Boys and girls track 2009

Roving Reporter Michelle Sandstrom submitted the following track preview.

Jay Turner, boys head coach has been teaching here at Oak Harbor High for thirteen years, and this is his thirteenth year as the sprinting coach for Track & Field. He was born and raised in Marysville, Washington where he participated in football, basketball, and Track & Field, and in the fall went to college and continued playing football. Growing up he worked at his parent’s convenience store until receiving an OHHS teaching position.
This season will be his fourteenth season of coaching and has “high hopes” for this years “young team”. His all around goal is to “have a great time” and to “make it through”. He would love to have a year like last season where sixteen student athletes went to state. His promising returnees include Donavan Hunt, Stephen Lewis, and Alison Duvenez and an impact newcomer is Shante Young.
Getting to know Mr. Turner on a better level I found out he enjoys playing Wii and won’t eat any type of fast food. He is a Seahawks fan along with a love for art class. And of course as a track coach, prefers running any day over swimming.

Eric Peterson, the distance and girls head coach, is a Mt. Vernon raised Oak Harbor marketing and running coach. Growing up in Mt. Vernon, during his high school and college years he worked late nights at “Joe Mama’s diner” after Cross Country practice in the fall and Track & Field during the spring. He claims he doesn’t know how long he has been coaching but does it because he “loves alpacas” and has been at Oak Harbor High School for seven years.
Like Coach Turner said about the previous year, Mr. Peterson’s highlights were taking sixteen to state, especially at the time, freshmen Allison Duvenez, who is a promising key returnee along with Matt Bolte, Josh Durkoph, and Abby Leete. His impact newcomer “would have to be Brandon Vagt”. His season goal is to have fun and coach a very supportive team.
Some facts you might not know about Coach Peterson is he prefers McDonalds over Burger King, Gatorade over any soda, he isn’t a big navy or army fan, would rather choose green over red or blue, and believes Roy is better then any dog or cat.

Kevin Allen coaches the throwers - shot put and javelin. He was born and raised in Sedro Woolley, and has been at OHHS for thirteen years and has coached for twelve. During high school he played football, participated in wrestling, ran track, and played golf. When entering college he switched to Lacrosse and worked for Cascade Pizza.
Coach Allen doesn’t have a season goal explaining “I don’t know, its track, and it’s too early to tell, I have only attended two practices”. He has a long list of key returnees including Stephen Lewis and Sean Welch for discus, and Doug Hughes and Donavan Hunt for javelin.
Small information you may not know about Mr. Allen is that, as with Mr. Peterson and Mr. Turner, he prefers the iPhone and enjoys Lost over House. He enjoys comedy, doesn’t drink Coke but prefers it over Pepsi, prefers the Air Force over Army or Navy and believes Fords out beat Honda, VW, and Dodge.
Mr. Allen is the husband of Mrs. Allen who is another high school Track & Field coach specializing in jumping, however she is expecting their first baby together and couldn’t make it for an interview.