Viking boys off to best start in years

Published 10:00 am Saturday, April 1, 2006

POULSBO — Family atmosphere plus passionate leadership has equaled four wins for the North Kitsap High School boys track team this spring and it’s been one of the best starts Coach Kaelea Makaiwi-Barreith has seen in her four years of coaching NK track.

“As far as team goes, it’s been a long time since we’ve brought home any hardware,” Makaiwi-Barreith said, noting the Vikings’ recent triumph at the Bremerton Relays. “They are just competing and having a great time.”

At Memorial Stadium, March 25, the Viking boys brought home first place out of a field of 16 teams in an all-relay affair. North led the pack by a substantial 33 points as it reigned with a total 95 points. Camas came in second with 62 and South Kitsap ended third with 60.

The Bremerton Relays epitomized the type of track and field North has been honing this season with its coaches’ emphasis on family. The meet was competed completely in relay formats. Even in the throws and jumps, each team’s athletes’ marks were combined to determine the “relay” score.

North’s 4x200M relay (1:36.29), 4x800M relay (8:47.55) and sprint medley relay (2:41.19) were the only events to pick up first place times for the Vikes, but everyone contributed, said coach Makaiwi-Barreith.

“There’s too many to name,” Makaiwi-Barreith said, trying to count her top performers. “Even if they are not winning their event, they are still adding points to the team.”

With everyone pulling for a common goal, Makaiwi-Barreith is excited about the possibilities. But even more impressive than winning meets has been a positive attitude at practice that has spread throughout the ranks.

In prior years, NK coaches have been assigned to events strictly according to their area of expertise, but this year, the staff decided to make a change.

“This year, we’ve switched it around to where coaches are still coaching in the area of expertise but also in their area of passion,” Makaiwi-Barreith said, noting assistant coach Joan Starr who moved from distance to invigorate the sprinters. “That’s trickling down to the kids. The passion is there and that’s infectious.”

Another form of passion and expertise has been making an appearance lately at North’s practices. NKHS alumnus have been stopping by, volunteering time to lend their knowledge of the sport.

School record holding javelin thrower and 2005 state champion Ryan Young recently stopped by to share his secrets with North’s next generation of throwers.

“The kids know who he is and they look up to him,” Maikawi-Barreith said. “For him to take time out of his Spring Break to come up and help them, that shows them that he really cares.”

It has also shown them the power of hard work and determination as Young currently owns the fifth-best javelin throw in the world (for ages 19 and under) with 232-feet, 10-inches, which he clinched during competition at the Hornet Invitational in his first meet as a University of California Golden Bear earlier this spring.

And though the state tournament is still in the distance, it is on the horizon for one of the most complete teams North has seen in half a decade.

“Anything is possible. We just need to continue to improve; we see it everyday, we see it step-by-step,” Makaiwi-Barreith said. “It’s what you do in the offtime that’s going to determine where you’re at at the end of the season.”