Eason Invite attracts top athletes despite conflict with Pasco Invite

Two of the state’s biggest, best-known high school track and field invitationals — the Eason Invite in Snohomish and the Pasco Invite — happen to fall on the same day this year.

Today’s unusual overlap is the result of a scheduling jam that prevented either meet from moving to a different weekend, Eason Invite meet director Tuck Gionet said.

What’s the impact? Thanks to some changes at the Eason, it’s not as significant as it could have been, said Gionet.

More than 1,100 kids from about 50 schools are set to compete at the Eason, Gionet said. That’s around 100 participants and a dozen teams fewer than last year.

The dropoff would have been more dramatic but Gionet lowered qualifying standards for the Eason’s 39 events. That instantly opened up spots for about 200 competitors, Gionet said.

“What I figure is hey, it’s a great opportunity for some kids who might not otherwise get to run and jump and throw,” he said.

The quality of competition shouldn’t be noticeably different, said Gionet, and the Eason still features several of the state’s premier stars. Standouts include boys like Garfield’s Stephone Jordan, Gig Harbor’s Miles Unterreiner, Everett’s J Hopkins, Monroe’s Zack Richards and Newport’s Jeremy Taiwo. Highly touted girls are Sehome teammates Annie Moore and Brittany Todhunter, Snohomish’s Jessica Yates and Everett’s Kirsten Smith.

Another wrinkle for this year’s Eason is the weather, which is predicted to be abnormally frigid with the temperature peaking in the mid 40s and a possibility of snow.

“In 20 years we’ve never had weather like this,” said Gionet.

The meet will continue as planned, he said, although certain conditions — lightning, for example — could cause delays.

Here are event favorites for the Eason Invite, based on marks submitted by coaches:

Boys

Distance medley: Burlington-Edison, 10 minutes, 50 seconds

110-meter hurdles: Stephone Jordan (Garfield), 14.55

100: Josh Moore (Franklin Pierce) and Joe Giesick (Everett), 11.23

200: Donald Lisowski (O’Dea) 22.44

1,600: Miles Unterreiner (Gig Harbor), 4:13.97

400 relay: Cascade, 43.24

400: Devon Smith (Lakewood), 49.51

300 hurdles: J Hopkins (Everett), 38.58