Blaine boys’ sprinters take top places at NWC championship

By Oliver Lazenby

Blaine boys’ sprinters had strong showings at the Northwest Conference (NWC) Championship track meet on Friday, April 22, at Civic Field in Bellingham.

Fifteen Blaine athletes qualified for the meet, which included athletes from all 13 schools in the district.

Isaiah Russ, Alfonso Dermendziev, Anthony Frey and Dalton Mouw turned in most of Blaine’s top performances. The four competed together in both the 4x100-meter and the 4x400-meter relays, coming in third in both events.

“The boys 4x4 continues to be in the hunt for a postseason berth at state,” said Blaine head coach Carey Bacon in an email. “They continue to work hard and the race for the top three places will likely be very close. The team did well to finish third at this meet.”

Dermendziev also came in second place in the 200-meter with a time of 23.76 seconds. Frey had a standout performance on his own in the 400-meter, coming in second place. His time of 52.65 seconds was a personal record for the season, Bacon said.

Tucker Jensen came in third place in javelin with a throw of 146' 3".

On the girls side, Ariyana Vander Veen was Blaine’s top finisher, coming in third in the 400-meter. She held her pace through the end of the race and passed at least three girls in the final meters.

Overall, the Blaine boys team finished seventh out of 13 teams and the girls finished 13th. Sehome High School won the boys’ overall title and Burlington-Edison won the girls title.