On track for a 5-peat
Published 2:00 pm Saturday, March 6, 2004
The last time South Whidbey’s girls or boys track and field teams were not the best in their conference, the oldest athletes currently on the team were in seventh grade.
Thus knowing only success since the 2000 season, the Falcons are coming back this season to complete what is likely to be a five-peat. North Cascades Conference and district champions in each of the past four years, the boys and girls teams have a tradition to keep.
At practice this week, there were some notable absences in the teams’ lineups, including those left by 2003 graduates and athletes who chose to not turn out for the team this spring. But as the teams ran, jumped and threw through alternate days of sun and rain, it was clear that any holes are already being filled.
Once almost solely dependent on distance runners to power them to state-placing finishes, the Falcons put almost completely balanced teams on the track and field for the second season in a row. Led on the girls side by hurdler, jumper, sprinter Katy McGillen, and by her twin brother and high jumper Kyle McGillen on the boys side, the Falcons bring impact to the track. Both McGillens won state championships at the 2003 state meet.
The boys team will be making the majority of its points in relays, sprints and jumps this season. Leading the jumping ranks in the triple and high jumps will be Kyle McGillen, shadowed by fellow senior Travis Tornga, who was 12th in the high jump and a runner-up in the javelin. McGillen was a champion in the triple.
Bringing the team up to speed will be senior Nick Plastino in the 100 and the 4×400 and 4×100 relays. He will be joined on these relays variously by Adam Tenuta, McGillen, Evan Johnson and possibly sophomore middle-distance runner JD Peters.
And keeping pace in the 1,600 and 3,200 for the Falcons will be senior James Sundquist, who was an NCC and district cross country champion last fall.
Speed will also be a strength for the girls as spring and relay runners Katherine East, Nicole Mock, Brittany Peterson and Sara Olsen go to work in the 4×100 and 4×200 — events anchored last year by Claudia Gil-Osorio, a top-three state place in the open 100 and 200 in 2003. Gil-Osorio did not turn out for the team this season. But, giving the team an edge in the shorter events will be East who was a force last season in the 200 and 400.
The girls also bring a strong squad of distance runners to the track. Senior Callie Supsinskas and sophomore Mary Bakeman — both top-20 placers at last fall’s cross country championships — will lead the way in the 1,600 and 3,200, and may be joined by freshman Kelsey Kimmel, a standout midfielder on the 2003 state runner-up South Whidbey girls soccer team.
According to the teams’ head coach, Doug Fulton, other performers on the 66-member team will likely include throwers Kimmery Hern, Jordan Tobler and Kelsey Smith, and hurdler Suzi Cruchon, who will join Katy McGillen — the 2003 state 2A high jump champion — in the 100 hurdles.
Fulton said both teams also have a number of athletes learning to pole vault, an event that won the Falcons few points until the end of the season in 2003.
Fulton said his teams will get their stiffest challenge for the NCC and district titles from Mount Baker, the second largest high school in the NCC behind South Whidbey. But, he said, the Falcons have the athletes needed to take a fifth set of titles.
“Things look real bright,” he said.
