While invite-only track invitationals were going on across the state Saturday, a completely different kind of invite was taking place at Bellevue High School.
That would be the Bellevue Christian Invitational, a track meet in which every athlete from each school attending was “invited” to participate in any event. While meets like the Shoreline, Shelton and Lake Washington Invitationals took in only the elite, the BCS Invitational took on all comers.
“The point of this meet was that teams could bring all of their athletes,” said BCS track coach Ed Sloan. “Most of these invitationals, you can only bring one or two kids per event; we had open entries and teams could bring as many kids as they wanted. It was an invitational for the whole team, not just the elite kids.”
In order to promote this kind of action at the meet, team points weren’t totaled at the meet. Instead, the top-three finishers in each event were awarded with a baton; winners took gold, second got silver and third-place went home with bronze.
It was a hit.
“The kids were really digging the batons,” Sloan said. “It let the kids focus on doing a few events well to win one.”
The Vikings hauled in plenty of batons, with some key performances by seniors Andrew Van Ness and Terra Oldham. Van Ness took first place finishes in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 meter races, with personal records in the all but the 3,200. He also scored a big assist in the 3,200, Sloan said, helping teammate Michael Milbank to a second-place finish.
“His goal was to work with Michael in that race,” Sloan said. “And Michael’s time (10:34.56) was a 10-15 second improvement. Andrew just went out there and set a pace, and Michael didn’t have to worry about it.”
On the girls side, Oldham had a great day, earning first place finishes in the 100 and 300 meter hurdles (in which she beat her freshman sister Bree, who took second, by two seconds) and was part of the Vikings 4×400 relay team that took first place. Her performance earned her the Girls Track Athlete of the Meet honor.
“She did a phenomenal job and had another great day,” Sloan said. “She’s a great leader for the girls team.”
Oldham also finished third in the triple jump.
Other first-place finishers for Bellevue Christian included seniors Kyle Fremd, who beat Eatonville’s Isaac Schactler by .02 seconds in the 200 meters and Jill Myre, who took first in the 200 meters. Junior Allison Hussey took first in the 800 meters and 2nd in the 1,600 for the Vikings. Senior Michelle Teng won the javelin for Bellevue Christian while sophomore teammate MacKenzie Altig won the long jump with a leap of 15-0.
Other baton winners from Bellevue Christian on the boys side included Fremd with a second place finish in the 400 meters, Steven Koster (2nd, 800 meters), Aaron Iseman (2nd, long jump), David Petrisor (2nd, discus), Jordan Lake (2nd, javelin), Michael Wilken (2nd, high jump) and Dusty Talbott (3rd in high jump and 3rd in triple jump).
Non-first place baton winners on the girls side for the Vikings were freshman Meredith Lampe (2nd, 100), Lauren Rogers (2nd, 200 meters), Hillary Brown (2nd, 400 meters), Teng (3rd, discus) and Elise Valentine (3rd, javelin).
Five of the top-six finishers in the girls javelin event were form Bellevue Christian.
Notable boys non-Bellevue Christian performances came from Athlete of the Meet winners Dana Wells of Riverside Christian and Patrick McMahon of Seattle Academy. Wells won the 100, 110 hurdles, 300 hurdles and was on Riverside Christian’s winning 4×100 relay. McMahon won both the javelin and high jump, and finished third in the discus. Courtney Fairhart of Eatonville took the Girls Field Athlete of the Meet honor. Fairhart won the discus, took second in the shot put and third in the javelin.
“The focus of the meet was on great individual performances and we saw that,” Sloan said. “Coaches let their athletes compete in fewer events and in return got some great marks. We were happy to see that.”
Sloan said that with the success of this years meet, Bellevue Christian plans on hosting the invite again next season.
