LYNDEN – Almost every conversation at the annual Dick Bedlington Twilight track meet at Lynden High School started the same, “Wow, it’s cold out here!” Athletes were seen huddled together, some draped in sleeping bags, and even one Lynden Christian pole vaulter fashioned a bath robe with a beanie in an attempt to stay warm between events. But as the sun went down, and the temperatures continued to fall, so did many personal records at one of the larger track meets of the season.
Sixteen total schools were represented, eleven of which call Whatcom County home, and both speed and power were on display early and often.
In the sprints for the boys, Dalton Mouw of Blaine finished 3rd in the 100m (11.60a) behind Mike Washington of Lummi and Jarid Poole of Ferndale (11.52a and 11.55a respectively). Mouw then went on to place in the top three in the 200m and 400m, finishing 1st in the 200m in 22.87a and 2nd in the 400m in 53.14a.
The 800m may have been the fastest of the track events, where fifteen of the nineteen runners finished with either a personal or a season record. Landon Sturdevant of Ferndale won that race, finishing with a time of 2:00.36a, edging out Lynden’s Nick Kildall by four tenths of a second. Jonah Salomon of Squalicum won the 1600m, Eric Steiger of Lynden Christian won the 3200m, and Harlon Stuit of Meridian won the 110m hurdles. The Lynden relay teams then took 3rd in the 4x100m and 1st in the 4x400m.
In the field events, Brady Norvell of Sehome took 1st in the shotput (48-00.00) and 3rd in the discus (133-05.00), while Nicholas Oesterling of Bellingham took the crown in the javelin (168-02.00). Iyan Manju of Bellingham also had a great day, finishing 1st in both the long jump (21-00.25) and the high jump (6-04.00).
On the girl’s side, Mali Mack of Meridian topped the county, taking 2nd in the 100m and 200m, while also helping the Trojans take 2nd in the 4x100m relay, who finished 2nd to the Red Raiders of Bellingham. In the 800m, sophomore Cameron Hodges of Sehome finished in a time of 2:23.11a, a full five seconds ahead of 2nd place Jaclyn Denham of Ferndale. Nooksack Valley’s Alyce Harlan took home the top spot in the 3200m in a season record time of 11:51.53a. The 4x200m and 4x400m races were won by Lynden and Ferndale respectively.
Mary Crabtree of Sehome out-distanced the field in both the shotput (42-01.50) and discus (130-03.00), and Rylee Weg of Ferndale dominated the jumps, taking 1st in the long (15-11.50) and triple jumps (34-10.25).
At the end of the night, the Lynden boys finished with the top score of 95.83, ahead of Sedro-Woolley (84.5) and Bellingham (77). On the girls side, Sehome won the team title with 104 points, just edging out Ferndale (100) and Lynden (97).
Full results can be found at: https://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/meet/320945/results
-BLAKE WITMAN
Whatcompreps.com
