by Declan O’Malley

Sounder contributor

Vikings Baseball kicked off the week with an offensive surge, defeating conference rival Concrete High School 10-1 at home for their first conference win of the season.

Following this solid victory, the Vikings hosted 1A Sultan High School at home but fell short in a 15-0 loss. After this week, the Vikings’ record stands at 1-4 overall and 1-0 in conference play.

After the Sounder went to press, the Vikings hosted Friday Harbor High School on Monday, March 31, in the latest installment of the inter-island rivalry. The teams will play a home-and-home series, with Orcas Island traveling to Friday Harbor on April 3, and then the Vikings will face Sultan High School on the road on April 5.

Softball picked up its fourth win in a row, sweeping Concrete in a home-and-home series with a 19-5 victory at home on March 25 and another 19-5 win on the road that Thursday. These victories marked the Vikings’ first conference wins of the season. Following the games against Concrete, the Vikings played Sultan and lost 20-9 at home. Currently, Viking Softball has a 4-3-1 overall record for the season.

Head Coach Lilly Rogers said, “This has been our best start since I’ve been coaching. Each game the team improves more and more. I’m looking forward to keeping that momentum going throughout the season.”

The Vikings also hosted Friday Harbor High School on March 31. The team travels to Friday Harbor on April 3 and then hits the road again to face Sultan High School on April 5.

The golf team competed in the Loomis Trail event hosted by Lummi Nation High School on March 27. Head Coach Ryan Kenney described the round as “good in wet conditions,” with the following results: Joe Anderson shot a 39, Josh Spinner a 42, Tim Malo a 46, and Knox Key a 47. The Lummi boys shot 41, 47, 60, and 60.

Kenney also mentioned that Lummi did not field a girls’ team, so the OIHS girls’ golf team used the event to familiarize themselves with the course, where they will likely compete in their district tournament. OIHS will host their next event at Orcas Island Golf Club on April 3.

Track and Field performed well at the Mount Vernon Christian Meet on March 27. The boys’ team finished in fourth place with 71 points, and the girls’ team finished in eighth place with 26 points.

Individually, the boys had first-place finishes from Forest Frausto in the 110m hurdles (16.6), Chase Connell in the discus (141’ 8”), and Tomasi Malo in the javelin (142’ 0”), which was a personal record. For the girls, Sofia Mahony-Jauregui took first in the javelin with a personal record throw of 103’ 5”, and Margo Winter-Lamphere finished second in the 100m with a personal record of 13.6. The next Viking Track and Field event will be at the Trojan Twilight Meet at Meridian High School in Bellingham on April 4.

Cienna Richardson photo. Kristian Freeman.