The spring regular season has come to an end, and postseason madness is on the horizon. In the past week, girls tennis earned their first win of the season on Senior Night, and track and field had a great showing from its sprinters at the Sunny and 70 invitational.
Blaine track and field traveled south to Lakewood for the iconic Sunny and 70 Invitational meet on May 3. The massive field of 29 teams featured talent from across western Washington competing in over 40 events.
Blaine competed in 32 events across the boys and girls teams, with the boys sprinters and hurdlers earning three podium finishes.
The boys 4x100-meter relay team had a fantastic performance, finishing third overall with a time of 44.75, falling just behind second-place Meadowdale (43.93) and first-place Juanita (42.70).
The team of upperclassmen in Colby Shipp, Dylan Johnson, Jaiden Paez and Beckum Bleazard are looking strong at the tail end of the regular season, and will look to continue that momentum into a state placement.
Senior hurdler Josiah Weeda had one of his best days of the season, earning a pair of first place finishes in the 110-meter hurdles with a wind-assisted personal record time of 15.15. Weeda defeated a huge crowd of 24 sprinters, narrowly beating Jackson’s Oluwatomi Akinpelu (15.30) and Cedarcrest’s Chase Meikle (15.34) by less than two-tenths of a second. Blaine senior Raymond Ben also earned 15th in the 300-meter hurdles with a PR time of 45.16.
Brietta Sandell had a great day in hurdles, representing the Blaine girls with an eighth place finish out of 31 in the 100-meter hurdles with a PR time of 17.14, and a ninth place finish out of 30 in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 51.95.
Senior Makenna Lausier, who made noise during the winter sports season with a strong performance in the 1A/2A state wrestling tournament, had another solid day at pole vault, finishing tied for ninth place in a field of 18 with a vault of 8’.
Blaine track and field has one final regular season Northwest Conference (NWC) meet before 1A District 1 postseason play kicks off next week. Blaine will travel south to Burlington-Edison to face the hosting Tigers and Lakewood on May 7 at 3:45 p.m. (after press time).
The Borderites will then travel to Lynden Christian to face NWC 1A foes Mt. Baker, Meridian, Nooksack Valley and LC, for the 1A District 1 postseason meet starting on Wednesday, May 14 at 4 p.m.
Blaine girls tennis held Senior Night on Tuesday, May 6 when the Borderites faced Sedro-Woolley for the final home game of the regular season.
Seniors Emmy Duke, Iannah Llanos, Mia Thukaram, and Sophia Van Loo were honored during a pre-game ceremony with words from current head coach Marcel Zuzarte and former head coach Amanda Dahl before their final tennis match at home under the shadow of Borderite Stadium.
The seniors, along with a group of promising young up-and-comers, earned their first win of the season after starting the year 0-13 as a team, defeating Sedro-Woolley 5-2.
The team win came from singles wins by Duke (2-6, 6-3, 7-5) and Ana Tuski (6-0, 6-4), and a sweep from all three doubles teams: Bea Dickson and Carly Saunders (6-2, 6-3), Hailey Johnson and Ainsley Ellis (6-4, 6-2), and Thukaram and Alexis Sanchez (6-1, 6-2).
It’s been a hot-and-cold regular season for Borderite baseball.
Blaine started the year on a three-game winning streak, then answered that with a five-game losing streak. That was followed by a six-game winning streak (with three shutouts along the way), which was trailed by the current six-game losing streak Blaine finds itself in now.
The Borderites dropped the first game of May to Anacortes on the road, losing 10-1 before returning home to Pipeline Fields for a gut-wrenching 1-0 loss to Burlington-Edison.
After the end of the regular season, junior catcher Evan Yates finished in the top of the NWC in hitting: fourth in batting average (.400), third in on-base percentage (.552), sixth in slugging (.460), and top-10 in hits, steals and walks.
Aaron Garza finished in the leaderboards in hits (19) and doubles (6) to go along with lockdown defense in the middle infield, and Josh Cochran finished with the lowest earned run average by qualified pitchers (1.34) and second-most strikeouts (60).
All told, the Borderites have stayed right around a .500 winning percentage throughout spring, and finished the regular season with a 9-11 (5-10 NWC) record. With the regular season in the rearview mirror, the bi-district postseason tournament lies ahead.
Blaine earned the three-seed in the District 1 1A standings, and will play District 2 1A team Overlake at 10 a.m., Saturday, May 10 at Sehome High School in Bellingham.
With a win over Overlake, no small feat considering Overlake is the reigning 1A state champion from 2024, the Borderites would go on to play the winner of the Lynden Christian-King’s game occurring simultaneously at Joe Martin Stadium. With a loss, the Borderites would fall to the loser’s bracket and face the loser of that same Lynden Christian-King’s matchup.
The final four teams from the bracket will earn a coveted spot in the 16-team state tournament bracket, beginning on May 24 at Joe Martin Stadium in Bellingham.
If the pattern of this season’s hot-and-cold streaks can continue, the Borderites should be due for a winning streak at the perfect time for a deep playoff run.
Stats provided by WhatcomPreps.com
Blaine softball couldn’t handle the hot bats of its NWC opponents early this week, with a 7-4 home loss on May 5 to Lakewood and a 12-2 road loss to Anacortes to drop the team’s record to 4-11 (3-11 NWC).
Against Lakewood, the Borderites were able to get plenty of hits – twice as many as Lakewood – but multiple fielding errors allowed Lakewood to pile on the runs early in the game. Shaylie Daniels took the loss on the mound, despite turning in a three-hit performance at the plate.
The Borderites allowed a whopper of an 11-run first inning against Anacortes, and just couldn’t mount that massive run differential, leading to a blowout loss.
With one game remaining in the regular season, the Borderites will look to break a six-game losing streak in its final home game against Sehome on May 8 at Pipeline Fields.
After that final home game, the District 1 1A postseason begins, with the bottom-four teams from NWC 1A (meaning not Lynden Christian, which qualified for an automatic bi-district bid) fighting for a spot in the bi-district tournament on Wednesday, May 14 in Centralia.
Blaine will face last-place Meridian (2-12, 3-15 NWC) in the first round on Saturday, May 10 at 11 a.m. at Bender Fields at the Lynden Christian campus with a chance to face third-place Nooksack Valley immediately following the win. A loss, and Blaine’s season is over.
In the one meeting between the teams on April 22, Blaine defeated Meridian 11-5 on the road. Blaine lost to Nooksack Valley in their one meeting on April 17 at Pipeline Fields.
Stats provided by WhatcomPreps.com
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