NUMBERS MATTER IN track and field.
Don’t expect too many Seabiscuit scenarios.
As the legendary race horse’s jockey, Red Pollard, said, “Once a horse gives Seabiscuit the old look-in-the-eye, he begins to run to parts unknown.”
Such sheer will is hard to pull off on the track.
For starters, humans know what’s at stake.
(Side note: For those who have never seen it, Jerry Seinfeld once did a hilarious bit on horse racing. Google it. Now.)
Take Edwin Moses.
The track great once won 122 consecutive races in the 400-meter hurdles because he was a superior athlete who cared enough to win every time he raced.
Name me another sport where someone can win that many times in a row?
Thus, established times and distances in track mean an awful lot.
It’s proof one guy is faster than another.
And right now, the numbers point to several North Olympic Peninsula high school athletes in the running for a state title.
As of Monday, five area athletes are either first or second in their classification in at least one event, according to athletic.net.
Crescent has three by itself.
Kylie Mitts is the 1B girls leader in the javelin (126-6) and second in the shot put (30-2).
Dylan Christie has the top time in Class 1B in the 400-meter dash (52.73). He is also second in the triple jump (39 feet, 1 ½ inches).
And teammate Andrew Trerise (fantastic track name) is tied for second in high jump at 5-8.
Throw in the fact the Logger boys claim 17 top eight spots in 12 different events in 1B, and a top-four team finish looks like a distinct possibility.
“They do have some meaning as we can see where our kids are relative to certain other teams,” Crescent coach Darrell Yount said of the rankings.
“However, not everyone in the state is utilizing athletic.net, so we always face some surprises as we enter the month of May.
“In our case, we do indeed look fairly strong. Top four and a trophy this season [for the boys]? That is our aim and we do have the athletes to get that done.
“It is a matter of staying healthy and to continue to improve as we head into the heart of the season.”
Sequim also has a couple of state favorites in Anna LaBeaume and Frank Catelli.
LaBeaume, the defending 2A champion in the shot, is currently ranked second in 2A; seven inches behind leader Shreese Gotel of Steilacoom (41-8).
Meanwhile, Catelli is ranked first in 2A in the javelin at 177-3.
Oh, and watch out for Port Townsend’s Bereket Piatt. He is ranked third in the 3,200 and fourth in the 1,600 in 1A.
Given that pace plays a much larger role in long distance running times, the current 1A cross country champion should be in the thick of things this May.
Lane goes D-I
Former Port Angeles three-sport star Eric Lane is a humble guy.
Upon receiving a partial scholarship to play baseball for Gonzaga next spring — an offer some might say came two years later than it should have — the current Lower Columbia Community College infielder refrained from thumping his chest even a little.
To quote the current NWAACC hitting leader (.466), “I wasn’t ready to play Division I baseball at the end of high school.”
Mr. Lane, I must disagree.
Lane was easily the most pliable high school athlete I’ve ever seen on the Peninsula.
Whatever his teams asked him to do, he did . . . extremely well.
As a junior, he was the Roughrider football team’s top wide receiver, an all-league starting point guard who distributed the ball for the state-bound basketball team and the Olympic League MVP in baseball.
The next year, he broke numerous school records as a first-team all-league quarterback, won the Olympic League MVP as a one-man wrecking crew on the basketball team and capped things off with his second straight league MVP award in baseball.
Those are the sorts of things only extraordinary athletes are capable of, regardless of the league.
There’s a reason why every coach he’s ever had gushes like a Little League parent anytime his name is mentioned.
(Side note: Former Rider boys basketball coach Eric Lathen is one of Lane’s biggest fans. Lathen always referred to him as “E-Lane,” and rambled at length about him whenever the opportunity arose.)
Lane might not want to say it, but I will: Throw him on a D-I baseball roster in 2009, and he’d surely be starting right now.
More college
Lane’s partial scholarship puts him in select company on the Peninsula.
Only five other area high school athletes have earned D-I scholarship money since 2005.
Among them: Sequim’s Thomas Gallagher (football, Georgetown); Sequim’s Stephanie Marcy (running, Stanford); Chimacum’s Steven Gray (basketball, Gonzaga); Chimacum’s Arlo Evasick (baseball, Seattle) and Port Townsend’s Quinton Decker (running, Montana).
And really, since Gray bolted for Bainbridge Island after his sophomore season in 2004-05, it’s a wee bit inaccurate to include him and his grotesque beard.
The point: Getting a D-I athletic scholarship is really, really hard to do.
Quick hits
• Chimacum baseball coach Loren Bishop earned his 100th career victory after his Cowboys crushed Vashon Island 11-2 on April 12.
He is now 102-35 a little more than midway through his seventh season. He is also the only active Peninsula baseball coach with a state title.
• The Olympic Mountaineers lacrosse team finds itself in the thick of the playoff hunt in its first season as a club team (see standings on Page B2.)
Not a bad job by coach Dave Farrington, also arguably the best high school basketball official on the Peninsula, and his team.
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Matt Schubert is the outdoors and sports columnist for the Peninsula Daily News. His column regularly appears on Thursdays and Fridays. He can be reached at matt.schubert@peninsuladailynews.com.