At North Kitsap High School on April 24 the EJ Track and Field team competed against Sequim, NK, and Olympic high schools in their first of two meets of the week. Conditions were sunny, warm, and windless setting up especially the sprinters and field athletes to post good marks.

The winning EJ athletes at the meet were all girls. Junior Leah Ferland took first in the 1600m run in 6:13.39, sixteen seconds ahead of second place. Sophomore Kaydence Plotner also secured a win in the 100m hurdles with a new Personal Record (PR) of 17.08. Freshman thrower Isla Emerson was also part of the winners circle in the javelin where she threw a PR of 10 feet to hit 89-06. Sophomore Arden Moore was the most winning Rival taking first place in the 200m dash (PR 26.92), the 400m (PR 1:02.15), and on the 4x100 relay team. The team of junior Sienna Emerson, Moore, sophomores Carina Shiflett, and Clara Camp beat their closest competitor by over 2.5 seconds running a PR of 52.00. This has them ranked 10th in 1A in the state currently, but within one second of third place.

The Rivals had a number of other noteworthy performances at North Kitsap. On the boys' side, senior Nikolas Erickson posted PRs in both the 100m (11.72, seventh) and 200m (24.33, fifth). Sophomore Nathan Ericson ran a 800m PR of 2:42.46 for 15th place. Sophomore Noah Isenberg placed 2nd in the 1600m run with a 4:48.12. Senior Mason Iverson was again the top placing EJ athlete in both the shot put (33-11.00, 8th) and the discus (79-07.00, 10th).

The girls scored major points in the 100m dash with four EJ girls in the top six. Shiflett was second in 13.45, Camp 4th in 13.59, sophomore Abby O’Keefe was fifth (PR 13.68), and Sienna Emerson sixth (PR 13.74). O’Keefe was also the top Rival shot putter taking fourth with a 22-02.00. Isla Emerson returned in the disc for a third place finish with a throw 0f 69-07.00 ahead of sophomore teammate Emma Joy (fourth, 62-01.00). The girls team was able to place second overall despite the fact that the other teams in attendance were all from the larger 2A schools division. 

Two days later, on April 26 the team travelled to Coupeville High School to compete in the Coupeville Classic. In addition to EJ and the host, other schools in attendance were Clallam Bay, Mount Vernon Christian, and Neah Bay. Weather at the event was sunny and cool with mild wind. 

The boys' sprints were dominated by Coupeville, but Erickson broke their sweep of the top seven places in the 100m by taking fourth in 11.96. In the 200m junior Alex Garfias ran a PR of 27.32 for 10th place. Junior Dillon Page Castillo was the third finisher in the 400m with a time of 57.02. In the longer events, Coupeville again took the wins in the 800m and 1600m, however sophomore Joshua Yearian and freshman Zeke Banks went 2-3 in the 800m event with Yearinan running a seasonal record (SR) of 2:03.49 and Banks a PR of 2:16.29. EJ also went 2-3 in the 1600m with senior Soare Johnston in second (4:52.79) and sophomore Nico Errichetti 3rd (PR 4:55.61). The only male event winner for the Rivals at the meet was sophomore Noah Isenberg in the 3200 where he ran a SR 10:17.13.

In the field events junior Charley Schweitzer was the top EJ finisher in all three throwing events. He placed sixth in the shot put with a 31-04.50, 10th in the discus with a throw of 72-07.50, and 8th in the javelin with a PR of 94-11.00.

In the girls events, the Rivals girls took the wins in three individual runs, two relays, and one field event. In both hurdle events and the 3200m run EJ girls had dominant victories. Plotner ran a 17.22 in the 100m hurdles while Moore won with a 49.07 in the 300m hurdles and Plotner came back for third in 50.88. Junior Leah Ferland ran a lonely 13:12.12 victory in the 3200m, 48 seconds ahead of second place. The 4x200m relay team of Sienna Emerson, Moore, Shiflett, and Camp ran a time of 1:50.97 with Camp waging a ferocious battle against the Mount Vernon Christian anchor down the back stretch. Head coach Fraser said he had never seen Camp so focused and fierce. The girls also easily won the 4x400m relay with O’Keefe, Emerson, Camp, and Moore cruising to a 17 second win over second place. Sophomore Kaida Rodriguez was the top finisher in the triple jump with a leap of 33-04.50 with Plotner close behind taking second with a PR of 32-02.50.

The Rivals girls posted some other top finishes throughout the meet. These included Shiflett in the 100m with a 13.65 good fifth place and in the 200m, Moore and Camp went 2-3 with times of 27.28 and 27.58 respectively. The girls 4x 100m relay team of sophomore Charlotte Tarada and freshmen Avery Dean, Macy Little, and Rayna Pray placed fourth in 57.21. Junior Hilina Taylor-Lenz took fourth in her first 800m run of the season with a PR of 2:42.26 and fellow junior Michael Gregg ran an 11 second PR to take fifth in the 1600m in 6:03.54. O’Keefe took third in the shot put with a throw of 21-11.00 and Isla Emerson took the same place, but in the discus with a PR mark of 75-07.00. Isla returned in the javelin to take fourth with 80-08.00 while sister Sienna was third with a 91-05.00.  

The next meet for the team is the 15th Annual BCS Invite at Sammamish High School on Saturday May 3.