Mt. Rainier wins the women's 100-meter hurdles. Photo by Kurt Howard

Highline track and field teams converge for season finale

By Ed Shepherd

Highlighted by Evergreen's exceptionally fast boys 4x100 relay team and Mount Rainier's lazy-running 800 meter runner, senior, Ryan Prentice, this all-city meet of duals won by MR for the girls and Highline for the boys contained in it good running, throwing, jumping, feats at Highline Memorial Stadium Friday.

Score was, for girls, 145.5, for the Rams, and, Highline, 83.5, followed by a tie for third, 9, for Evergreen and Tyee. Boys were led by the 90 of Highline followed by Evergreen's 70.5, MR, with 70, Tyee, 26.5.

Even though the Pirates won for the boys, the real highlight reel was made up of acts from a few runners for Evergreen and Prentice.

Let's start with Prentice. And what's with the word 'lazy' talking about him!

Well, Prentice was just out today having fun running an event-800- that he usually does not run but his coach, Brian Jacobson, felt a little rest was in order for him. He didn't have Prentice run his usual races the 1600 and 3200-meter runs.

And just how good is Prentice in those two races in the state of Washington of all 3A runners?

No. 1 in one, No. 2 in the other.

"Ryan is doing phenomenal, he broke the nine minute barrier last time out in the two mile," said Jacobson.

And that's good?

"22 guys in the history of Washington State have run under nine minutes in the two mile," said Jacobson.

22. Nice company.

And Prentice had no company in the 3A boys cross country state championship last fall, at least in the end, he was all himself in the No. 1 place.

"We wanted to give him a break before three weeks of pretty serious running," said Jacobson. The league meet is this Wednesday and Thursday, then, it's districts at Mount Tahoma the next weekend and the state meet in Pasco is next.

Prentice is expected to do very well, being the top 3A time in the state currently in the 3200 (two mile), and, he is No. 2 in the mile, running a 4:17 this season. One other runner, from Southridge, in the Tri-Cities area has one second faster than Prentice.

Prentice has a shot to win both races, the 1600 and 3200, a nice feat for certain. But certainly not, perhaps, tops on the mind of Prentice.

"I am shooting more for time than a double win," he said.

And why not? The 3200 race, the one that is his strongest race, has a 3A Washington State best of 8:55. Prentice just ran an 8:59.

His goal is, unsurprisingly, to be even better than that best ever time.

"I would like to get in the mid 50's(8:55 range time)," said Prentice, who will attend Oklahoma State on a full-ride scholarship. Why there?

"The coach recruited me," said Prentice. "He was here before he went there and he went there and took an also-ran program and made it one of the top track programs in the nation."

OSU finished No. 3 in the nation in D-1 in track.

"Plus, I am thinking of engineering and they have a good program for that."

That's Prentice! Best in the state at what he does and he's from around here.

Around here too, not quite best in the state but certainly making their path known that direction is Evergreen's relay foursome of Luther Leonard, Sam Williams, Vincente Cordova, Kirt Terry. The four seniors together have one of the fastest times in the state in the 4x100, 44.3. It's still going to get faster, being it's only the dual meet season now. With the league, district, and state meet coming up, who knows how far this group can go.

Champions?

"It's a pretty good relay," said Evergreen boys head coach, Tyrone Curry.

Champions?

"I guess, champions," said Terry, with, Cordova nearby, saying quickly, "We still have a long ways to go. Time will tell. I am not a psychic."

"Yeah," said Terry.

Leonard echoed the optimistic but cautious thoughts of Cordova, a good friend of his.

Good friend?

How good of friends are Cordova and Leonard, who will attend school together at University of Washington?

"Hey, everyone," Leonard was shouting during the dual meet against Highline and Tyee and MR, "This guy is the best long jumper in the state."

A person was just walking over, not even it looked like from Evergreen. He was in the path of these two so he did the obvious thing.

"Cool," he said. "How far?"

Cordova said something like 23 something.

Person said, 'Nice.'

That is nice, and, Leonard's full-ride football scholarship to the UW is nice, as he has been recruited at the position he led Evergreen quarterback. That's nice too. The name Jake Locker comes to mind for who he will be in the midst of, and, Locker, could with a couple more good seasons be a No. 1 pick, or close to it, in the NFL draft.

"That is where I am going," said Leonard.

You're going to do good.

"I know I am," said Leonard.

It's confidence, and, really, it's a game-player's confidence from the high g.p.a, young man.

So, is there pressure to win state in the 4x100, your time already is right up there with state best at 3A?

"I just think of it as a game," said Leonard." Hopefully we make it to state. I have confidence in my teammates."

"Yeah, he is going to be a football star," said Cordova, saying back, trying to laud his friend.

"Yeah," said Leonard, as the two talked on the track during the all-city dual Friday, "But he (Vicente) is going to the UW on a full-ride academic scholarship."

With saying that, Leonard left the track after a job well done, an 11.1 split in his portion of the 4x100 is pretty darn fast.

So what about you and he's relationship, he's a good friend of yours obviously, Vicente?

"We're best friends," said Cordova.

What has he done for you to help you out in life?

"Really, it's what hasn't he done for me," said Cordova. "I would give a leg and a lung for that guy."

Cordoba is really the first star of this Evergreen team, back when he was a freshman it all began.

"I could count how many people were on the track team on almost two hands," he said.

Now? Just the boys team has 17 on it, according to Curry.

It's come a long ways, 'it' being the Evergreen boys track team that just beat Kennedy last week in a dual meet.

'That is the first time we beat them in 40 years," said Curry. Cordova did not make state his first year out as a freshman his first year at Evergreen

"I barely missed going (to state)," said Cordova. "By about a half an inch."

But did you really think you were going to already make it to state your freshman year?

"No, I didn't, not at the beginning of the season," said Cordova.

So was that a big deal then, something that really pushed you to succeed more in the future. Probably not since you weren't expecting yourself to get to state in the first place?

"No, not at all," said Cordova. "I saw the potential that I had," he said. "Never again would I lose by half an inch."

And he hasn't. He's virtually won all his meets up to state and then the district meet to state he has won too. And state too. He is going to UW for school, but he has the speed and leaping ability. If his catching ability catches up to his raw talent in the former mentions, then watch out. He could be like Reggie Williams (all-time leading receiver at UW). That's more inspirational quote than anything else, but with all Cordova has done to help grow the Evergreen track program with not only his ability but his infectious smile and caring niceness to teammates, what's to say he can't get to be a great catcher too.

Catching on quickly also for the Wolverines is Devante Botello, who is a young Cordova, far as talent goes. His throwing coach, and, also girls coach, Ty Ivey, at Evergreen, says he is on pace to get to state his freshman year this season.

"He is throwing great," said Ivey. "He has thrown a 157-5."

That's good?

"The state No.1 thrower right now has a 185," said Ivey.

How close is he to catching on a car ride to Pasco, to state?

"Devote needs to throw in the 160s to get there," said Ivey. "And I think he will do it."

He still has league, district meets to do it.

Still another frosh that is doing a lot bigger things than that lowly class namesake is MR girls jumper, Kathleen Mulligan, who will be going to state in all likelihood, according to Jacobson.

"She just won the Pasco Invitational in the triple jump," he said.

Need he say more? No. That is a prestigious meet of top high school athletes attending mid-season. In fact, Mulligan's best jump is top three in the state already.

Other first places in this meet included the girls 4x200 relay, Sara Guilarte, Brianna Jacobs, Sarah Sepulveda, Mackenzie Ebbers in 1:55.21. 3200 meter run won by Annie Thompson in 15:15.31. The 110 boys hurdles winner was DeMario Davis of Highline in 16.90,with, girls winner, Olivia Bennett, in 18.17. Boys 100 meters was Yasin Abdullani of Tyee in 11.55, with girls winner Morgan Reader, also Tyee, 13.29. In boys 1600 meter run, Abdi Hassan took advantage of Prentice absence, winning it in 4:43.84, and, girls winner was Kaily Burton in 5:57.06. In the boys 400 meter, Roger Pierce of Highline went 52.82, and Keiresia Vasser of Highline was 1:04.70. Boys 300 hurdles was won by DeAngelo Davis in 43.37 and girls was Alison Vrbanac in 53.50. Boys 800 meter run was Prentice in 2:01 (to note, he was just jogging that race but that time would already probably be a top 8 in the state, but he can only run two events at state). For girls, in the 800, Megan Sykes went 2:30.39 for MR. Inthe boys 200, Williams of Evergreen went 22.92 and, in the girls 200 it was Vasser in 28.38. Inthe boys 3200, also taking happiness in Prentice break from running , a 9:49 was run by Michael Miller of MR. In the boys high jump, Cordova went 6-2. In the girls high jump, Sally Phonic was first with a 4-10 leap. In the boys long jump, Cordova won it, 21-10 jumping. In the girls long jump, Mulligan went 14-9. In boys pole vault, Hank Duncanson was 10-6. In the girls pole vault, Jessica Wagner went 8-0. In the boys triple jump, Cordova's teammate, Terry, stole a little of his thunder, going 42-8 to Cordova's 42-2. (Cordova's season best is 44-6, tops in the Seamount league and close to the state, by the way). Mulligan took the triple jump for girls in 35-3. The boys shot was won by Nathan McPeek in 51-10. Then girls shot went to Melissa Yapp of MR in 33-2. Then in the boys discus, Jamar Smiley of Highline, thew 140-6. And Yapp again got a first, 100-8, in the discus. Then last but not least, it was Amanda Samms of Highline winning the discus in 95-8