Senioritis set in a year early for Jon Phillips.
Now the South Kitsap senior is out for redemption after what he describes as a terrible junior season followed by a fall cross-country season that was below his standards.
The Everett Community College signee won the 1,600-meter run in 4 minutes, 19.51 seconds, and followed that with a victory in the 3,200 (9:49.12) on Saturday at the annual South Kitsap Invitational.
“He did beautifully,” South coach Joanne Warren said. “He’s running so much smarter than he’s ever run before.”
She added that Phillips tended to lose sight of his plan on the course before. Phillips agreed with that contention, adding that an assortment of ailments plagued him last year along with a disinterest in schoolwork, which means he needs to take extra classes to graduate on time.
“I just kept getting sick,” said Phillips, who narrowly missed the school-record 4:16.7 time set in 1973 by Lou Boudreaux. “Once I got over one, another one happened. And my asthma kicked in.”
Phillips, whose time in the 1,600 was a personal best, credits his reemergence to his offseason workout. He regularly trains with Central Kitsap’s Shane Moskowitz, one of the West Sound’s top runners whom Phillips refers to as a “teammate.”
“We ran up Green Mountain this summer,” he said. “Hardest run of my life. Four miles — you could reach out and touch it because it was so far vertical — branches over all the trails. You’re running bent over and can’t breathe. That kind of training is really showing for him and me.”
Phillips later had to come from behind to beat North Kitsap’s Tabor Reedy (9:50.75) in the 3,200. He said his plan was to run that race in 10 minutes, but Reedy challenged him to make the finish compelling.
“They ended up pushing the pace, so I had to go with,” he said. “He’s kind of a buddy of mine, Tabor Reedy, and he goes, ‘Let’s do this Jon.’ Let’s kill the five-flat and get a good time. We ran a gutsy race by pushing it like that.”
It was a race Phillips hoped to take a little easier because he had to compete in the 1,600 relay shortly afterward. But that didn’t matter because the Wolves also won that race in 3:27.74.
South’s quartet — Corey Galligan, Dan Nadeau, Phillips and Leon La Deaux — all returned this season after placing fifth, in 3:23.17, last year at Star Track.
“It was good to get back with the team that hopefully will lead us to a state title,” said La Deaux, adding that the group changed the order in earlier races.
The Wolves, who finished second among 16 teams with 107 points, had one other first-place finisher. Senior Sean Allison won the javelin with a throw of 179 feet, 6 inches.
South’s girls team placed first with 94 points. Sophomore Riley Dopps and junior Erica Copeland both placed first in individual events for the Wolves.
Dopps finished the 400 in 58.84 seconds to outlast Klahowya’s Rebecca Lindgren (1:00.56). She just missed the school record of 58.2 set in 1991 by Danielle Fessler.
“I’m looking forward to the next two years,” said Dopps, who holds the 1,600 record (5:23) at Cedar Heights Junior High. “I can only get better from here.”
Copeland took the lead during the second lap of the 1,600 and finished first at 5:25.2 ahead of White River’s Lauryn Wate (5:28.41). That put Copeland ahead of schedule as she hoped to run 5:25 by the end of the season.
“I guess I have to set a new goal,” she said, laughing.
South also won the 400 (51.62) and 800 (1:49.58) relays.
“The girls are young and raw,” Warren said. “But they’re definitely starting to click.”
Boys
Team scores: Federal Way 136, South Kitsap 107, White River 68, Olympic 61, North Mason 52, Lincoln 49, Auburn Riverside 48, North Kitsap 44, Auburn 39, Bishop Blanchet 32, Archbishop Murphy 26, Kingston 22, Bremerton 9, Washington 8, Klahowya 6, Bainbridge 4.
110 hurdles: 1, Robert Shelby (FW) 15.07; 2, Andre Barrington (FW) 15.25; 3, Leon La Deaux (SK) 15.43; 4, Andre Zadneprovskiy (AUB) 16.13.
100: 1, Trenton Pinson (FW) 10.93; 2, Tevin Williams (NM) 11.29; 3, Kyle King (OLY) 11.37; 4, Quadelle Satterwhite (LIN) 11.5.
400 relay: 1, Olympic 44.42; 2, North Mason 45.68; 3, Auburn 46.02; 4, Lincoln 46.35.
200: 1, Pinson (FW) 22.44; 2, Darrious Walker (OLY) 23.11; 3, Corey Galligan (SK) 23.24; 4, Satterwhite (LIN) 23.71.
Distance medley: 1, North Kitsap; 11:02.58; 2, Bishop Blanchet 11:14.48; 3, Kingston 11:16.3; 4, Federal Way 11:30.13.
1,600: 1, Jon Phillips (SK) 4:19.51; 2, Brenden Schruhl (OLY) 4:28.8; 3, Marcus Dickson (WR) 4:30.64; 4, Dylan Brown (AUB) 4:33.73.
400: 1, Collin Green (WR) 50.6; 2, Galligan (SK) 50.62; 3, Kyle Blume (BB) 51.67; 4, Nico Curran (FW) 52.77.
300 hurdles: 1, Shelby (FW) 40.37; 2, La Deaux (SK) 41.1; 3, Kramer Green (WR) 41.22; 4, Zadneprovskiy (AR) 42.1.
800: 1, Steven Robinson (BB) 1:58.69; 2, Andrew Crain (NM) 2:00.5; 3, Zach Conard (AM) 2:01.68; 4, Deshawn Williams (FW) 2:01.7.
3,200: 1, Phillips (SK) 9:49.12; 2, Tabor Reedy (NK) 9:50.75; 3, Nic Porter (OLY) 10:02.05; 4, Meron Simon (FW) 10:07.97.
1,600 relay: 1, South Kitsap 3:27.74; 2, White River 3:28.96; 3, Federal Way 3:32.32; 4, North Mason 3:35.93.
Javelin: 1, Sean Allison (SK) 179-06; 2, Kyle Kennedy (BREM) 177-04; 3, John Fullington (NM) 153-08; 4, Rob Vernon (AUB) 146-11.
Discus: 1, Andru Pulu (FW) 155-10; 2, Andrew Hanson (KING) 140-11; 3, Robert Vandling (NM) 138-07; 4, Robert Henderson (LIN) 136-02.
Shot put: 1, Danny Shelton (AUB) 51-02; 2, Henderson (LIN) 50-11; 3, Pulu (FW) 50-02; 4, Larry Dixon (OLY) 48-01.
High jump: 1, CJ Wright (LIN) 6-06; 2, Barrington (FW) 6-02; 3, Madison Hoevet (AR) 5-08; 4, Rick Gillespie (SK) 5-08.
Triple jump: 1, Barrington (FW) 45-02.75; 2, Wright (LIN) 40-02.25; 3, Richard Lumagui (OLY) 39-04.5; 4, Buddy Woodman (NK) 39-00.5.
Long jump: 1, Barrington (FW) 21-05.5; 2, Blake Tidwell (WR) 19-09.75; 3, Austin VanderWel (AM) 19-03.5; 4, T. Williams (NM) 19-02.
Pole vault: 1, Anatoliy Koval (FW) 12-06; 2, Austin Shirey (WR) 12-0; 3, Glenn Runnels (NK) 12-0; 4, Jordan Spears (SK) 11-06.
Girls
Team scores: South Kitsap 94, Federal Way 69, Bainbridge 65, Auburn Riverside 65, Archbishop Murphy 64.5, Auburn 61, North Kitsap 59, White River 53, Washington 44, Kingston 32.5, Lincoln 29.5, Foss 25, Klahowya 25, Bremerton 24.5, North Mason 14, Olympic 3.
100 hurdles: 1, Sarah Schireman (AM) 15.79; 2, Stephanie Himmelsbach (BREM) 16.83; 3, Sadie Phonpadith (AUB) 16.88; 4, Tess Harpur (BAIN) 17.26.
100: 1, Rebecca Lindgren (KLAH) 12.87; 2, Laneisha Robinson (FW) 12.87; 3, Cassidy France (WR) 13.1; 4, Tasia Baldwin (FOSS) 13.14.
400 relay: 1, South Kitsap 51.62; 2, Foss 51.77; 3, North Kitsap 53.73; 4, Archbishop Murphy 53.82.
200: 1, Tiara Fuller (FW) 26.6; 2, Sonja Thomas (AUB) 26.71; 3, Lindgren (KLAH) 26.97; 4, Porsche Maneice (SK) 27.0.
Distance medley: 1, Bainbridge 12:58.86; 2, North Kitsap 13:25.55; 3, South Kitsap 13:29.03; 4, Kingston 13:42.17.
3,200: 1, Emily Barecca (BAIN) 11:45.3; 2, Kelsey Loomans (AR) 11:50.08; 3, Micheal Paulston (AUB) 11:50.22; 4, Ashley Llapitan (WR) 11:55.45.
400: 1, Riley Dopps (SK) 58.84; 2, Lindgren (KLAH) 1:00.56; 3, Courtney Odell (BAIN) 1:00.78; 4, Courtney MacIsaac (AR) 1:02.95.
300 hurdles: 1, Schireman (AM) 46.34; 2, Carley McCutchen (WR) 47.68; 3, Himmelsbach (BREM) 50.87; 4, Christine Parker (NK) 51.16.
800: 1, Chase Lane (AR) 2:22.2; 2, Kalee Cipra (AR) 2:22.3; 3, Jasmine Johnson (FW) 2:23.0; 4, Elizabeth Staker (NK) 2:25.2.
1,600: 1, Erica Copeland (SK) 5:25.2; 2, Lauryn Wate (WR) 5:28.41; 3, Paulston (AUB) 5:38.61; 4, Elyse Ulowetz (AM) 5:39.88.
800 relay: 1, South Kitsap 1:49.58; 2, Foss 1:49.66; 3, Federal Way 1:54.06; 4, Archbishop Murphy 1:55.39.
1,600 relay: 1, Bainbridge 4:11.09; 2, South Kitsap 4:16.13; 3, White River 4:19.15; 4, Auburn Riverside 4:24.88.
Javelin: 1, Samantha Hull (NM) 124-03; 2, Vanessa Garris (WASH) 120-03; 3, Samantha Gulisao (SK) 108-07; 4, Michelle Lloyd (NK) 104-04.
Discus: 1, Garris (WASH) 125-11; 2, Anna Kaminski (BAIN) 122-0; 3, Gina Cardenas (AR) 101-07; 4, Arielle Stroup (AUB) 100-06.
Shot put: 1, Krystall Fowler (LIN) 38-05; 2, Garris (WASH) 37-4; 3, Leona Faafolau (WASH) 34-06; 4, Cardenas (AR) 34-02.
High jump: 1, Jaleecia Roland (FW) 5-03; 2, Isabel Ferguson (BAIN) 5-0; 3, Taylor Ottomano (NK) 4-10; 4, Lexi Marriott (LIN) 4-10.
Triple jump: 1, Roland (FW) 38-00.5; 2, Schireman (AM) 36-08; 3, Erin Williams (AUB) 32-09.5; 4, Stacie Brown (NK) 32-06.
Long jump: 1, Schireman (AM) 16-04; 2, Thomas (AUB) 15-08.75; 3, MacIsaac (AR) 15-08; 4, Bethany Sanchez (SK) 15-07.5.
Pole vault: 1, Dana Van Wyck (KING) 8-06; 2, Kara Winchell (FW) 7-06; 3, Andrea Floth (AR) 7-0; 3, Alysa Aashiem (WR) 7-0; 3, Rachael Gorrie (FW) 7-0.
