Sehome track team captures two titles on first day of 2A state meet

The first day of the Class 2A State Championships was an event of firsts for the Sehome High School track and field team as it saw its first champion in consecutive years in Ben Malquist’s shot put title, Mary Carbee’s first state title in the discus and the first time Sehome has had a boys and girls champion in the same year.

Malquist saved his best for last as the senior threw a 57-foot, 6.75-inch bomb of a shot put on his final throw to take the title at Mount Tahoma High School on Thursday. Malquist’s throw set a personal record by three feet.

“It feels going knowing I’m the first person in Sehome’s history to win back-to-back titles,” Malquist said. “I’ve been putting in so much work over the past four years.”

Malquist was quick to thank teammates Nathan Ruffatto, Arman Yaralian and Jeremy Johnson for pushing him to be his best.

The person that has seen Malquist progress the most is Sehome’s throw coach Tim Carlson. Carlson has coached with the school since 1995 and remembers when Malquist was just a freshman.

“I think he threw like 28 feet at his first meet,” Carlson said. “He’s really turned into a man. It’s pretty special that he got it done on his last performance.”

Carlson has also assisted Carbee for the past two seasons and has seen her transform from a hurdler to a state champion in the discus. Carlson said Carbee just happened to show up at discus practice one day and the rest is history.

“She showed up and that was kind of that,” Carlson said. “Then she came to next meet and asked if she could throw again. I told her ‘You might want to think about coming to practice every week.’”

Carlson said Carbee is a good athlete with great speed and flexibility, which are important traits in the discus. The junior thrower found the transition seamless, which helped her toss a 128-11 on Thursday.

“When I got introduced to throwing I just fell in love with it,” Carbee said. “Everyone is so inclusive and helpful.”

Carbee also said after her 12th place finish in the discus at state last year that her focus this year was to be in the right state of mind.

“Coach always says discus is 95 percent mental, and it’s true,” Carbee said. “Last year I was so freaked out and overwhelmed. This year I just tried to stay connected and trust my body.”

Broselle captures elusive javelin title

Ferndale senior Ben Broselle is no stranger to state titles.

He’s in a select fraternity of Ferndale wrestlers with mulitple titles, but after finishing second in the javelin at state last year, Broselle was fixated on getting the monkey off his back.

He did just that Thursday with a mark of 183-10, a season record. Even more impressive is that just seven weeks ago Broselle broke his ankle. He had only thrown in the 3A Wesco South Championships May 12 and the 3A District Championships a week later.

“I just got back to being able to run on it,” Broselle said. “It’s a big relief to finally win a title in the javelin.”

Broselle improved by about 10 feet each time in the subsequent events leading up to state. He came into the event seeded seventh, but after doctors gave him the go ahead, he had his sights set on first place.

Reiss breezes to a state title in the 1600

One of the best 2A distance runners in Whatcom County showed just how good she can be Thursday as sophomore Annika Reiss ran a sub five-minute race and captured a state title.

Reiss has dedicated herself to track by giving up soccer and it’s paid off as she improved on her state finish of eighth last year and beat her time by 15 seconds with a 4 minute, 59.16 second time. Her closest competition was Brigette Takeuchi of Liberty High School who ran a 5:02.13.

“I felt like I had a lot left at the end which felt really good,” Reiss said. “I stayed behind Brigette for most of the race and then I kicked on the final straightaway before the turn.”

Sehome’s Abby Johnson finished third in the 1600 with a time of 5:02.73. Sehome coach Kevin Ryan called it a “good night for us.”

This story was originally published May 26, 2017 at 8:04 AM with the headline "Sehome track team captures two titles on first day of 2A state meet."