by Cienna Richardson

Orcas High School student

The Orcas Vikings can now add state track trophies to the case — a first for the school district.

Bethany Carter placed 1st in Discus and Andrew Garcia, Lauro Quintero-Carrion, Ethan Moss and Romero Lago placed 1st in the 4×100 Relay.

The track and field team traveled to Yakima for the state championship from May 23-25. The team consisted of five girls and 11 boys and fought through adversity with several athletes under the weather.

The first day opened with Garcia fighting an illness to place ninth in the 100 m and Moss ran a lifetime best, placing ninth in the 300 m hurdles. On the girls’ side, Carter, the state leader in the discus, emerged victorious, becoming Orcas Island’s first state champion and adding a fifth in the shot put.

Forest Frausto, one of the state’s top hurdlers all season, placed sixth in the 110 high hurdles. Malia Martinolich placed eighth in the girls’ 200 m.

In the 4 x 100 relay, the team of Garcia, Quintero-Carrion, Moss and Lago came into the meet with the state-leading time. With a target on their backs and taking the best shots from challengers, they swept the prelims and the final dramatically, becoming the program’s first boys state champions.

The girls relay team of Soli Halabisky, Sophia Mahoney-Jauregui, Ava Ashcroft and Martinolich placed tenth in the 4 x 100 Relay and seventh in the 4 x 200 relay.

Orcas hasn’t had a track team in decades; the last one reportedly was in the 1970s. In the 1960s, when there weren’t baseball teams, Orcas, Lopez and Friday Harbor all had track teams and competed against each other. At the end of the season, all three teams competed in the San Juan County meet, which Orcas won several times. Vikings track and field was reinstated in 2023.

Bethany Carter with coach Frank Rohm.