400 in a time of 49.48, edging Grosvenor by .21 seconds.

“It’s a good step for me,” said Schmekel, who ran against Grosvenor for the first time Friday night. “He was the top guy in the district, so it’s good to know I can beat him. It was fun. A good race.”

Schmekel edged out teammate Duke Dolphin in the 200, then anchored a 4×400 relay team that finished off the meet in style — only to fall short in the team standings. Arlington, with 279.50 points to the Vikings’ 263.50, won on the strength of at least one top-five finisher in nine of the night’s 13 races. During the two-day event — Wednesday and Friday — the Eagles had winners in the high jump (Max Bryson), shot put (Dan Boyden) and the 300 hurdles (Jared Alskog).

Alskog was involved in one of the best races of the day, holding off Jacob Dowd of Monroe down the stretch of the 300 hurdles to win by .01 seconds. There was also quite a finish in the 800, which saw Grosvenor pass two teammates down the stretch to win by less than a half-second.

But the most impressive performance of the early races came from Fellows. The returning state champion in the decathlon, the Edmonds-Woodway senior sprinted to a win in the 110-meter hurdles, ran to and from the medal stand, then got back in the blocks in time to win the 100.

In the latter race, Fellows came out of the gates slow but caught Schmekel at the 50-meter mark before pulling away to win in a time of 11.27 seconds. And then, 20 minutes into Friday night’s action, he was done for the day.

Add in the long jump, in which Fellows placed second earlier in the week, and the E-W senior qualified for three events heading into districts.

“There was good competition here, so I just wanted to come in, do my best and do what I could,” said Fellows, who will compete in the decathlon at the University of Oregon next year.

Fellows chose the three events based on scheduling at the upcoming state meet. The finals of each event fall on different days, making for a more friendly schedule come state.

But that wasn’t the case Friday, when Fellows had to run in the first two boys track events of the day — within 20 minutes of each other.

Afterward, Fellows wasn’t as much tired as he was famished.

“Honestly, I’m hungry,” he said after winning the 100 in a time of 11.27 seconds, .09 off his personal record. “It’s kind of an awkward time. I’m usually eating dinner right now.”

Third-place Jackson finished with 198.33 points, due in large part to the Timberwolves’ distance runners.

Grosvenor came back from his loss to Schmekel in the 400, winning the 800 in a time of 1:58.60. He edged out teammates Blake Nelson and David Blackmer in a Jackson 1-2-3 finish. Grosvenor had previously won the 1,600 during Wednesday’s competition.

But the one race he couldn’t win was the 400, which saw Schmekel hold him off at the end.

Having won three races and finished second in a fourth, Schmekel turned in quite a performance Friday night. But his coach said Schmekel might not have a chance to compete in all four events when the state meet comes around. Page said he might take him out of one event — possibly the 100 — and use Schmekel as part of the 4×100 relay team to give the Vikings more competitors at state.

Schmekel certainly didn’t have much trouble finishing off the 4×400 to close out Friday night’s meet. After teammate Tre Harris widened the Vikings’ lead during the third leg of that race, Schmekel never looked back.

“When we gave him the baton,” Page said, “there was no one who was going to catch him.”

At Lake Stevens H.S.

Boys

Team scores–Jackson 160, Arlington 147, Lake Stevens 141, Snohomish 71, Marysville Pilchuck 62, Monroe 51, Cascade 48, Edmonds-Woodway 39, Marinmer 39, Stanwood 15, Kamiak 8.

110 hurdles–Alec Fellows (EW) 14.80; 100–Alec Fellows (EW) 11.27; 1,600–Grant Grosvenor (J) 4:16.70; 400 relay–Mariner 43.18; 400–Allan Schmekel (LS) 49.48; 300 hurdles–Jared Alskog (A) 40.18; 800–Grant Grosvenor (J) 1:58.60; 200–Allan Schmekel (LS) 22.68; 3,200–Blake Nelson (J) 9:31.29; 1,600 relay–Lake Stevens 3:25.49; High jump–Max Bryson (A) 6-0; Long jump–Kevin Yates (Sno) 21-11.5; Triple jump–Mousa Sanoh (LS) 42-6.5; Shot put–Dan Boyden (A) 50-0; Discus–Travis Pickett (Sno) 154-6; Javelin–Cody Melnrick (Mon) 205-4; Pole vault–Connor Hemming (MP) 14-6.