Sports - High Schools

POSTED: Saturday, Aug. 15, 2009

PREP NOTEBOOK: Lynden's track to get facelift

It's a good time to be Layne Hutchins. Not only did he lead the Lynden boys' track and field team to its first team state championship in the program's history last spring, but the Lions will get a chance to start their quest to defend that title on a new home surface next spring.

Thanks to generous community contributions led by the Mt. Baker Rotary Club and former Lions track great Dick Bedlington, the track around Rollie DeKoster Field is being resurfaced. There will also be a new shot put, javelin and discus area in the project, according to Lynden School District superintendent Rick Thompson.

"It's going to be really nice," Thompson said in a phone interview. "Hopefully we'll get a lot of kids out for track after the state title and with the new surface."

Atlas Track, the same company that installed the track surfaces at Civic Stadium in Bellingham and at Mount Baker High School, is scheduled to start work on Monday, Aug. 17, according to Thompson, who said he expects the project to be completed by Aug. 28. With the Lynden football team opening the season at Qwest Field in Seattle in a Sept. 5 game against Archbishop Murphy, no home varsity games should be disrupted, but Thompson said he was not sure if any junior varsity games might be affected.

While Atlas usually installs red or black surfaces, Lynden's new surface will have a green hue to closer match the Lions' green and gold school colors.

Thompson said Atlas' estimate for the track alone was $96,500, and that didn't include the javelin, shot put and discus area upgrades.

A plan for similar improvements was part of a bond proposal in March of 2008 that did not pass.

But with community contributions, the project was able to move forward this summer.

"It's just another example of this community coming together to support our kids," Thompson said. "It wasn't that long ago they build the field house near the baseball field and now this. It's really great to see."

LC BASEBALL COACH LEAVES FOR ARIZONA

Lynden Christian baseball coach Darren Johnson has accepted a position as the development director for Phoenix Christian Unified Schools in Arizona.

Johnson, who held a similar job at LC, was the head coach for the Lyncs the past four seasons after being promoted from the junior varsity squad.

After a near .500 season in the Whatcom County League his first year, Lynden Christian struggled the past three years, finishing a combined 8-42 and in last place in the new three-classification Northwest Conference all three years. The Lyncs went 4-18 and lost in the second round of the Class 1A Northwest District Tournament last year.

"Darren was working hard to get that program going in the right direction for us," Lynden Christian athletic director Curt DeHaan said in a phone interview. "He is excited about this new opportunity in Arizona. We're going to miss him very much here, but we're also excited for him."

Johnson was also a boys' basketball assistant coach at LC, and led the Lummi boys' basketball team to a seventh-place finish in the Class 1B state tournament as the Blackhawks' head coach in 2007.

DeHaan said LC would wait until after school starts next month to fill the coaching vacancy, which is the only one the school has this year.

READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL?

It's only a matter of days until the summer silence will be filled with the sounds of helmets and shoulder pads popping.

Washington state high school football teams can start official practices on Wednesday, Aug. 19, with the first week of the season only 2 1/2 weeks away on Sept. 4-5.

Volleyball, cross country, girls' soccer, girls' swimming and boys' tennis teams will have to wait until Aug. 24 for their first days of practice. The Nooksack Valley girls' soccer team has a Labor Day game scheduled at Concrete on Sept. 7, while the volleyball season begins with a couple of matches on Sept. 8, the cross country and boys' tennis seasons start on Sept. 9 and the girls' swimming season gets rolling on Sept. 10.

HIGH-TECH SWIMSUITS BANNED

The National Federation of State High School Associations has banned high-tech swimsuits that it said have been linked to record performances in recent years.

The federation's board on Tuesday adopted a recommendation from the group's swimming and diving rules committee to ban high-tech suits for high school competition, effective immediately.

The new rule limits swimmers to one swimsuit constructed of a woven/knit textile material that's permeable to water and air, and doesn't aid buoyancy and doesn't have zippers or other fastening systems.

Suits for males can't extend above the waist or below the top of the kneecap. For females, suits cannot extend beyond the shoulders or below the top of the kneecap.

WEEK 1

A look at the schedule for area schools during the first week of the high school football season:

FRIDAY, SEPT. 4

- Mount Vernon at Anacortes, 7 p.m.

- Bellingham at Ferndale, 7 p.m.

- New Westminster at Blaine, 7 p.m.

- Sedro-Woolley at Burlington-Edison, 7 p.m.

- Mount Baker at Nooksack Valley, 7 p.m.

- Sehome at Lynden Christian, 7 p.m.

- Meridian at Squalicum (at Civic Stadium), 7 p.m.

SATURDAY, SEPT. 5

- Lynden vs. Archbishop Murphy (at Qwest Field), 9:30 a.m.

- Wishkah at Lummi, 2 p.m.