LYNNWOOD — It’s coming together at the right time for Lynnwood’s boys track and field team.
Four Royals walked away with individual titles at the Western Conference 3A championships May 9 and 11 at Shoreline Stadium.
Junior Ryan McArthur ran a personal best time of 1 minute, 54.91 seconds to win the 800-meter race. He also finished third in the 1,600 with 4:31.27. McArthur dropped more than four seconds from his previous fastest 800 time.
McArthur’s strong performance comes on the heels of a two-week period when the Lynnwood junior had to rest his legs due to a hamstring injury.
“I was really nervous about how not practicing was going to impact my times,” he said.
When he was cleared to resume running, McArthur added some training sessions to get back into shape.
McArthur clocked in with a first lap time of 57 seconds in the 800 finals, right where he wanted to be.
“I knew I had to keep picking up the pace,” McArthur said. “I could hear Carter (Osborne of Shorecrest) right behind me. I kept trying to increase my speed and gave it all I got at the end.”
McArthur and Osborne likely will have a rematch at the 3A District 1 meet May 16 and 18 at Oak Harbor High School. The two have the two fastest times in the district this year.
“It’ll be good competition again,” McArthur said. “It won’t be an easy race. I think if I come out strong and run my race, it’ll be good.”
The top two finishers advance to the state meet.
If McArthur earns another trip to state, he can thank younger brother Tyler, who also runs the 800. Tyler’s times are comparable to what Ryan’s were as a freshman.
“He’ll always try to push me and beat me,” Ryan said. “It gives me the mentality that I can’t lose to my younger brother. He makes me work harder. He’s a talented athlete.”
Also finishing first was Jordan Chase, who won the pole vault by clearing 12 feet. The winner of the event was determined during a jump-off between Chase, Shorecrest’s Joe Dexter and Shorewood’s Josh White.
“It was very tense,” Chase said of the jump-off. “Jake, Joe and I weren’t really having our best day.”
The weather didn’t help matters.
“The wind was what made it difficult,” Chase said. “Sometimes we had a tailwind. Sometimes a headwind. Sometimes it came on either side. It was very unpredictable.”
His winning vault of 12 feet during the jump-off, Chase said, may have been the result of “a stroke of luck.”
Chase, however, has cleared 12 feet before and added that “it’s a height I’m pretty safe at.”
As a freshman, Chase decided to go out for the track and field team even though he did not participate in the sport in middle school.
He ended up as a pole vaulter partly through a process of elimination.
“I was a real small kid,” Chase said. “I wasn’t really fast enough or strong enough to do the sprints. I didn’t have the endurance to do the distances or middle distances. I wasn’t big enough or strong enough to throw the shot put, discus and javelin. What was left was the pole vault. I just kind of stuck with it and things took off from there.”
Junior Andrew Basham won the shot put with a throw of 54-1.5 and was second in the discus with a 151-11, a personal record by 20 feet.
Junior Jordan Drew finished first in the 110 high hurdles (15.92) and was fifth in the 300 hurdles (44.29)
“He’s been pretty consistent all year,” Lynnwood coach Duane Lewis said. “He had his best time by a couple of seconds in the 300.”
The Royals’ 1,600 relay team took second. Senior Morgan Skelton was third in the javelin. Lynnwood finished fifth overall in the team competition.
“We performed well,” Lewis said. “It’s been awhile since we’ve had four Wesco champions.”
Mountlake Terrace had two individual champions – junior Beau Kennedy in the javelin and junior Anfernee Calloway in the long jump. Kennedy’s winning throw was 154 feet, while Calloway leapt to victory with a jump of 20-2.
Kennedy is out for track and field for the first time; he’s never thrown the javelin until this year.
“He is ready to pop one out,” Mountlake Terrace coach Russ Vincent said. “He has a very good chance of progressing to state.”
Calloway is a football player who decided to come out for track to help with football.
“Look what it gets him,” Vincent said.
Other top Mountlake Terrace prospects included sophomore Jack Pearce (second in the 3,200), the 400 relay team (third), senior Ryan Shannon (second in high jump) and senior Stuart Milner (second in the triple jump).
In the Wesco 4A championships, Edmonds-Woodway’s 400 relay team took second and junior Wyatt Meyring finished third in the discus.
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