Track athletes prepping for postseason

Dalton Mouw on the final stretch of the 400 meters on April 25 on his way to victory.

Photo and story by Oliver Lazenby

Blaine seniors Rani Prasad and Josie Deming led the Borderites against Ferndale and Squalicum, winning two events each at Blaine’s last home track meet on April 25.

Prasad won the shot put with a throw of 38 feet, 6 inches and the discus with 113 feet, 9.5 inches. Deming won javelin with a throw of 121 feet and cleared 4 feet, 10 inches to win high jump. She also took second place in discus behind Prasad.

Although Blaine lost to both Squalicum and Ferndale in team score, it may be because they had their eye on the sub-district tournament, which starts Wednesday, May 9; the team has been training hard all week rather than resting before midweek competition. That will change soon.

“There will definitely be some postseason tapering starting next week,” Blaine head coach Fryth Rasar said in an email.

Blaine’s Dalton Mouw is a good example of this training strategy. Mouw has turned in some of the best times in the county in the 100-, 200- and 400-meter races this season, but he says his fastest races are still to come.

“I’m not quite where I was last season time-wise, but I feel like we’ve had harder workouts this season,” he said after the April 25 meet. “There’s not a lot of recovery time, so my times aren’t supposed to be dropping too much yet.”

Last season, Mouw recorded his best times in the 100 and 200 meters in April. The postseason didn’t start until May 10.

While Mouw’s best times are still ahead, Prasad has already surpassed her expectations. She beat her competition by more than a dozen feet in both shotput and discus at last week’s meet and she ranks among the top in the state in both events.

“I’m a lot further than where I wanted to be, to be honest,” Prasad said. “I didn’t think I would hit 40 feet in shot put until closer to the state competition.”

She surpassed the 40-foot mark on April 14 with a 40-foot, 3.5-inch throw at the Mountlake Terrace invite.

Prasad went to state for shot put last year – her first year competing in the event, or any throwing event – and has worked hard at discus since then. Having more experience has allowed Prasad to focus on technique this season, she said.

“I know what I’m doing now so it’s easier to tweak little things instead of just starting from scratch like last year,” she said. “I really struggled with keeping my weight balanced and not falling on one foot during the spin in discus – that was my problem. It’s nice to be able to spin and get out there and be in the top rankings.”

Along with Prasad, Deming and Mouw, Porter Schmidt is also in good position for the postseason. He placed first in shot put on April 25 with a season’s best throw of 48 feet and he’s ranked second in the league in that event.

Other Borderite winners on April 25, were: Adam Vega, first in men’s pole vault at 10 feet; Cassidy Condos, first in women’s pole vault at 8 feet, 6 inches; and the Men’s 4x400 relay team of Trevor Freeland, Isaiah Russ, Dalton Mouw and Max Miller placed first in three minutes, 39 seconds.

Blaine track and field athletes will compete next at the 2A sub-district tournament Wednesday-Friday, May 9-11 at Civic Stadium in Bellingham.