Glacier Peak boys cruise with 2nd fastest relay in 40 years

Published 6:45 am Sunday, May 31, 2026

TACOMA — Once Isaiah Owens passed the baton in the lead, the Glacier Peak 400 relay leadoff runner knew his team would cruise to a state championship at Mount Tahoma High School on Saturday.

What he had to wait for was whether or not they would rewrite history.

As anchor Alieukama Badjie blazed across the finish line with no one at his heels, he capped the relay at 41.04 seconds, which cemented the Grizzlies as the state’s second-fastest 400 relay of the past 40 years.

“We’ve repped it out multiple times throughout the year,” Owens said. “We were ahead by a (lot), so I mean, we tried to come out and get the state record. Unfortunately, we didn’t get it today, but we still came out with the dub.”

Indeed, Glacier Peak just missed out on topping Curtis’ relay from last year, which broke a state record from 1986 with a 40.84 in the preliminaries before winning the finals at 40.93. The Grizzlies finished second (41.60) to the Vikings in that race, but Owens, Adrian Bedolla, Michael Darling and Badjie reached the top of the podium this time around.

The four seniors had been locked in together for less than a month. Badjie missed the first month-and-a-half of the season with an injury that dated back to indoor track, but he was back up to speed entering the Wesco 4A Championships.

Either way, the three legs before him gave him plenty of breathing room.

“My job is just to close down the race,” said Badjie, who also placed fourth in the 100 (10.82) on Saturday. “I’m a pretty good solo runner. I’m really relaxed, so my closing speed is pretty good.”

This relay combination had run together just three times entering Saturday, first setting the meet record at the Shoreline Invitational (41.36) on May 2 before capturing both the Wesco 4A (41.51) and 4A District 1/2 (41.07) titles over the previous two weeks. Both Owens and Badjie were on last year’s 4A state 400 relay, so they had big-race experience, but the rest came down to individual talent and experience uniting to reach a common goal.

“We get in a huddle, we just talk to each other. We’ve been doing this for four years as track athletes,” Bedolla said. “As a group and as seniors, we gotta go out with a bang, and just knowing our chemistry together as brotherhood, that’s the only thing that matters. And we just get out here and just compete. It’s what we love to do.”

Racing in Lane 4, Owens’ main goal was to catch the runner in Lane 5, who starts staggered ahead to compensate for the increasing distance the further you get out from Lane 1. Owens succeeded in that, and Bedolla created more distance down the far straightaway, where he passed it to Darling to cover the second curve before Badjie closed it out down the last stretch.

“If (Owens) catches the dude in Lane 5 by the time (Bedolla) gets the baton, I already know it’s over,” Darling said. “We’re all so similar speeds that (the order) just doesn’t really matter. There’s not really any weak link in our relay team.”

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Lake Stevens’ Touchette wins ambulatory 100, places second in two other events

Avery Touchette walked away from the WIAA Track & Field State Championships on Saturday with three medals around his neck. Not a bad way to finish your first track & field season in years, and first-ever as a sprinter.

The Lake Stevens junior won the boys ambulatory 100 (13.37) on Thursday before picking up second-place finishes in the boys ambulatory 400 (1:00.88) on Friday and boys ambulatory 200 (27.27) on Saturday. After leaving the sport behind as a thrower in middle school, Touchette decided to return to it when he learned about the ambulatory program, which opened a new door of competition for him.

“I moved from running regularly to this program, and it’s given me a lot of cool opportunities, so I’m able to be here today,” Touchette said. “… I was just looking for something to have some fun (with), to be honest, so I joined my high school track team and the story kind of writes itself.”

Touchette was born with hemiplegic cerebral palsy affecting the left side of his body, which among other complications, makes it difficult to stay balanced when he runs. Over the years, he’s learned how to manage it.

“It’s a lot of stretching,” Touchette said. “Getting that range of motion, and just basically with more running, you get more balanced, and it’s kind of second nature, comes with it. I used to be really unbalanced when I was younger, but I’ve stayed active, tried to stay athletic, and I’ve been getting better ever since.”

While this spring marked his first track season as a sprinter, Touchette still had some racing experience under his belt — in motor sports. Around the age of 13, he would race micro sprints at Deming Speedway, but he ultimately decided to move on to different athletics.

That eventually led him back to track & field at Lake Stevens, where he narrowly missed out on closing the weekend with a second state title. Touchette was neck-and-neck with Mount Spokane’s Brycen Phillips (26.94) entering the final 50 meters of the 200, but he started to stiffen up while making a final push to the line and placed second by just 0.33 seconds.

It’s those kind of moments that will drive him this summer, which he plans to spend preparing for next year.

“Just training and trying to get more balanced and more explosive, so I could get better in my sprinting,” Touchette said. “… Really just all my improvement, and thanks to my team, because the wonderful coaches at Lake Stevens, they gave me very helpful tips to help improve myself.”

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Top 8 area finishers

Complete results can be found HERE

Boys Ambulatory

100—1. Avery Touchette (Lake Stevens) 13.37; 200—2. Touchette (LS) 27.27; 400—1. Ramon Little (Arlington) 1:00.80; 2. Touchette (LS) 1:00.88; shot put—2. Little (A) 25-3; discus—1. Little (A) 82-9; javelin—2. Little (A) 98-9.

Mixed Unified

400 relay—2. Stanwood (Xander Krause, Isabella Jette, Abigail Schram, Levi Stiers) 53.20; 800 medley relay—6. Stanwood (Krause, Schram, Jette, Stiers) 2:01.45.

Girls 2A

High jump—1. Keira Armfield (Archbishop Murphy) 5-4; long jump—5. Priscilla Amevo (Lakewood) 17-8.25; discus—6. Kani Cham (AM) 113-5.

Boys 2A

110 hurdles—8. Ke’ala Malunay (Marysville Pilchuck) 15.76; 300 hurdles—5. Malunay (MP) 39.59; shot put—5. Rhonan Copeland (Lake) 54-5.75.

Girls 3A

100—7. Allison Mervin (Mountlake Terrace) 12.36; 400—6. Ella Weyhrauch (Monroe) 56.56; 800—6. Allah Karl (Edmonds-Woodway) 2:16.28; 8. Georgia Lenz (Stan) 2:17.11; 3,200—4. Addison Phillips (Shorecrest) 11:01.30; 100 hurdles—3. Brynlee Dubiel (MT) 15.07; 300 hurdles—2. Dubiel (MT) 42.37; 7. Mackenzie Aasen (Stan) 44.54; 8. Victoria Nichols (Stan) 45.76; 800 relay—6. Edmonds-Woodway (Jane Miceli, Rayna Halloran, Kayla French, Karl) 1:43.75; 1,600 relay—6. Edmonds-Woodway (Isabella Offerman, Halloran, Brooklyn Maxey, Karl); high jump—t-6. Zoe Grant (Meadowdale) 5-2; long jump—2. Mervin (MT) 18-9.5; 5. Monet Winfield-Sullers (Lynnwood) 17-10.25; 6. Sienna Capelli (Snohomish) 17-8; triple jump—2. Mervin (MT) 39-1.75; discus—2. Ena Dodik (Lynn) 134-10; 3. Malachai Smith (Everett) 134-5; 4. Kaydence Hansen (E-W) 132-6; javelin—6. Smith (E) 120-8; 7. Sierra Swan (MT) 120-5.

Boys 3A

800—2. Ryan Khoury (Stan) 1:53.31; 1,600—2. Max Billett (Shorewood) 4:06.56; 3. Elijah Graves (SW) 4:07.63; 3,200—3. Graves (SW) 9:03.00; 6. Billett (SW) 9:10.11; 110 Hurdles—2. Jaden Marlow (SW) 14.57; 5. Barric Danielson (Stan) 15.10; 300 Hurdles—3. Danielson (Stan) 38.66; 1,600 relay—5. Stanwood (Ian Hruschka, Danielson, Hunter Schlepp, Khoury) 3:21.82; high jump—1. Jack Rotondo (Sno) 6-10; Pole Vault—1. J. Marlow (SW) 15-6; 7. Michael Carpenter (Mon) 14-0; long jump—1. J. Marlow (SW) 23-4.75; 4. Tyler Marlow (SW) 22-4; triple Jump—3. Jakyle Williams (Mea) 44-10.5; shot put—6. Keldin Cole (Sno) 51-3; 8. Silas Turpin (Stan) 49-1.5; discus—4. Garrett Gunnerson (Sno) 162-10; 7. J. Marlow (SW) 146-10; javelin—1. T. Marlow (SW) 185-8.

Girls 4A

400—6. Kennedy Shepard (Mariner) 57.15; 7. Amelia Ford (Jackson) 58.04; 100 Hurdles—3. Kaetyn Riley (LS) 15.13; 300 Hurdles—7. Shepard (Mar) 44.82; 400 relay—5. Lake Stevens (Shelby Clifton, Ginelle Sarpong, Kaysa Banks, Brianna Tilghman) 48.22; 4×200—5. Lake Stevens (Clifton, Sarpong, Banks, Tilghman) 1:41.97; 1,600 relay—2. Lake Stevens (Nadia Ngute, Sarpong, Banks, Tilghman) 3:56.70; triple jump—8. Aubrey Hale (J) 34-5.75; shot put—1. Keira Isabelle Tupua (LS) 41-6.5; 4. Dara Olotu (LS) 38-9.25; discus—1. Olotu (LS) 137-3; 2. Tupua (LS) 130-7; javelin—6. Isa Palmer (Cascade) 119-4; 8. Delaney Lundquist (LS) 117-10.

Boys 4A

100—4. Alieukama Badjie (Glacier Peak) 10.82; 5. Adrian Bedolla (GP) 10.95; 400—2. Maxten Cook (LS) 48.73; 110 Hurdles—1. Miller Warme (Kamiak) 14.34; 300 Hurdles—6. Kevin Bonshe (GP) 39.45; 400 relay—1. Glacier Peak (Isaiah Owens, Bedolla, Michael Darling, Badjie) 41.04; 1,600 relay—5. Lake Stevens (Trevin Walker, Karter Bringedahl, Emmanuel Holmes, Cook) 3:23.00; 8. Kamiak (Jayce Barrington, Cristiano Linares, Ian Thorson, Peter Kwon) 3:34.80; high jump—3. Travant Schulz (J) 6-5; 4. Royce Rabb (LS) 6-5; triple jump—4. Stephan Bonshe (GP) 44-1; 5. Schulz (J) 43-10; shot put—4. Luke Jennings (GP) 56-9; discus—7. Jennings (GP) 153-5

Top 4 Team Scores

Inclusive—1. Kentwood, 41; 2. Deer Park, 27; 3. Mount Spokane, 26; 4. Lake Stevens, 23; 2A girls—1. Sehome, 101; 2. Cedarcrest, 61; 3. Nathan Hale, 57.5; 4. West Valley (Spokane), 48; 2A boys—1. Anacortes, 81; 2. Lynden, 61; 3. Tumwater, 50; 4. Aberdeen, 37; 3A girls—1. Mercer Island, 101; 2. Gig Harbor, 50; 3. Silas, 39; 4. Mountlake Terrace, 34; 3A boys—1. Shorewood, 68; 2. Liberty (Issaquah) 49; 3. Lincoln (Tacoma) 44; 4. Hermiston (36); 4A girls—1. Mount Si, 60; 2. Lake Stevens, 56; 3. Sumner, 52; 4. Skyline, 48; 4A boys—1. Mead, 55; 2. Olympia, 53; 3. Sumner, 49; 4. Lake Washington, 40.