A vanful of East Jefferson Rivals track and field students traveled to Bellingham on Saturday, April 6, to compete in the limited-entry 39-team Birger Solberg Invitational.

Conditions at the meet were chilly with off-and-on rain and wind throughout the day.

Despite these somewhat adverse conditions for sprinting, both sophomore Dillion Page Castillo and junior Bryce Harbin ran personal records (PR) in their respective events.

In the 100-meter dash, Page Castillo sprinted to a 13.15 against a headwind of 2.7 meters per second, and Harbin, also battling a headwind of 2.5 meters per second, ran a 27.61 in the 200-meter.

Harbin also took 15th place in the javelin toss, in a field of 31 contestants.

Although disappointed with his 116’ 05” throw, he acknowledged that the rainy and windy conditions most likely had an impact on his performance.

Page Castillo returned later in the 400-meter to run a seasonal record of 59.90.

The distance squad had some impressive performances, especially on the boys’ side.

Senior Indigo Gould ran a very intelligent 3,200-meter race, of which he said he was “very pleased with this one.”

He ran a 13-second PR to take 17th place in 10:13.59, out of a field of 34 athletes.

Freshman Joshua Yearian competed in the freshman-sophomore 1,600-meter, also running a PR.

Also in a field of 34, Yearian took seventh place overall in 4:50.55.

He subsequently raced in the 800-meter, fighting his way to a 2:12.34 after taking a sharp elbow to the stomach.

He was the third freshman in a field of 30 runners.

At the close of the meet, Page Castillo, Yearian, Gould and Harbin competed in the 4x400-meter relay, running a time of 4:03.83.

Yearian posted the fastest split of the team, a 57.6 lap.

Senior girls Aliyah Yearian and Fiona Fraser competed in both the 1,600 and 800-meter races.

Yearian and Ballard sophomore Cassidy Armstrong quickly pulled away from the field, and dueled for first over three laps, before Armstrong pulled away in the last 200 meters, to finish in a PR of 5:03.89, ahead of Yearian’s 5:09.21.

Fraser looked off her game from the gun, and ran a disappointing 5:32.43, for 13th place out of 58 competitors.

Coaches acknowledged that the girls had a very tough workout the Tuesday prior to the meet, and that they might not have adequately recovered going into the competition.

However, both runners rallied and came back in the 800-meter, with Yearian running a solid 2:24.4 for fifth place, and Fraser taking 14th out of 32 with a PR of 2:32.45.

A small contingent of the team will travel to the selective South Sound Classic in Puyallup to compete on Saturday, April 13, and the majority of the team will again compete on Wednesday, April 17, at the Coupeville Classic Invitational.