
For teen siblings Jaxon and Brynlee Dubiel, life is all about their studies at Mountlake Terrace High School, shopping for trendy fashion at local thrift stores and watching comedy and action movies with snacks purchased from a 7-11 near their home — and usually doing it all side by side.
“I have the best relationship with my brother out of anyone I know, siblings-wise,” said Brynlee. “We’re super close (and) hang out all the time. We argued a lot growing up but in the past few years we’ve gotten really closer.”
Jaxon expressed the same sentiment. “It’s an amazing relationship with my little sister,” he said. “I’m super glad about that, to have that with her because I know some people don’t — or even have a sibling.”
Oh, and one more thing the two Dubiel siblings have in common: Jaxon and Brynlee are state championship-level competitors in their chosen sports — this spring, that pursuit for state acclaim comes together on the running track as both are standout members of the Hawks track team.
Brynlee, just a sophomore, is coming off a stellar freshman year that ended with a fourth-place finish in the 3A girls 300-meter hurdles at the state meet. She also qualified for and finished 17th in the 100-meter hurdles and was part of the Terrace team that placed 12th in the 4×100-meter relay.

Jaxon, a senior, is the all-time leading scorer in Mountlake Terrace boys basketball history and helped the team bring home a fourth-place state trophy last month, in addition to sixth-place hardware in 2022.
Jaxon has spent the past three spring sports seasons as a member of the Terrace boys golf team but decided to switch it up this year, partly as a result of his relationship with his younger sister.
“My sister and I are pretty close and I saw her do track last year and it was super fun,” Jaxon said. “I would go to a lot of her meets to watch her. And I was like, ‘Dude, I want to run in that.’
”I just wanted to try something new senior year,” Jaxon added. “I chose to do this with my sister and spend some more time with her before I go to college.”
With both siblings now competing in the same sport simultaneously, the two have added to their shared activities list: training together with purpose and racing each other during the daily Hawk team practices.
“She’s the most competitive,” Jaxon said. “She gets a little bit of a head start and we go around and we race and stuff, do the hurdles.”
One very interested observer of the siblings’ relationship is Terrace track coach Archie Malloy; he’s loving what he sees.
“Their relationship, obviously, is steeped in competition,” Malloy said. “They push each other, but they support each other as well. And it’s really neat to see a brother-sister duo come out and be at the end of the race cheering on each other.
“But at practice, you know what, they get after it. And that competitive spirit rises to the top and it makes both of them pretty damn good athletes.”
“When you see them out here, they work hard,” Malloy added. “The one thing that as a coach you always appreciate about athletes that you coach is, you cannot coach a will. And they both have tremendous will.”

After her fourth-place finish in the 300-meter hurdles at last year, Brynlee has her eyes on the event’s top prize this year, as all three runners that placed ahead of her last year were seniors.
“I mean it’s a pretty ambitious goal, but I would love to win first at state in that event,” Brynlee said. “It’s going to be hard; there’s lots of competition but it’s definitely a realistic goal.”
While Brynlee tends to be a hurdles specialist, Jaxon is still working out just what event he wants to focus on during this final stretch of the season.
“I kind of have tried everything,” Jaxon said. “I’ve tried long jump, high jump, 400 (-meter run) 300-meter hurdles, 800, 4×4 (4×400-meter relay), 4×1 (4×100-meter relay); kind of everything. Just not the throws — that’s not for me. Oh, and the 100-meter dash.”
Jaxon appears to have narrowed his choice down to either the 800 or the 300 hurdles; Brynlee noted that another member of the Dubiel family is likely pleased that Jaxon may be running a hurdles event for the remainder of his senior prep sports career.
“(Our) mom hurdled at Central (Washington) in college, so she always wanted us to get into that,” Brynlee said.
With Jaxon jumping onto the track bandwagon this year, Brynlee — at first — said she felt a little jealous thinking that her older brother was stepping into her spotlight.
“There was a little bit of that; I’m not going to lie about it,” Brynlee said. “He’s obviously this really great basketball player, so I was like, ‘You know, you got your thing and I got my thing.’ But it’s been really fun to do track with him. Him and I are really close, so it’s been really cool to watch him have so much success so far.”
“He’s really athletic. He’s pretty much good at everything he tries,” Brynlee added.
With Brynlee most likely returning to the state meet at the conclusion of this season, the question is will there be two Dubiels at this year’s meet in Tacoma?
“I will for sure be down there to support her,” said Jaxon. “Whether or not I will be down there running, we will see. Whatever the two (events) I chose (to specialize in), between the 300-meter hurdles or the 800, I’m going to tune in on it and focus and hopefully, be able to get down there and run that. I’m not going to place or anything, but being an athlete I’m going to be competitive and want to get down there.”
With the regular season winding down and the postseason meets looming, there is the possibility that Jaxon may run out of time to post a state-qualifying time or be ready to challenge for a state event berth this year.
But the senior said he’s OK with that, knowing he has already created a Terrace sports legacy and plenty of memories to last a lifetime — and that his sister is currently doing the same.
“I found that in basketball,” Jaxon said. “I’m glad she’s been able to find that in track.”
— By Doug Petrowski
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