LAKE STEVENS — For the majority of the state’s top high school track and field athletes, last weekend’s Star Track state championships was their Super Bowl.
But for a select few it merely served as a warm-up. Their main event begins today.
The state’s best all-around track and field competitors face their ultimate challenge this weekend at the Washington State High School Decathlon-Heptathlon Championships.
“I’m just excited for it,” said Stanwood senior Kale Schmidt, the defending champion in the boys decathlon. “I had both (the state meet and the decathlon) targeted. There’s not as many people at the decathlon, but it’s a good environment where everyone’s laid back. It’s a lot different from the state meet.”
The event, with includes the boys decathlon, girls decathlon and girls heptathlon, takes place today and Saturday at Lake Stevens High School. Action begins at 10 a.m. today and 9:30 a.m. Saturday.
And for many of those competing this is no mere epilogue to the high school season. Some attend just for the experience or to see what it’s all about. But for someone like Schmidt the decathlon is the future — he’s headed to the University of Washington on a track scholarship specifically to compete in the decathlon.
“You have a little bit of both types,” said Arlington track coach Judd Hunter, who’s helping put on the event. “Some athletes train just for this event. They have the state meet in mind, but this is their thing, too. Others just show up and do it.”
This is the 39th year the state has held the boys decathlon and girls heptathlon, with the girls decathlon added a decade ago. The event serves as the qualifier for the Junior Olympic regional meet. Athletes automatically qualify for regionals by competing this weekend.
Because of the increasing popularity of the event, there were some technical changes made this year to help streamline the schedule. For the first time the number of competitors was capped, with a maximum of 48 allowed to enter the boys decathlon and girls heptathlon. Also, the field events for the girls decathlon are being swapped, with the discus, pole vault and javelin taking place on the first day while the long jump, shot put and high jump are moved to the second day.
Snohomish County is expected to be well represented on the leaderboard.
On the boys side the top three returners are Schmidt, Lake Stevens senior Brennan Frost (last year’s runner-up) and Edmonds-Woodway junior Alec Fellows (sixth last year). Frost, who just recently returned to full activity after suffering a major knee injury playing football in the fall, is not expected to be at full strength.
Among the girls, Lake Stevens twin freshmen Brooke and Brittney Pahukoa could make an immediate impact.
But Schmidt is the biggest name. Last year he tallied 6,059 points, which was 350 more than Frost and 669 more than Fellows. With Frost not at 100 percent, it’s going to take a Herculean effort from someone in the field to unseat Schmidt.
“I hope to defend my title,” Schmidt said. “Brennan Frost had the surgery and isn’t as well as he would have hoped, but Alec Fellows is a good athlete. He’s fun to compete against.
“I’m not as prepared as I’d like to be,” Schmidt added. “There’s only one week between state track and the decathlon, and you’re not able to get around to every event during the season. But even though I’m not as prepared as I want to be, hopefully I’m prepared enough to do my best.”
But win or lose, the multi-event competitions contain a different vibe than standard track and field events. With plenty of down time between events, athletes get to know their competitors and often become friends, as Schmidt and Frost have become. It’s as much a community as a competition as athletes commonly encourage their rivals.
“There’s a lot of great camaraderie between the athletes,” Hunter said. “They’re competing against each other, but the great nature of the event is is builds camaraderie and relationships.”
Said Schmidt: “The atmosphere (is the compelling part). There’s a lot of great people, funny people. It’s more fun than a normal track meet. I have friendships that started four years ago as freshmen. I’m just excited to see those people who I maybe didn’t get to see during the track season.”
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