XC signing

On a brilliant and sunny Star Track Saturday, Lakes’ Izaic Yorks wrapped up his stellar Washington prep career by smashing the Class 3A record in the 1,600 meter run and taking home the title everyone expected him to win, while also grabbing the 800 meter run title to add to his massive collection of first place medals.

“No regrets, I got better each year and I got to where I wanted to be at the end,” said Yorks, who will run for University of Portland next season.

Yorks goal of posting a sub 4-minute time in the 1,600 took a bit of a hit when the winds kicked up a little in the afternoon. It also didn’t help his chances after running to victory in the 800 earlier in the day. Yorks broke the 3A meet record of 1:50.96 set by John Cote of Lindbergh in 1997 with a time of 1:50.56.

The 1,600 was anything but a blowout win. Shadle Park’s Nathan Weitz was running right with Yorks for most of the race. It wasn’t till the last 75 yards where Yorks truly pulled away. He crossed at 4:04.77, easily beating the record of 4:09.28 set by Dave Smith of Tumwater in 1988. Weitz finished at 4:05.60.

“Mentally it was pretty tough,” Yorks said. “The wind made it tough. I knew Nathan was right behind me, and I’m sure he knew I was hurting from the 800. But at the same time, I wanted it so badly.”
While his high school season is over, Yorks is just getting started.

“I still have some things I want to achieve and I have the postseason to do that,” he said.

He will travel to New York City’s Icahn Stadium to compete in the Dream Mile race on June 9 against the top high school runners in the country.

He has the fastest time in the 1,600 in the country at 4:04.00 and he wants to keep it that way, while breaking the 4-minute barrier.

“The conditions are going to be perfect,” Yorks said. “I have so much to prove. I feel like going under four is one of them. I don’t think I’m going to feel comfortable unless I’m tops in the nation.

Woodless! wrote:We've never had a recruiting class quite like this one. Funny, we lost Dunbar and ended up with our best recruiting class in school history.

pilotram wrote:Last 75 yards?

It wasn't until the last 68.58 metres...

onetouchfutbol wrote:

Woodless! wrote:We've never had a recruiting class quite like this one. Funny, we lost Dunbar and ended up with our best recruiting class in school history.

Here´s to hoping that these guys can leave Dunbar´s quacks as well as BYU in the dust next season...

Competing at (Washington 4A) state meet was senior Alex Bowns in the 1600m run finishing in 16th place (4:26.30). Bowns also ran a 15:34 5000m last November, and will run track at University of Portland next year.

DoubleDipper wrote:With such a highly touted incoming class, would this be a more typical UP recruit?

I noticed this in the Ballard (WA) Blog:

Competing at (Washington 4A) state meet was senior Alex Bowns in the 1600m run finishing in 16th place (4:26.30). Bowns also ran a 15:34 5000m last November, and will run track at University of Portland next year.

Not too impressive compared to the higher profile recruits in this year’s recruiting class, but he apparently had offers from Santa Clara, Gonzaga, and UW, in addition to UP . So it would appear coaches see some potential for development in Alex, although I don’t believe he’s been mentioned as a NLI signee by the Pilots.

Performances by Event (from DyeStat)
Date Event Performance Notes Meet

2012-04-26 B-800 1:57.70 WA#51 ht Issaquah tri(#2)

2012-04-12 B-800 1:59.60 ht Ballard v Bothell(#1)

2012-04-28 B-1600 4:17.62 WA#29 Shoreline Invitational(#9)

2012-04-14 B-1600 4:17.87 Larry Eason Invitational(#1)

2012-05-11 B-1600 4:17.91 4A KingCo Championships(#2)

2012-05-18 B-1600 4:20.57 4A District I-II Championships(#4)

2012-04-21 B-3200 9:14.12 WA#15 Bellevue Invitational(#3)

2012-05-11 B-3200 9:18.40 4A KingCo Championships(#1)

2011-05-28 B-3200 9:22.23 WA#19 WA 4A State(#9)

2012-05-18 B-3200 9:24.74 4A District I-II Championships(#6)

2011-05-20 B-3200 9:26.86 WA 4A Northwest Regional(#4)

2011-04-23 B-3200 9:29.74 Bellevue Invitational(#5)

2011-05-13 B-3200 9:32.61 WA 4A KingCo Championships(#4)

2012-04-14 B-3200 9:37.48 Larry Eason Invitational(#1)

2011-10-29 B-5k_XC 15:34.00 WA#18 WA 4A NW Regional(#1)

2011-11-05 B-5k_XC 15:41.00 Washington Class 4A(#15)

2010-10-21 B-5k_XC 15:46.00 WA#28 WA District XC Class 4(#4)

2010-11-06 B-5k_XC 15:59.70 4A WA State XC(#20)

2011-09-24 B-5k_XC 16:03.15 Bellevue Invitational(#5)

2010-10-30 B-5k_XC 16:16.39 WA Regional XC 4A(#3)

2011-10-08 B-5k_XC 16:21.15 Hole In The Wall Invitational(#11)

2011-12-03 B-5k_XC 16:25.00 Foot Locker West Regional(#30)

2009-09-26 B-5k_XC 16:27.49 Bellevue HS Invitational(#12)

For Alex Bowns, cross country running was just supposed to be a way to get in shape for the soccer season. He had never run long distance before, and figured it would be a good chance to improve his cardio. Yet four years later, Bowns now has a different plan.

Last Wednesday at Issaquah, Bowns broke the 3-mile course record by ten seconds, finishing 54 seconds faster than the second place runner. And that’s not his only record: last spring at the 4A state championships, Bowns broke the Ballard high school 2-mile record.

“Bowns is going well off the field too, sporting a 3.9 GPA. When asked about where he plans on going to college, he stated that he hadn’t committed anywhere yet, but that there was plenty of interest from D1 schools. One thing that he is sure of though is that he will continue running in college.

Although cross country is essentially an individual sport, Bowns is very appreciative of the stability and influence his coach Bob Mirenzi has given him.

“My coach has been a great influence on me and has coached me all four years,” he said. “Becoming a runner has been a great experience for me.”

T: Have you ever run a marathon?
A: NO. I never want to run a marathon and I really hope I don’t ever. It sounds horrible.