Brad Barquist remembers a time when Interlake High School was the toast of the town in prep sports.

“When Interlake used to get off the bus, the other schools knew we meant business,” said the Interlake coach and former Olympian (10,000 meters, 1996 games in Atlanta).

As a 4A classified school in the 1980s, Interlake routinely found themselves in the regional and state playoffs in volleyball, girls hoops, boys soccer and football. It is also of course, the alma mater to former MLB great John Olderud and the home of a once-dominate baseball program that followed a state runner-up finish in 1985 with a 4A state championship on the diamond the next year. “It wasn’t, “Will Interlake make the playoffs? It was, how far will they go,” Barquist recalls.

And he would know.

Barquist himself won state championships at the 4A level for Interlake as a senior in 1986, taking the 1,600 and 3,200 meter races. Now, he believes that winning spirit is undergoing a renaissance.

Barquist noted that when he took the position of cross country and track coach in 2001, the team and the athletic programs as a whole were middling at best. Fewer than 25 student-athletes turned out for the cross country team that year and the pervasive attitude around all the teams at the school was not particularly proud.

But that has all turned around recently.

More than 70 turned out this past fall for the cross country squad. Barquist and co-head coach Dave Unwin have more than 100 out for track and field, including three who are looking like potential 2A state championship contenders.

That group consists of Ryuji Kawashima, Summer Hanson and Niki Waghani, who are each in the top six in the state in their respective events.

Another key figure in the turnaround and the increased sense of pride in Interlake sports is Ryan Vu.

Vu, a pole vaulter who competed at the collegiate level for the University of Washington, is another Interlake graduate and won the 3A state title in the pole vault in 2006. Vu is now a volunteer assistant for Barquist and Unwin, spending much of his time working with Kawashima. The young coach said he places a heavy emphasis on developing a solid work ethic rather than focusing on the pressure of results.

That approach appears to be working for Kawashima.

The junior pole vaulter increased his career best mark by an even foot to 13 feet 6 inches at last weekend’s Pasco Invitational and is looking forward to continuing to raise his game. “Last week we focused working on bigger poles and getting the technique down and it just kind of came together,” Kawashima said of his performance east of the Cascades. “Ultimately I’m trying to get a state title, so hopefully I can get there.”

Hanson and Waghani also improved on their best times of the year with Hanson finishing eighth in the 800 meters at 2:23.22 and Waghani finishing fifth by running a 5:15.63 in the 1600 meters.

Both talked about the importance of earning personal best times in preparation for the sub-district meet later in the season. Waghani also touched on the shift in attitude that Barquist and Vu have brought to Interlake.

“When I think of coach Barquist, I think of the Olympics and state championships,” said Waghani. “But then, I remember he went to Interlake, just like we do.”

Kawashima had a similar position on the positive influence of being around Barquist and Vu. “We see these coaches that have been state champions and we know it’s not impossible for us,” Kawashima said.”We can get there too and we have the coaches to do it.”