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  3.25 Tiger Debut with Pride

  3/26/2026
  Lindsey Bachman
  In their ​opening meet of the season, the USN Tigers took to the tack & field on ​W​ednesday with a tremendous display of e​xcitement, courage, competitive drive, sportsmanship, teamwork, and TIGER PRIDE! ​Energy was high and the weather was prime as we welcomed 6 competing schools (CPA, DCA, LA, LW, MJCA, and OBS) from the HVAC​ to the River Campus for a fantastic afternoon and evening of competition. Below are as many highlights as I can reasonably fit in this ​r​ecap. If I have left anything out, or you notice any inaccuracies, please feel free to let me know.

   

  K​icking things off in the field events, our throws squad helped put early points on the board for USN in both shot put and discus. Asher Armstrong ​led the way for our boys, placing 3rd in both events and earning huge PRs with his throw of 29-05.5 in shot and 76-10 in disc! On the girls side, Lauren Koethe claimed 2nd in shot put with a PR throw of 23-00.00, while Evie Frahm and Phoebe Schneider sealed 3rd (52-00) and 5th (48-10) place finishes in their tremendous discus debuts! James Keiper, Booker Ammons, Katie Jane Bruehl and Cora Mashburn also earned legal marks in their shot put debuts, while Hudson Unger and Sadie Magner did the same in discus.  

   

  In the jumping events, Mahalia Moore secured 1st place in the long jump with a jump of 16-07.5, followed by Koethe in 5th with a 13-01.5 and Julia Dryden in 8th with 12-03. Additionally, Adella Schwartz earned a LJ PR with a mark of 11-08.5, and Unger was our first and only Tiger to clear the opening height of 3-08 in high jump. Matilda Tashian, Katie Jane Bruehl, and Mark Braun all made clean jumps in their long jump debuts, while Ava Warren and Magner each made 3 great attempts at HJ.

   

  ​In the sprint events, Koethe put forth a terrific effort in the 100m dash to finish in a close second with a time of 13.44. She was our first of 6 Tigers to earn a PR in the 100m dash, which is no easy task, with so few meters to drop time! Zoe Tanquilut, Adella Schwartz, Matilda Tashian, debut runner Tyson Matthews, and veteran Mark Braun all managed to snag new best times. The 200m and 400m dashes were tales of debut efforts, with all of our competitors racing the distances as an open event for the first time. In the 200m, all 7 of our Tigers were 6th graders in a highly competitive mature field. All raced with guts and composure. Julia Dryden claimed our top finish for the girls with a time of 33.12, while Tyson Matthews was our sole representative on the boys side displaying fantastic form all the way through the finish with a strong time of 29.31. In the 400m, James Keiper put points on the board with his 4th place finish and time of 1:07.56, while Cora Mashburn was our top finisher for the girls in 1:18.94. 

   

  In the distance events our Tigers displayed strength in depth and top finishes. Our ladies led off in the 1600 with 3rd and 4th place PR finishes by Margaux Soslow (6:12.77) and Lucy Garrison (7:06.69). The boys swept 2nd-4th places with Ellias Freifeld and Elliott Karpinos leading the way with times of 5:45.18 and 5:46.24. James Keiper finished next with a huge PR of 5:53.23, followed by Booker Ammons in 9th with another big PR effort of 6:16.77. In the 800m, Soslow continued her 3rd place streak with a terrific sub 3 debut of 2:58.83. In the stacked boys field of nearly 30 competitors, Freifeild and Karpinos battled to 6th and 7th place finishes (2:40.44, 2:43.07), followed by Hudson Unger in an impressive 9th place with another sub 3 debut of 2:52.15. 

   

  In the relays, our girls teams shined! Larger numbers on our girls roster helped us to field competitive teams in all 4 of the relays offered (4x8, 4x2, 4x1, 4x4), and perhaps even more impressively, we put together not 1, but 3 full teams in the 4x4 relay which is the final event of the whole meet! Our girls 4x8 of Ava Warren, Elaina Yu, Lucy Garrison, and Charlotte Shinohara were our first to take to the track with the baton where they placed 2nd overall. Our 4x2 of Julia Dryden, Cora Mashburn, Zoe Tanquilut, and Lucy Wilson finished 3rd, and our 4x1 of Adella Schwartz, Lucy Wilson, Tinkerbell Tashian, and Zoe Tanquilut finished 4th. Both teams executed all legal blind handoffs which is a tremendous feat in the first meet of the season. And finally, in our 4x4 our top girls team of Margaux Soslow, Phoebe Schneider, Charlotte Shinohara and Zoe Tanquilut finished 4th with a time of 5:20.65 and a solid team average of 1:20! Our boys team, which was operating on a slimmer roster for the day due to injury and illness, fielded one team in the 4x4 that placed 3rd overall with a terrific legs run by Ellias Freifeld, Elliott Karpinos, Lucas Roschke, and Tyson Matthews. 

   

  MEET DEBUTS

  Doing something for the first time, especially in front of a crowd, can be both thrilling and nerve wracking. ​We had 10 Tigers who competed in their FIRST EVER TF meet on Wednesday in front of a packed home crowd. These athletes were not only competing for the first time in the meet, they were doing so across multiple events that required a wide range of skills. A HUGE congratulations to these individuals ​who embraced this ​challenge with grace​, courage, and confidence​!

  • ​K​atie Jane Bruehl, Evie Frahm, Sadie Magner, Cora Mashburn, Emily Nicholson, Phoebe Schneider, Margaux Soslow, Elliott Karpinos, Tyson Matthews, Lucas Roschke

  PERSONAL BESTS

  In addition to all the ​debut personal best marks set, we had several ​veteran Tigers who kicked off the season with performances that surpassed their previous best marks from 202​5! Starting the season ahead of where you finished your last is not an easy feat for any athlete and is a good indication of improved overall fitness, strength, strategy, and skill. Shout-Out to our athletes who jumped​ and threw further, and ran faster than ever before!

  • ​Asher Armstrong (4-03.5 ​i​mprovement in shot​, 10-05 improvement in disc​)
  • Lauren Koethe (6-02.25 ​improvement in shot, 0.15s drop in 100m, 
  • ​Adella Schjwartz (1-04.5 ​i​mprovement in LJ, 0.76s drop in 100m
  • Zoe Tanquilut (​0.63s drop in 100m​)
  • ​Matilda Tashian (0.33s drop in 100m)
  • ​Mark Braun (1.53s drop 100m​)
  • ​Lucy Garrison (4s drop in 1600m)
  • James Keiper (40s drop in 1600)
  • Booker Ammons (23s drop in 1600)
  • Ellias Freifeld (13s drop in 800m)

  POINTS Of PRIDE

  ​Some things worth celebrating can't be quantified by time, points, or PRs. Here are just a few that come to mind that deserve a spotlight:

  • ​Back to Back Buddies - Ava Warren and Elaina Yu for giving tremendous efforts in the back to back events of 4x8 and 100HH.
  • Hurdle Hero - Emily Nicholson for springing back to action after a fall in the hurdles and finishing fast!
  • King of Composure - Tyson Matthews for his fantastic form from start to finish line across all sprint events. 
  • Anchor All star - Zoe Tanquilut for her all out effort as anchor leg in our sprint relays!
  • ​Champs of Cheer - Nick Keagan and Connor Mulron for enthusiastically encouraging their teammates throughout the whole meet despite not being able to race themselves. 

  TEAM SCORES​

  • USN Girls - ​3​rd place with 74pts, 16pts behind 2nd place LA, and a narrow 5pts ahead of 4th place DCA. 
  • USN Boys - ​4th place with 43pts, 34pts behind 3rd place DCA, and 23pts ahead of 5th place OBS
  • Combined Team Scores -​ 4th place with 117pts, just 29pts behind 3rd place DCA, and a commanding 87 points ahead of 5th place OBS

  Point Scorers ​for USN 

  ​(Point scoring at this meet went ​6 deep - 10,8,6,​4​,2,1)

  • ​GIRLS - Koethe (18), Soslow (13), Moore (10), Garrison (6), Frahm (5), Garrison (4), Tanquilut (3.5), Shinohara (3), Wilson (2.5), Warren (2), Yu (2), Dryden (1.5), Mashburn (1.5), Schwartz (1), T. Tashian (1)
  • ​BOYS - Armstrong (12), Freifeld (10.5), Keiper (8), Karpinos (7.5), Unger (2), Matthews (1.5), Roschke (1.5)

  Complete meet results are available on Milesplit. Note - ​in the boys 4x4, Tyson Matthews ran the leg previously assigned to Brody Terker

   

  REFLECTION

  Team, remember what we talked about in practice. Results only tell one part of the story. As you are reflecting on your meet performances and looking to set your goals for the meets ahead, remember to focus in on these helpful questions:

  • How did you feel?
  • What went well and what could have gone better? 
  • Were these things related to a particular circumstance, fitness, strategy, or skill?
  • What can you take away / learn to improve for next time?

  UP NEXT

  This was the 1st of 4 HVAC meets that our Tigers will compete in prior to our Championship meet week April 20-24th.​ The wait for our next opportunity to challenge ourselves against more competition is not long. The team will travel to MBA ​o​n Wednesday, ​A​pril 1st to compete against CPA, ENS, HH, MJCA, ​and SCA​. 

   

  GRATITUDE

  To everyone that gave their time and energy​ - student athletes,​ volunteers, ​and fans, ​fellow coaches, and admin, THANK YOU! A track meet is one of the truest displays of a team effort I can think of. From set up, to competing, to cheering, timing, and scoring, it truly takes a village. It is moments like this that I am always the most grateful to be a part of this spectacular USN community. 
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