Coupeville Sports

Mr. Intense, back in his high school glory days.

Tyler King is a natural.

Running 10,000 meters for the first time in his college career Friday, the University of Washington red shirt freshman cruised to a top finish at the NCAA West Regional cross country meet.

The former Coupeville High School stud covered the course at Jefferson Park Golf Course in Seattle in 30 minutes, 27 seconds, the third-fastest time for any Husky. He finished 40th out of 185 runners, helping pace Washington to a fifth-place team finish.

Lawi Lalang of Arizona won the race in 29:02.

While King’s teammate, All-American Joey Bywater, nabbed an automatic berth for the Nov. 17 NCAA championships, the rest of the Husky team will have to wait to see if they get an at-large bid when the full 31-team field is announced Saturday. The top two teams from the regional automatically advanced, as well as the top four individual runners not on one of those two squads.

Read Full Post »

      “I’m so fast, son, I caught this fish, cleaned it, cooked it and ate it in the time it would have taken you all to catch me.”

I blame it on X-Box.

It has sucked the life out of a nation, producing slower and slower runners as the years go by. When the zombies come, the couch potato teens will be the first to go.

This is the only conclusion I can draw from today’s 1A boys’ state cross country meet, where Dillon Quintana of Mount Baker just won the race in 15 minutes, 51 seconds, edging out Tom Bradley of Blaine.

Which is nice, until you realize that, just two years ago, a strapping young harrier from Coupeville, one Tyler “I Will Crush Your Soul and Laugh!” King won the same event, over the same distance, on the same course, in 15:16.9.

Those 35 seconds are an eternity in cross country.

Tyler would have already cooled down, had a sandwich, sent a few emails and maybe, possibly looked at his homework from Mrs. Ballard, just for fun, before Quintana and the rest of the stragglers showed up at the finish line.

Simply put, no zombies are catching Mr. King, who now runs at the University of Washington, any time soon. That’s just not the Coupeville way.

Read Full Post »

Tyler King — faster than you, and a better dresser to boot. (Angelo Comeaux photo)

This time, little brother was faster.

With his health restored and running in (presumably) sunny Los Angeles Saturday, University of Washington freshman Tyler King finished 22nd (his best showing as a Dawg) at the Pac-12 Cross Country Championships. The former Coupeville High School star was the second-fastest Husky in the event, trailing just senior All-American Joey Bywater, finishing in 24 minutes, 12 seconds.

Across the country, running in the (presumed) heat of Austin, Texas, big bro Kyle King, a senior at the University of Oklahoma, claimed 36th at the Big-12 Cross Country Championships in a time of 25:00.1.

Lawi Lalang of Arizona (22:49) and Kennedy Kithuka of Texas Tech won the races.

Next up for the Kings is regionals Saturday, Nov. 9, with Tyler running in the West Regional in Seattle and Kyle participating in the Midwest Regional in Springfield, Mo. From there, both hope to make the jump to the NCAA championships.

Read Full Post »