Here’s who you voted as Whatcom’s most impressive senior female spring sports athlete

On what Jerisa Sandlund knew was her last chance to qualify for state high school track and field, the Meridian senior took a courageous leap of faith.

She not only needed to improve her career best in the triple jump by more than a foot in her final attempt to avoid elimination at the bi-district meet, she also knew she needed a new technique that risked a painful outcome.

“The first time I had ever used the 32-foot board (which can make it more difficult to land safely in the soft sand pit), instead of the 28 or 30, was on my next-to-last jump at bi-district,” she said. “It decided to use the 32-foot board because I really wanted to compete at state (in an individual event).

“When I was told I reached 33 feet, 4 inches in my last jump, I said ‘whaaaat?’ I was definitely shocked.”

Sandlund, who finished third among four state triple jump qualifiers at bi-district, improved her career best to 33-8 in Class 1A state at Eastern Washington University. The mark landed her on the podium with a medal in eighth place and was nearly two feet better than the career best she had coming into her first track and field post-season since she was a freshman in 2019. She said that mark was 31-9½.

“Nobody could have been more deserving of a state medal,” said Bella Foos, her triple jump and sprint coach. “Jerisa is such a great person, you can’t not like her!”

That helps explain why Sandlund was voted by fans as the most impressive senior female spring sports athlete in The Bellingham Herald’s first such poll. She received 2,272 votes — 23% of 9,843 votes cast for girls.

Sandlund has frequently been known to encourage younger students in the wide range of activities she participated in. Not many students at Meridian knew more of her fellow students in all four classes.

It was typical of Sandlund’s positive nature to say that one of the highlights of her sports career was Meridian’s success at the recent state meet.

“All of the athletes who qualified for state from Meridian reached the finals after the preliminary rounds,” she said with a huge grin of pride. To no one’s surprise, she received Most Inspirational for track season.

Sandlund, the daughter of John and Lacida Sandlund of Ferndale, also helped the mostly young 4x100 and 4x200 relay teams to finish sixth with season bests of 52.74 seconds (52.63 in preliminaries) and 1 minute, 50.60 seconds. They were the only Whatcom County teams to earn medals in those two girls’ events.

She ran the leadoff leg in both relays and had no trouble rattling off the girls who followed — freshman Sofia Brooks, senior Mayah Torok and sophomore Erica Stotts in the 4x100 and Brooks, sophomore Morgan Adams and Stotts in the 4x200.

Sandlund was a co-captain of both the track team and the girls’ soccer team, for which she was a starting defender.

“I’ll attend Western Washington University and I plan to walk on with the track team,” she said. She’s not sure of her major at this point.

A lifelong Whatcom County resident, Sandlund took six Advanced Placement courses — three as a junior and three as a senior. She also served as Associated Students publicity manager for two years after being elected, participated in the leadership class taught by Meridian coach Patrick Ames and sang in the school’s chamber choir.

Sandlund, who graduated with a 3.8 grade-point average, displayed her academic versatility with the range of AP courses she took — government, biology, literature, calculus, statistics and English. She was among the youngest seniors — she turns 18 on July 21.

So it’s no wonder she wanted to thank “the track team, the girls’ soccer team and the leadership class for being the best mentors in their own way. And I want to thank my parents for their support.”

Sandlund refused to be discouraged by her school’s shutdown because of COVID-19 from mid-March 2020 to early February 2021 and the required remote learning. “I worked out with Crossfit Lynden, some of the most intense workouts I‘ve ever had,” she said, explaining partly how she stayed fit.

Sandlund had never participated in track until she was a freshman. She was good enough to be named a state meet alternate and was looking forward to seeing the field at state as a sophomore. However, spring sports were shut down shortly after they started her sophomore season. She had no postseason as a junior, either, since there were only three abbreviated sports seasons with no postseasons from February 2021 through June 2021.

When she finally got to state in earnest, her triple jumps in the preliminaries — 32-11, 33-1 and 33-8 — were the best series of her life and landed her in the medal round.

“I was only disappointed I didn’t hit 34 feet in the final round,” she said. “I scratched twice and I was exhausted because there was no chance to rest after the relays.”

Ames, who coaches track along with veteran Mike Holz, was especially impressed with Sandlund.

“Jerisa is 100% very positive,” he said. “She always sees the bright side. There was never a doubt in my mind that she could perform. But I was pleasantly surprised with her quick improvement in the triple jump.”

Holz had similar comments.

“Jerisa is just a wonderful young lady, so good-spirited and warm-hearted,” the coach said. “She’s absolutely amazing. Unbelievable!”

Likewise, Foos could not have been more impressed.

“ ‘I just know I can do it,’ Jerisa told me,” said Foos, a 23-year-old former WWU track athlete who went to high school state meets all four years at Issaquah and Tumwater and was able to offer Sandlund special advice.

“Self-confidence got Jerisa there,” Foos said. “It was really awesome. I’m very proud of her.”