Lopez track shines at La Conner

April 1, 2025 1:30 am
The Lobos girls’ 4x200 meter relay team of (left to right) Iris McClean, Glory Westervelt, Kylie Willemsen and Lily Nichols celebrate their one-second win over Providence Christian in their heat at La Conner, March 19. The Lobos were third overall in a seven-team field, with a personal record time of 1:59.18.
The Lobos girls’ 4x200 meter relay team of (left to right) Iris McClean, Glory Westervelt, Kylie Willemsen and Lily Nichols celebrate their one-second win over Providence Christian in their heat at La Conner, March 19. The Lobos were third overall in a seven-team field, with a personal record time of 1:59.18.

By Gene Helfman

Weekly contributor

The Lobos opened its 2025 track season with a strong showing at the NW 1B/1B meet at La Conner High on March 19.

Despite only two weeks of practice and cold, blustery, gray conditions, the Lobos held their own in a field of hundreds of athletes. Top honors in the boys’ 300-meter hurdles went to Rowdy Spreine, while Ethan Patrick was first overall in the 400-meter run. Second place went to Betty Burt in shotput, Kylie Willemsen in high jump, Patrick in the 800-meter run and Rafael Velazquez in the 3200-meter run. Benjamin Stephensen was third in the 800-meter run, Tristan Buckallew-Wilbur took third in the 400-meter run, as did the girls 4×200 relay team of Willemsen, Iris McClean, Glory Westervelt and Lily Nichols.

Lobos posting personal records included Huck Henderson, Nikolai Kazakov, Fatima Velazquez, Beau Spreine, Francis Jones, Lulu Velazquez, Ian Cankusic, Willemsen and Buckallew-Wilbur. Shane Patrick faced his first meet as the Lobos’ track coach and came away extremely happy with the individual performances and each team’s overall standing, the boys placing fourth and the girls sixth against an 11-school field.