Mar. 9, 2024, Terrace stepped up to the mound at perennial powerhouse Snohomish. This game had been hyped up for a while as a game that was supposed to be a nail-biter. Terrace won 10-1.
This is how this season seemed to go for Terrace as the Hawks had one of the best records in WesCo, finishing the regular season at 15-4. The amazing record propelled the Hawks to a playoff berth where they took care of Shorecrest 2-1, then Arlington 3-2 before earning their first District 1 Championship since 2012 by defeating Edmonds-Woodway 9-3 at Funko Field in Everett on May 11. The Hawks take the field May 18 as the state’s No. 4 seed in a 10 a.m. game at Edmonds-Woodway H.S. against the winner of Blanchet v. Silas.
The Hawks’ four losses came at the hands of some division rivals with Meadowdale taking the cake on March 30 and Edmonds-Woodway winning in a pitching duel 1-0 on April 11. The two other losses came in a non-league battle with O’Dea 8-4 on March 18 and a tough conference 6-2 loss at Shorewood April 17. The heart-attack Hawks have played 10 one-run games and have won nine of them.
The season mainly consisted of some extremely high points as sophomore Owen Meek pitched a no-hitter against the Lynwood Royals, winning the pitcher of the week honors in WesCo.
Royals in a complete no-hitter 7-inning game on April 15. The Hawks won 7-0, and although there have been combined no-hitters in school history, Meek’s is the first by a solo pitcher.. (©HAWKEYE image credit: Kaylee Miyamoto)
Meek along with junior Jeremy Perrault and senior Dayton Nickolson led the way on the mound with the most innings pitched and the team featured a combined ERA that was sub-2.0 as of the middle of May. Senior Talan Zenk dominated the whole batting stats having the highest on-base percentage with .519, stealing nine bases, and scoring 13 runs. Zenk and sophomore Jack Gripentrog had the highest number of RBIs as well.
Senior Griffin Potter also had a productive season scoring 9 runs, 14 hits, and 6 RBI. Senior Ethan Swenson also had a knack for getting on base hitting with 5 doubles throughout the season.
“I mean it was a great season for me results-wise and our team had a successful season due to our great chemistry. Knowing our strengths and stuff added to it,” Meek said about his season.
Chemistry is what stood out the most in this, as Meek expressed the deep bond between him and his teammates, making them develop a deep understanding of one another. This really expressed how the formula for a good season in any sport is to always understand the strengths of the people around you to build each other up.
Guided by head coach Ryan Sells and his assistant and twin brother Jaykob — the Sells brothers — and pitching coach Dominic DeMiero (all three Terrace alumni), the Hawks had one of the best seasons they have had since 2018 when the team finished second in state at the 2A level. Notably, the Hawks have now made it to the 3A state tournament each of the past three years.
The Hawks had an amazing year for sprinters as men’s 100- meter senior sprinter Talha Ali placed 11th in WesCo running a time of 11.22 seconds. Following right on Ali’s heels, senior Chandler Hyde ran a time of 11.28 seconds, making him 13th in WesCo.
The women’s 100-meter sprinters also had a great season. Sophomore Allison Mervin ran the 5th fastest time, running a time of 12.77 seconds. Right next to Mervin freshman Leynna Okoronkwo ran the 9th fastest, finishing at 13.01 seconds.
The men’s 4×100 meter relay consisted of Hyde, Jaxon Dubiel, Joe Asalifew and Ali, and they came in 3rd running a time of 43.41 seconds. The women’s team consisted of Taylor Williams, Brynlee Dubiel, senior Emmalynn Kuenning and Mervin. They placed 4th in the 4×100, running a time of 50.99 seconds. The same teams ran the 4 by 400-meter relay. The men’s team finished second, running a time of 3 minutes and 26.42 seconds. The women replaced Kuenning with freshman Sadie Renick for their squad, ending up in 7th place with a time of 4 minutes and 15.15 seconds.
The women had one placement for the 100-meter hurdles, as Terrace had the No. 1 hurdler in WesCo Brynlee Dubiel run an amazing time of 15.54 seconds.
Two 300-meter hurdlers were Dubiel, who finished first, running a time of 46.66 seconds and Renick who came in 17th, running a time of 51.51 seconds.
The men excelled in the 300-meter hurdles, with Jaxon Dubiel coming in second, running a time of 40.58 seconds. Nahom Ezra placed 13th, running a time of 43.69 seconds. Mo Sillah came in 18th, running a time of 44.62 seconds.
Ali also blazed the competition in the 200-meter run, getting 10th in WesCo, running a time of 23.09.
The women had two finishers in the top 25 in WesCo, with Okoronkwo again placing 21st, running a time of 28.05 seconds. Kuenning placed 12th with an amazing time of 27.39.
Hyde had a masterclass of a season as he placed 14th in WesCo for the 400-meter dash running a time of 52.65. Another senior scratched the top 25 mark as Jaxon Dubiel placed 25th, running a time of 53.34 seconds.
The women had one placement in the 400-meter dash, with freshman Taylor Willams running a time of 1 minute and 14 seconds.
The distance runners did not have a lackluster season at all. In the 800-meter dash for the men, Jaxon Dubiel placed 16th in WesCo, running a time of 2 minutes and 2.3 seconds. For the women’s 800-meter dash, Renick came in 9th, running a time of 2 minutes and 25 seconds.
The women had two placements in the top 25 1600 run, with junior Sonita Chen placing 16th with a time of 5 minutes and 31 seconds. Junior Mifa Tran snuck into the top 25, placing 25th with a time of 5 minutes and 41 seconds.
The 3200-meter run saw just one Hawk make the top 25 as junior Chen got 12th running a time of 12 minutes and 2.53 seconds.
The Terrace throwing team had an amazing season throwing shot put, as Terrace had two men place in the top 25 in WesCo. Senior Trevor Coble threw 45 feet, 9.25 inches earning 9th. Senior Adam Wallis threw 42 feet, 3.5 inches placing 20th in WesCo. The women had an amazing season, too, as senior Coco Kudo earned 16th throwing 30 feet, 1 inch. Sophomore Sarah Simula placed 25th throwing 28 feet, 2.75 inches. In Javelin, Terrace excelled as Coble threw for 144 feet, 3 inches, earning 12th in WesCo. The women had two placers as sophomore Sierra Swan threw 105 feet, 6 inches, placing 3rd. Sophomore Katie Woodman got 13th throwing 95 feet, 1 inch.
For high jump Terrace’s Jaxon Dubiel cleared 5 feet, 8 inches, getting 10th. For the women, Okoronkwo jumped 4 inches 6 inches, placing 20th.
The men had three long jumpers place. Senior Joe Asalifew jumped 21 feet, 5.25 inches, putting him in 3rd. Jaxson Dubiel placed 6th jumping 20 feet, 7.75 inches. The women had two placers, Mervin got 5th at 16 feet, 7 inches and Brynlee Dubiel was 15th at 15 feet 8 inches. The men had a couple triple jumpers with Asalifew earning 7th jumping 41 feet, 1 inch and sophomore Adam Esyas got 17th jumping 39 feet.
The men’s soccer team started the season off rough with a hard-fought loss to Bishop Blanchet 4 to 2.
Then, the Hawks got their wings flapping in the second game with a dominant victory, winning 3 goals to 1 against Snohomish. Sophomore Nick Portillo had one goal in the match and the Man of the Match went to sophomore Ashenafi Jeffers, who scored two immaculate goals. They continued the season with two more losses, one to Cascade 1-0 and a hard-fought 3 to 2 loss to Marysville-Getchell.
The Hawks did soar to a huge win against Marysville-Pilchuck winning a strong 3-to-2 battle.
The men spread around the scoring with an opening bicycle kick score from the star studded sophomore Jeffers. Xander Terry had a corner goal to keep the ball rolling. Winning the Man of the Match: junior Joshua Reents who had a huge header. The Hawks picked up a couple of ties along the way with one coming to Everett with a 2 to 2 finish.
Terrace scored big against Archbishop Murphy winning 2 to 1. The game was a nail-biter with a goal coming from junior Brody Myers-Little and another one from Jeffers. The Man of the Match was junior keeper Lowell Wilkins following a game winning penalty kick save.
A conference match rolled around to Terrace as they crushed Lynnwood 2 to 0 – the third year in a row Lynnwood has fallen to the Hawks. Reents had a huge header to get the flame started. Lynnwood could never put the flame out as Portillo, the Man of the Match, had a huge assist to the striker Jeffers to seal the victory.
The Hawks had to come back to the ground at some point as they fell slowly with two ties in a row, one to Cedarcrest 1 to 1, and another tie to their blood rivals Edmonds-Wooday, 1 to 1. The hard-fought battle brought out a Man of the Match, senior Michael Kier who had a strong performance. Ash once again netted another goal onto his season. Then, Shorecrest came at Terrace with a vengeance and beat them in a rough match 5-0.
Terrace came off the ground against a strong 3A opponent in Monroe winning in a close contest 2-1. Senior Omar Kongira came out as the Man of the Match, having amazing defensive stands with his teammate Tyler, holding an iron curtain around the goal. The excitement came to a small standstill in a slow-paced game against Meadowdale tying 1 to 1.
On senior night, Terrace let their wings come out with a dominant win against Stanwood, winning 3 to 1. Nicholas Barushka won the Man of the Match with a brace and Guzman had one huge goal.
To end the season Terrace had two last regular season losses one to Shorewood 5-1 and one to Arlington 2-0. The final game rolled around and Terrace had a heart-crushing loss to Lynwood 1-0 eliminating the Hawks from further play. With the Hawks having a final record of 6-7-4.
