Conks cruising into postseason

Well, it's been two weeks since the last update... a lot of things can happen in two weeks! It would be an understatement to say that we have had a successful two weeks, it may have been two of the most successful weeks in our program's history. It's so fun to be a Conk right now!

The best place to start would probably be two weeks ago at the Bellevue Invite. Bellevue is a lot of fun for us because we get to take a very large team to the meet, so many of our younger athletes get a chance to compete on the "big stage" of an Invite. Last year our Boys team placed fourth, and we anticipated that we should place at least that or higher.

To put it lightly, we far exceeded all of our own expectations. Our boys team won the Bellevue Invite by over 30 points with 125.75 points over second place Todd Beamer. Six first place finishes and three seconds made the Bellevue Invite one of the most successful in team history. As the day was historic, so was our Boys 4x400 relay. Up to that point in the year, the 4x4 had won many meets, but hadn't had a "breakout" performance like last year. Junior Demetrius Bronson led off for the first time this year with a solid 51.7 split. Sophomore Junior Gauldin followed with a 51.7 split, despite a very awkward handoff that undoubtedly cost them some time. Sophomore Devin St. Clair then got the baton with a 15 meter deficit on the leader and closed the gap dramatically with a 49.8 split and handed it off to Junior Chris Selvar who outkicked the anchor for Eastlake (see picture) to bring home the victory in a school record time of 3:23.63. This was, until the past week's meets, the fastest time in the state. I firmly believe the 4x4 is the backbone of any track and field team, so it brings me and the rest of the program great pride in seeing it have so much success. Of the other event winners, Chris Selvar won the 800m in a personal best 1:55.31 time (tying Michael Chinchar for the team lead and #2 all-time). Michael Chinchar overcame illness and a poor 1600m race to win the 3200m in a season-best time of 9:18.0. Sophomore Cody Fishel tied his PR and won the High Jump with his jump of 6'3". Devin St. Clair won the Long Jump for the second straight year with his jump of 21'6 3/4". Also, Junior Gauldin won the Triple Jump with his jump of 42' 7 1/2". All of this led to an overwhelming victory for the boys team, and a really heavy trophy to present to the team. Way to go boys!

The girls team also had some good performances on the "big stage". Like the Boys, the highlight of the meet was the very last event, the 4x400 relay. The team of Sophomore Ashley Luther, Junior Abby Brauer, Junior Vanessa Parker and Freshman Dana Wareham set a season best time of 4:16.0 solidifying themselves as #4 on the top ten list. This is also significant because it is the first time since 1993 that the Girls 4x4 has run under 4:20.0. Dana Wareham also had a great run in her 400m dash, running 61.0 and placing 7th overall. Other strong performances for the girls came from Sophomore Kyra Gaines, who ran a personal record 27.40 in the 200m dash. Freshman Aiesha Goodlow turned in her fastest time of the year with her time of 18.38 in the 100 Hurdles and was joined in the PR club by Junior Erin Bradfield who jumped 31'10" in the Triple Jump. These performances earned the Girls a 24th place finish. Overall meet results can be found here.

Last week saw one of our team's toughest dual meets of the season. Our Girl's squad put up a good fight, but lost 57-84 to the KM Girls. Our Girls won 6 events, and were competitive in many others. Event winners included Kyra Gaines in the 100m (13.2), Dana Wareham in the 200m, (26.9, a season PR and #3 all time) and Long Jump (16' 1 1/4", #7 all time), Lindsey Moore in the High Jump (5'6"), and both relays (4x100: Ashley Luther, Kristen Olenick, Kyra Gaines and Dana Wareham, 51.7; 4x400: Luther, Abby Brauer, Vanessa Parker and Wareham, 4:16.2).

The Boys team churned out perhaps the toughest dual meet of the season, winning over KM by a score of 80-56. Up to that point, KM had only lost once, and was in contention for a share of the league title. Many athletes stepped up and had great performances to assure the win. Michael Chinchar stepped out of his usual events and won the 400 in a team best time of 51.4. Another highlight for the Boys team was Junior Gauldin's PR Triple Jump of 43'2 1/2" This win moved the boys team to a 6-0 record (not including 2 Invitational wins) and further established themselves as a powerhouse team in the state.

The KM meet also provided the girls team with a couple of PR's and strong performances. Event winners were Kyra Gaines in the 100m (13.2, moving into the top 10 list), Dana Wareham in the 200m (26.9, moving up the top 10 list) and the Long Jump where she set a season PR (16'1 1/2"), Lindsey Moore in the High Jump (5'6", tying her PR), and both relay teams took home first place finishes. Meet results for the KM dual can be found here.

Last saturday saw our boys and girls team split up for the prestigious Shoreline and Lake Washington Invitational meets. Shoreline is an all-boys meet and Lake Washington is an all-girls meet and both attract some of the top athletes in the state. Our girls team only sent 12 athletes to Lake Washington, but they competed hard and represented Kentwood well on the big stage. The girls squad was led by Lindsey Moore who placed 2nd in the High Jump (the 4th time this year she's jumped that height). Lindsey also set a PR in the Javelin with her throw of 99'9". Dana Wareham also had a big day, winning her heat in the 400m with a time of 60.85, and running the anchor legs on both the 4x2 and 4x4 relays. All three relays ran at Lake Washington and although they didn't run their fastest times of the season, all three were competitive within their hear in what perhaps is the best meet competition they will see all year (including state because the entries are based on marks, not classifications).

The boys squad went into their toughest invite of the season with the Shoreline Invite. Shoreline traditionally brings a very talented field from all across the state to compete against. Our boys stepped up to the challenge and established themselves as a force to be reckoned with in the state. There were several highlights of the meet, led by event winners Michael Chinchar in the 1600m, and Devin St. Clair in the Long Jump. Michael ran away with the 1600m title, winning in a time of 4:12.18, missing the meet record by little over a second. Devin leaped to a big victory with his jump of 22'6", showing the state that he is capable of winning a big meet. Another thrilling event was the boys 4x4 relay which saw another showdown with Eastlake High School (the team our boys beat to win the Bellevue Invite the week before). This time though, there wasn't enough room to outkick them and our boys took 2nd place with their time of 3:24.82. In the end, the boys team took home second place to Evergreen of Vancouver, a team that we will definitely see at the state meet. Meet results can be found here and news story here.

These meet were a good taste of what our competition will be like as we cruise into the postseason, hopefully preparing us for the great competition to come.

Boys are Tacoma Invite Champs!

Invite season is always so fun because there are so many great chances for big performances due to the good competition; to see our kids perform so well is very exciting to see. This past week we went to our first full-team invite, the Tacoma Invitational. There were 32 teams there from Western Washington (and one from Oregon), and it brought out the best in many of our kids. Many of the schools at this meet have had a lot of success, including Wilson High School, which was the Boys 4A 2006 State Champion.

One of the tough things about this meet is that it does not allow for either boys or girls squad to showcase our depth, so we have to rely heavily on our top athletes to get us points. Our boys came through though, and brought home the 1st place trophy on Saturday. There were many outstanding performances, but one performance in particular stood out above all of the rest. Sophomore Devin St. Clair came into this season with high expectations based upon his great Freshman season where he Long Jumped 21'11" and Triple Jumped 42'5". So far this year though, he hadn't been able to pop a "big one" in the Long Jump, with his best being 20'9" at the Arcadia Invite (off of the wrong foot). Devin finally put that to rest with his school record breaking jump of 23'4" to win the Tacoma Invite. His jump is the longest recorded so far this year for the 4A division. The Tacoma Invite was also highlighted by several other athletes beginning with event winners in the 1600m by Senior Michael Chinchar(4:29.11), and the High Jump by Sophomore Cody Fishel (6'2"). Other big marks were produced by Junior Demetrius Bronson who took 2nd in the 200m (23.23), Sophomore Steven Warner who took 4th in the 300 Hurdles (PR time of 41.27, moving him to #8 on the Top 10 List), Senior Eric Brill who took 5th in the 3200m (10:02.30) and Senior Andrew Fung who took 6th in the 110 High Hurdles (16.04). Both Boys relays performed well also, posting their second fastest times of the season to this point. The 4x100m relay (Nikiel Taylor, St. Clair, Damion Ricks and Bronson) took second with their time of 43.56, and the 4x400 relay (Gauldin, Ricardo Tucker, St. Clair and Chris Selvar) took 7th with their time of 3:32.02. The Distance Medley Relay (Jake Logar, Mark Hoffman, Kramer Wahlberg and Danny Smith) also placed 7th with their time of 11:41.15.

There were several highlights for the Girls team at the Tacoma Invite as well. The 4x200 Relay team of Kyra Gaines, Ashley Luther, Rachel Gilstad and Dana Wareham ran a season-best time of 1:51.63 putting them way ahead of where the same relay team was at this point last season. Freshman Dana Wareham came up big with a 7th place finish in the 200m (28.31) and a 6th place finish in the 400m (62.32) along with being the anchor leg on the 4x200 and 4x400 relays. Senior Jillian Jainga also scored points with a 5th place finish in the Pole Vault. Season best times also were had by the 4x100 relay (Gaines, Kristin Olenick, Gilstad and Karyn Hauch with a time of 54.08), Junior Arielle Amoranto in the 100 Hurdles (18.79) and Junior Erin Bradfield in the Discus (83'1"). The Girls team ended in a tie for 16th place out of 32 schools.

This week coming up holds two meets for the team, the first being a dual meet versus Tahoma. Tahoma has been a powerhouse team on both the boys and girls side, as they have a very strong distance running contingent for both boys and girls. Their boys are led by Junior distance runner Jonothan Lafler and Seniors Matt Voss and Chad Ford for their sprints and hurdles. The Tahoma girls squad is led by Senior senior Megan Zukowski, who is leading the SPSL North in both the 100m and 200m.

This Saturday holds our second team invite, the Bellevue Invite. Many more of our athletes will be competing at Bellevue than did at Tacoma, so that should make for more outstanding marks! Hopefully the weather there will be as nice this year as it was last year. Maybe our team can pull out another win! Go Conks!

Coach Roche

Wow, what a week!

There are so many ways that this past week was incredible, so it's really difficult to know where to begin. It's so gratifying as a coach to see my athletes have great success, especially knowing how much time and effort they have all put into that success. We've been blessed with some better weather in this past week, giving us some of our best individual and team performances we've seen so far this year. One of the most intriguing parts of seeing our success at this point in the season is knowing that we are only 1/2 way through the season, and the best is yet to come.

Although it doesn't make sense to begin chronologically with what happened second, the enormity of the accomplishments deserve to take the top billing for the past week's accomplishments. Considering the number of athletes that enter, the number of schools and states that attend from all over the country, and the standards needed to even get into the Arcadia Invitational, just being there is an accomplishment and a honor. Our four boys who went not only represented Kentwood and the state of Washington very well, but helped to put themselves "on the map" for Track and Field in the West Coast and throughout the USA. All four boys that went to the meet set season bests in the events they were entered in. Sophomore Devin St. Clair flew 20' 9 3/4" in the Long Jump on his only legal jump of the competition. Junior Chris Selvar ran his season's best time in the 800 with his time of 1:58.84. Senior Eric Brill also ran his best time of the year in the 2 mile, with a 9:42.90 time Friday night. Senior Michael Chinchar wrote his name into the permanent record book though with a historic performance Saturday night in the Mile. Michael took the lead from the pack from the very beginning and kept that pace throughout the race. With one lap to go, Michael had a lead somewhere near 30 meters when Charles White from Cherry Creek burst off of the final corner with a furious kick, but as Michael sensed his competition gaining on him, he turned on his own kick, and crossed the finish line first, in 4:09.67, the fastest mile time in the country to this point. You can watch the race for yourself and see Michael's post-race interview here. This meet, needless to say, will go down as one of the greatest in Kentwood history. (Photo credit above to John Dye from dyestat.com)

Earlier in the week, the rest of the Kentwood squad had an impressive meet of their own against powerful Federal Way high school. Although the Girls team lost to Federal Way 55-86, many Girls saw personal best and season best marks. One athlete that stepped up this week was Sophomore Ashley Luther. Ashley had one of her best days for her young career with a season best time in the 100m (13.71, placing 2nd), running a season best split in the 4x4 (64.1) and setting a lifetime PR in the Long Jump (15'11 1/2", placing 2nd). Ashley's Long Jump moved her into the Top Ten list in 8th place. Event winners for the Girl's team on Thursday were Freshman Dana Wareham in the 200m (27.86), and the 400m (61.75, moving her to #3 all time for Kentwood), Sophomore Lauren Scully in the 800 (2:39.25, a season best), Sophomore Lindsey Moore in the High Jump(5'4") and Senior Jillian Jainga in the Pole Vault (7'0", moving her to #7 all time for Kentwood). There was one Freshman record set in this meet by Clarisa Hammer in the 100 Hurdles with her time of 18.4. Hammer took the record at the beginning of the season, but then had it taken a week ago by fellow Freshman Aiesha Goodlow, and now has taken it back. The Girls' dual meet record is now 1-3.

The Boys squad faced one of their toughest dual meet challenges of the season in their dual meet with Federal Way. Federal Way came int the meet undefeated and had many positive matchups with our Boys. The Kentwood Boys stepped up to the challenge though, defeating the Eagles by a score of 80-54. Because of the Arcadia Invite on Friday and Saturday, the four boys going to the meet were limited (by their coaches) to only a few events, thereby limiting the depth that has served the Boys team so well this year. Several Boys stepped up in their absence, picking up the slack and delivering big. Senior Danny Smith stepped in for the missing Chinchar and Brill by winning both the 1600m (4:46.61) and 3200m (10:35.10). Seniors Kramer Wahlberg, Jake Logar and Freshman Thomas Zavada also stepped in and took 2nds and 3rds, allowing for a Kentwood sweep of those distance events. Other event winners for the Boys team were Junior Demetius Bronson in the 100m (11.20), Sophomore Devin St. Clair in the 200m (23.21) and tied Sophomore Junior Gauldin in the Triple Jump (42' 1 1/2", moving Gauldin to #7 all time for Kentwood) , Senior Mark Hoffman in the 800m (2:05.09), Sophomore Steven Warner in the 300 Hurdles (41.57, moving him to #9 all time for Kentwood), and Sophomore Cody Fishel in the High Jump (6'2"). A Freshman Record was set this week by TJ Markus, with his Shot Put of 40'10". The Boys team now has a league dual meet record of 4-0. Total team results for the Federal Way meet can be found here.

This Saturday brings us our first Invite for the whole team, the Tacoma Invite at Mt. Tahoma High School. This Invite is exciting for several reasons; for one the facility in which it is held at one of the premiere High School Track and Field facilities in the state, and secondly it gives our athletes a good taste of what their district track meet will be like, since our district meet is there. There are 32 schools coming to this Invite, and each team is allowed one entry per event, so there will be many quality athletes and many quality competitions to be had.

I have posted several reminders for athletes competing or attending the Tacoma Invite under our message board link on the website, so please see that for more details for the meet. Lets hope for sunshine and a great meet!

Coach Roche

Rolling into Meet Week 4

“Success is where preparation and opportunity meet.” – Bobby Unser

I think our season thus far has been great in preparing us for what is to come the rest of this season. One of our themes for this year has been preparation, and I wholeheartedly agree that our preparation thus far is setting the stage for success in the upcoming weeks. Our athletes have spent over five weeks now running intervals, sprinting up hills, jumping up bleachers, lifting weights and doing abs, all in preparation for the success to come. One of the greatest things about this sport is that every individual gets out of it what they put into it.

Both our Boys team and Girls team had a banner week last week, winning in impressive fashion over Decatur. With the 106-30 victory, our Boys are 3-0 on the dual meet season, winning each dual meet by over 70 points. That, I believe, is a testament to both our talent and our depth that we have been able to compete at that level for three straight weeks. Our Girls team also pulled off an impressive victory with their 107-24 win over Decatur this week. Our girls team now stands with a record of 1-2 and things are looking better every week as new athletes are becoming eligible and healthy.

There were several stong individual performances in our meet last week. Junior Chris Selvar set a season PR in winning the 800m with his time of 1:59.71. Chris is one of four athletes going to represent Kentwood at the prestigious Arcadia Invitational in California this Saturday. Another of four going to Arcadia is Senior Eric Brill, who also ran a season PR in the 3200m with his time of 9:59.03. The other two going to Arcadia are Senior Michael Chinchar in the 1600m and Sophomore Devin St. Clair in the Long Jump. The link to the meet can be found here. Again, as we have had in the previous two dual meets, the boys team had five "sweeps" in our meet versus Decatur. The 110 High Hurdles, 300 Hurdles, Shot Put, Discus, and Pole Vault saw Kentwood take all three placing spots this past thursday. Individual winners this week were Sophomore Junior Gauldin (55.15 in the 400m and 40'7.5" in the Triple Jump), Chris Selvar in the 800m, Michael Chinchar (4:25.69 in the 1600m), Eric Brill in the 3200, Sophomore Steven Warner (15.46 in the 110HH and 41.89 in the 300H), Junior Evan Porter (41'11" in the Shot Put, 113'6" in the Discus), Sophormore Cody Fishel (6'1" in the High Jump), Senior Tony Som (9'0" in the Pole Vault), and Junior Nikiel Taylor (17'10" in the Long Jump). Both of the Boys relays also took first place, (4x100 Relay: Taylor, Freshman Tristan Askew, Senior Damion Ricks and Sophomore Darrius Coleman, 45.73; and 4x400 Relay: Selvar, Warner, Askew and Gaulding, 3:37.65) Nikiel Taylor joined the Top Ten list with his 23.3 time in the 200m (tie for 9th) and a Freshman Record was broken in the 3200 by Freshman Thomas Zavada with his time of 11:22.3.





The Girls team saw by far their most successful meet of the season, with six "sweeps" of their own in the 400m, 800m, 1600m, 3200m, 100 Hurdles, and the Long Jump. The Girls were led again with three victories from Freshman Dana Wareham in the 200m (27.69), 400m (62.60) and Long Jump (15'2"). Dana's 200m time moved her up to 7th place on the Top Ten list. Another big performance came from Freshman Aiesha Goodlow, who not only won the 100 Hurdles (18.96), but set a Freshman Record in the process. Other event winners from the Decatur meet were Sophomore Lauren Scully (800m, 2:40.54), Freshman Meghan Hoffman (1600m, 6:08.1), Junior Tessa Rawie (3200m 14:10.0), Freshman Jennifer Weston (Shot Put, 24'1.5"), Junior Erin Bradfield (Discus, 81'1"), Sophomore Lindsey Moore (High Jump, 5'4"), and Freshman Karyn Hauch (Pole Vault, 6'6"). All three Girls relays won also (4x100: Junior Rachel Gilstad, Freshman Clarisa Hammer, Sophomore Kristen Olenick, Hauch, 54.46; 4x200: Sophomore Kyra Gaines, Sophomore Ashley Luther, Junior Abby Brauer and Wareham, 1:54.35; 4x400: Hoffman, Rawie, Gaines and Junior Vanessa Parker, 4:53.91).


This week we go up against a team that matches up with us very well, the Federal Way Eagles. Their Boys squad is undefeated and has a couple of strong jumpers in Jay Davis and Andre Barrington, and perhaps the best throwing squad in the league with Andrew Pulu and Jeremiah Olivarez. They should provide a great challenge for our Boys squad. Federal Way's Girl's squad is led by Hurdler/Jumper Jacqie Evenson and Thrower Samantha Willis.

Hopefully, the good times will keep on rollin', and we will have another great report next week! Go Conks!

Coach Roche