On Friday April 4, the East Jefferson Track and Field traveled to Meridian High School, north of Bellingham, to compete in the limited entry Trojan Twilight Invitational. Fifteen schools were in attendance ranging from 1B size to 3A. Conditions at the meet were nearly perfect with mild temperatures, sunshine, and no wind.

Sophomore girls, and one junior, took home the wins for the Rivals with Arden Moore winning the 300m hurdles in 48.94. Her time is currently the number five time in the state for 1A. The girls 4x100m relay team (junior Sienna Emerson, and sophomores Moore, Abby O’Keefe, and Clara Camp) dominated the race taking 1st place in 52.59. Additionally, in her first triple jump competition of the 2025 season, Kaida Rodrigues powered to the win with an effort of 32’ 4.5”.

In the boys sprints, senior Nikolas Erickson placed 15th in the 100m with a time of 12.33, sophomore Jackson Dupuy was 17th in the 200 (26.07) followed closely by freshman Travis Davis (18th, 26.47). In the 400m, sophomore Ethan Perovitch ran a 1:05.10 for 20th place. In the 300m hurdles senior John Mercado ran 48.74 for 10th place. The 4x100m relay team (of seniors Erickson, Mercado, Traycen Brown, and junior Dillon Page Castillo) placed 7th in a time of 46.73 while the 4x400m relay team (Page Castillo, freshman Zeke Banks, Brown, and sophomore Joshua Yearian) captured 4th (3:51.90) with Page Castillo running a personal record (PR) 56.8 split on his lead off leg. 

On the girls side, freshman Rayna Pray placed 17th in the 100m with a PR of 14.47, fellow freshman Macy Little also ran a PR of 31.95 to place 18th in the 200m, and sophomore Charlotte Terada ran a 1:22.40 for 17th place in the 400m. Sophomore Kaydence Plotner did double duty in the hurdles placing 3rd overall in both the 100m (17.57) and the 300m (50.95). In the 4x200m relay the EJ girls (Moore, Rodrigues, O’Keefe, and Camp) took 3rd place in 1:54.32.

In the longer running events, freshman Banks ran his first 800m of the season in 2:20.14 and a 9th place overall finish. The 1600m had three Rivals in the top ten with sophomore Joshua Yearian 3rd (PR 4:33.85), senior Soare Johnston 5th (4:47.48), and freshman Biorn Brostrom 7th (PR 4:56.84).

In the longest event of the meet, the 3200m, sophomore Noah Isenberg placed 3rd in 10:18.67 with junior Dustin Hines finishing in 4th with a 15 second PR of 10:19.57. Sophomores Nico Errichetti and Kepler Edmundson also competed finishing 6th and 9th, respectively, with PR times of 10:45.96 and 11:46.62. 

Girls distance events saw juniors Hilina Taylor-Lenz and Leah Ferland place 9th (6:06.22) and 11th (6:13.90) respectively in the 1600m while in the 3200m Michael Gregg ran an 11 second PR to place 6th in 13:23.92.

In the boys field events, senior Mason Iverson threw a 32’ 7” in the shot put for a 17th place finish while junior Charlie Schweitzer placed 21st in the discus with a toss of 75’ 10”. Sophomore Trevor Barry was the EJ javelin contestant finishing 21st with a throw of 86’ 0.5”. Errichetti was the only Rival boy to jump and he had a solid showing in the triple jump with a seasonal best leap of 32’ 10” to place 12th overall.

Sophomore girls shot putters Abby O’Keefe and Emma threw seasonal bests of 23’ 09” and 21’ 06” to place 13th and 15th respectively. In the discus, freshman Isla Emerson threw a 60’ 6” toss to take 15th with junior Averie Graves in 16th with a PR of 58’ 9”. In the javelin, senior Emerson was 3rd overall with a throw of 94’ 6.5” and Isla Emerson set a PR of 74’ 1” to place 11th. Terada was 18th in the long jump with a leap of 10’ 11”. 

The Rivals next competition is Thursday, April 10 at South Whidbey.

Alice Fraser is the head cross country coach and assistant track and field coach for the East Jefferson Rivals.