It was a true “in like Flint” moment for La Conner High thinclads when Braves senior javelin thrower Flint Huizenga let loose with a 165-8 toss at Whittaker Field on Friday to claim top honors in his signature event at the 118th Skagit County Track & Field Championships.
Huizenga, the odds-on favorite to capture the State 2B boys’ javelin crown this spring, outdistanced runner-up Jordan Janicki of 3A Sedro-Woolley by 11 feet with his third and final attempt of the competition.
Huizenga literally saved his best for last. He wasn’t pleased with his first two throws. The third was a thing of beauty, though, soaring high in the air before settling into the turf, just 2 feet shy of Huizenga’s personal best.
“The first couple weren’t so good,” Huizenga said. “I finally put a good one together on the last throw.”
His work in the javelin, coupled with a third place finish in the discus and a fourth in the shot put, was among several highlights for the Braves over the course of the three-day event, which brought to town top Skagit County track and field athletes — the vast majority from larger enrollment schools.
Anacortes High, a 2A power, took both the boys’ and girls’ team titles. The La Conner girls placed third overall while the Braves’ boys were sixth.
The “McJenkins” quartet — sisters Maeve and Nora McCormick and Kiana and Faith Jenkins — kept the La Conner girls in the running throughout the county trials.
Maeve McCormick won the girls’ pole vault with a personal best effort of 10-6. Nora McCormick, meanwhile, claimed the 100 meter hurdles in a new meet record time of 15.3, seven-tenths of a second ahead of second place Sydney Briggs of 2A Burlington-Edison.
Nora McCormick added a second place finish in the 300 meter hurdles, posting a time of 48.86, just off the winning pace of 48.23 set by Alexis Johnson of Anacortes.
Faith Jenkins placed a close second in the 100 meters to Sedro-Woolley standout Lyla Self, who also triumphed in the 200 and 400. Self’s time in the 100 was 12.60. Faith Jenkins was clocked at 12.72.
A half-hour later, running a superb anchor leg, Faith Jenkins closed on the home stretch to within three-tenths of a second of Sedro-Woolley’s winning entry of 50.11 in the 4×100 relay. La Conner clinched second in 50.40.
In the 400, Self ran a 1:00.41 while Kiana Jenkins placed a close third in 1:01.96. Kiana Jenkins then wrapped up the meet’s final event, the 4×400 relay, with a strong split that allowed La Conner to ward off Mount Vernon for fourth place at 4:26.55.
The McJenkins entry started Friday’s finals round by edging Anacortes — 1.46.25 to 1:47.12 — for first place in the 4×200 relay, a performance marked by crisp baton exchanges.
La Conner’s Reese Bird joined Maeve McCormick as a field event solo victor. Bird won the discus with a heave of 94-2. She also placed third in the javelin at 102-0.
The Braves’ Cecilia Keith collected third place in the high jump (4-10) and Isabelle Villard went 28-6 in the shot put for fourth place.
Boys results
On the boys’ side of the meet, in addition to Huizenga’s prowess, La Conner pole vaulter Josh Dowry took fourth place at 11-0 and the Braves’ 4×400 and 4×100 relay teams finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
Keaton Bailey, Maxwell Page, Vireo Angell and Kale Navarrete Higgins ran the 4×400 for La Conner, recording a time of 3:47.29. Bailey, Page, Angell and Ryan Reynolds went 46.55 in the 4×100.
Midway through Friday’s session, La Conner head coach Peter Voorhees — still the county meet record holder in the javelin, setting that mark at 180-10 in 2004 while a student at Burlington-Edison — took time to recognize Braves Class of 2026 track athletes and their families.
While Voorhees lavished praise on the past accomplishments of La Conner’s seniors, it went without saying that much work remains to be done in the month ahead. It all starts today (Thursday) at 3:30 p.m. with the NW2B/1B League Championship Meet at Bulldog Stadium in Mount Vernon.
Bill Reynolds is a general assignment reporter for La Conner Community News.
