The East Jefferson Rivals track and field teams’ trip to the Coupeville Classic on Wednesday, April 17, came close to falling through, due to transportation difficulties.

After some last-minute calls, however, Island County Transit saved the day for the Rivals.

Within 20 minutes, Island County Transit found a driver to get a bus ready, come pick up the team at the ferry landing, and deliver them to the Coupeville Mickey Clark Stadium.

Thankfully, the team made it to the meet, as up and down throughout the events, East Jefferson athletes placed highly, and recorded improvements on their seasonal and personal best performances.

In the seven-way meet with Lummi, Lynden, Clallam Bay, Crescent, Friday Harbor and Coupeville, East Jefferson athletes recorded 12 event wins.

Senior Henri Huber and freshman Arden Moore each notched two victories, Huber in the long jump with 19’ 4.5” and the triple jump with 38’ 4.5”, and Moore in the 100-meter hurdles with 20.35 and the 200-meter with 28.36.

Adding to East Jefferson’s victories were Jasper Dances in the 100-meter with 12.27, Carina Shiflett in the 100-meter with 13.69, Kaida Rodriguez in the 300-meter hurdles with 53.30, John Mercado in the 300-meter hurdles with 50.52, Soare Johnston in the 1,600-meter with 4:49.54, Indigo Gould in the 3,200-meter with 10:54.27, Bryce Harbin in the javelin with 117’ 4”, and the girls 4x100-meter relay team of Sienna Emerson, Moore, Shiflett and Clara Camp with 53.22 seconds.

Additional top five finishes for the girls include:

In the 100-meter, Clara Camp in third with 14.08.

In the 200-meter, Carina Shiflett in second with 30.02, Abby O’Keefe in third with 30.42 and Sienna Emerson in fifth with 30.81.

In the 800-meter, Leah Ferland in third with 2:45.49 and Hilina Tayor-Lenz in fifth with 3:01.67.

In the 1,600-meter, Sylvia Butterfield in third with 6:23.25 and Michael Gregg in fourth with 6:43.20.

In the javelin, Sienna Emerson in third with 86’ 7”.

In the triple jump, Kaida Rodriguez in second with 30’ 6”.

And additional top five finishes for the boys include:

In the 200-meter, Nikolas Erickson in fourth with 25.35.

In the 400-meter, Joshua Yearian in third with 56.39 and Traycen Brown in fifth with 56.95.

In the 800-meter, Noah Isenberg in third with 2:20.29.

In the 1,600-meter, Noah Isenberg in third with 4:53.25.

In the 3,200-meter, Joshua Yearian in third with 10:54.27.

In the 300-meter hurdles, Nico Errichetti in third with 54.27.

In the shot put, Adam Weaver in fifth with 35’ 4.5”.

In the long jump, Morgan Hanson in fifth with 18’ 2.5”.

And in the 4x400-meter relay, Dillon Page Castillo, Gould, Mercado and Yearian in second with 3:58.99.

The East Jefferson Rivals track and field teams then traveled to Sammamish High School for the 19-team BCS Invitational on Saturday, April 20.

Though conditions were mildly adverse for most of the events, they took a sudden downturn toward the end of the meet, with strong winds blowing debris across the track, and into the faces of the runners throughout the 200-meter, 3,200-meter and 4x400-meter races, as well as causing the girls’ javelins to take erratically errant flight paths through much of their competition.

Regardless, the East Jefferson athletes attacked the competitions with gusto, and collected a slew of seasonal and personal bests, while notching podium placings throughout the day.

The Rivals’ top placers at the meet were senior Ellise Gardner, with her second-place 108’ 3” showing in the turbulent javelin competition, and freshman Arden Moore, with her second-place 48.64 result, in her first-ever attempt at the 300-meter hurdles, which currently has her ranked sixth in Washington 1A. 

Arden Moore was the Rivals’ most decorated athlete of the meet, adding to her 300-meter hurdles result with a leg on the Rivals’ 4x100-meter relay (fourth place at 52.21) and 4x400-meter relay (fourth place at 4:43.74), clocking East Jefferson’s fastest split of the latter, at 64.6 in her first 400-meter race, and an eighth-place showing in the 100-meter hurdles, despite a fall on the ninth hurdle.   

The girls’ 4x100-meter quartet of Sienna Emerson, Moore, Carina Shiflett and Clara Camp improved their seasonal best time by more than a full second, while taking a narrow loss to league rival Vashon in the race.

East Jefferson held a small lead over Vashon going into the final leg, during which six-time state medalist Alana Bass just barely edged out Camp at the line.

Both squads now hold positions within the WIAA 1A top 12.

Other award winners for the girls included:

• Freshman Carina Shifflett, fourth in the long jump with 13’ 9.25”, and seventh in the 100-meter with 13.58, both personal bests, despite both taking place into headwinds, as well as running the best turn of the field, on the third leg of the girls’ 4x100-meter relay.

• Freshman Kaida Rodrigues, seventh in the triple jump with 29’ 3”, and seventh in the 300-meter hurdles with 54.48.

• Sophomore Leah Ferland, fourth in the 1,600-meter with a personal record of 6:02.33, who also ran the third leg of the girls’ fourth-place 4x400-meter relay, along with Moore, Abby O’Keefe and Mi Amada Lanphear Ramirez.

• Senior Sylvia Butterfield, third in the 3,200-meter with a personal record of 13:22.10.

• Sophomore Michael Gregg, fifth in the 3,200-meter with a personal record of 13:34.02.

The top boys’ placer was senior Reid Martin, with his third-place personal record javelin toss of 158’ 9”, while the most decorated boy was senior Indigo Gould.

Gould started his day’s haul by racing to a massive 12-second personal best in the 1,600-meter race, finishing fourth with 4:37.80.

Gould also pulled in an eighth-place award in the triple jump with 35’ 8.5”, and ran his best-ever split (58.3) during the second leg of the boys’ fourth-place 4x400-meter relay with 3:58.31, alongside sophomore Dillon Page Castillo, and freshmen Nico Errichetti and Joshua Yearian.

Other award winners for the boys included:

• Joshua Yearian, fifth in the 800-meter with a personal record of 2:06.52, who also ran the fastest leg of the team (a personal record of 55.7) while anchoring the fourth-place 4x400-meter relay squad.

• Freshman Noah Isenberg, sixth in the 3,200-meter with a personal record of 10:30.74.

• Junior Soare Johnston, seventh in the 3,200-meter with 10:33.06.

The Rivals’ next meet will be at Klahowya on the afternoon of Thursday, April 25.

The team will honor its graduating seniors, in conjunction with Klahowya, during a recognition ceremony following the meet.