A new era begins for track and field
Published 7:51 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008
The Mount Si track and field programs are looking for success this season, but both teams will have their work cut out for them if they want to send athletes to the state meet.
The boys’ track team is looking to re-tool a little bit after a good season last year in which the team went 4-2 in dual meets, a mark good for second place in Kingco 3A. Chris Jackson returns for his second year at the helm of the boys’ program, his sixth year overall as a coach with the team.
Meanwhile, on the girls’ side, coach Dave Clifford is back for his 32nd season as a coach and he has a lot of depth this season. “Good turnout. Lots more girls this year overall, 35 compared to 24 last year, so more bodies,” said Clifford. The girls finished seventh at the league meet last season.
There is a large number of returning boys to the track program this year. Jackson is expecting a lot from them. “For the boys’ team, we lost four excellent seniors, so we’re looking to have some kids step up and kind of take on those leadership roles,” Jackson said. Seniors Thomas Goble (800 and 1,600 meter), Kyle Meyers (shot put) and Zach Sumner (pole vault) lead this group, but there are many underclassmen looking to shine, as well. This group is led by sophomores Owen Strom and Drake da Ponte, both running the 1,600- and 3,200-meter races; sophomore Jake Tweten in the throwing events; and junior Sean Bothell on sprints and the pole vault. Junior Dan Floyd also looks to step up in the 400-meter and pole vault competitions.
On the girls’ side, junior Jessica Oliver, fresh off her stardom on the girls’ soccer team last fall, returns to hopefully improve upon her eighth-place finish at state last season in the 300-meter hurdles. Among the top seniors to watch are jumper Kali Roestel, sprinter Nicole Remish and pole vaulter Tove Garhart, who holds the school record in that event.
Among the top freshmen on the girls’ team this season is Madison Yakaboski. The star basketball player is likely to compete in relay events, according to Clifford.
Mount Si will host track meets this year, thanks to the new track complex that was built as part of the overall athletic facility renovations at the high school. “I think we’re going to be able to put on a good show here. We’ve got the only track in the area where we’re going to do the throwing events on the infield where people can actually watch them. You can kind of stand in one spot and watch pretty much every event going on, so it’s going to be a great place to watch a meet, and a great place to put one on. It should be one of the better places in the whole state to actually do that,” Jackson said. Added Clifford, “I’ve been a track coach here for 32 years and never thought I’d see a decent all-weather track [at Mount Si], and [now] we’ve got one of the best.”
Goble expects the new track will make for some exciting races. “I think that the league will see some of its fastest races on this track,” he said.
Both Clifford and Jackson expect Newport and Bellevue’s teams to be strong. Jackson added that Liberty may be a tough boys’ team, while Clifford thinks Issaquah and Mercer Island may have great girls’ teams this season and be tough to beat in Kingco 3A.
However, it only gets tougher at districts. “You know how tough the district is in basketball. Well, it’s tougher in track and field. Track and field, if you get from the Sea-King District to the state meet, most of the time you’re going to get a medal,” said Clifford, who added, “The fifth- and sixth-place finishers at our district who don’t get to go to state would probably medal at the state meet if they had the chance to go there, especially in the sprinting events and in the jumping events with the Metro schools. It’s just the best in the state, by far.”
Remish is expecting a lot. “I think we have the potential to go far this season. I know it’s hard to get past our district with Metro, but we always have high hopes that we can get past districts and place in state,” she said.
