Good start at Star Track
A couple wins, a couple great races and a tough loss in the pole vault were among the first day highlights at the State 4A/3A/2A track meet at Mt. Tahoma HS on Thursday.
Even with just two wins, there seemed to be more than enough to keep the interest on Greater Spokane League athletes from start to finish - and so much good stuff won't make tomorrow's paper. For example, Cheney freshman Sanne Holland clicked a handful of seconds off her PR in finishing fifth in the 2A 3,200.
For the unedited story for Friday's paper, click the tab below.
By
davet@spokesman.com; (509) 927-2154
Forgive Ben Johnston and Sam Wright if they weren’t celebrating the only championships for the Greater Spokane League at the first day of the Star Track XXVIII Thursday at
Johnston was simply too exhausted after the North Central senior won the 3A 3,200 meters with a stirring duel down the stretch with Drew O’Donoghue-McDonald of Seattle Prep, clipping two-tenths of a second off his state-leading personal record with a time of 8-minutes, 58.68-seconds.
“It’s always hard,” he said after getting his wobbly legs under him. “You can’t run a fast 2 mile without it hurting. You have to expect it to hurt.”
Wright was a touch disappointed but mostly shocked that he won the 4A shot put with a throw of 56-feet, 10¾-inches, well below his best of 58-2.
“It’s hard not to be happy but that 60 is in the back of my head right now,” the Mead senior said. “I’m a little bit shocked with the throw that won. I figured I was going to have to PR to win, with Kjelby (Oiland of Ferris) and Derek (Eager of Tahoma) being such good throwers.”
The 3,200’s were the only finals on the track in the three-day meet for 4A, 3A and 2A schools and there were just seven field event finals.
Most of the drama for
There were also two notable runners-up in the 3,200.
Mead’s Andrew Gardner shaved five more seconds off his state freshman record chasing after defending Shane Moskowitz in the 4A race and it took a meet record for Amy Eloise Neale of
There were four other records, including two big ones.
Christine Kirkwood of Othello broke three records with one throw of the javelin. The junior uncorked a throw of 162-10, which broke her sister Courtney’s school record, her sister’s 2A meet record and her sister’s all-time state record, which was 160-10.
Two more 1,600 relay marks were lowered, West Valley-Yakima in 3A girls (3:53.73) and Sehome in 2A girls (3:59.64).
Boys
Wright was the first gold medalist, coming through in a back-and-forth competition.
He took the lead on his second throw but Oiland, whose best was 58-1, took over at 55-6½. That held up until Eager started the finals with a 56-1¾, also a couple feet off his PR. Wright went 56-9 on his fifth throw and added another inch on his last.
“In the back of my head I figured if I didn’t throw harder I was going to lose,” he said. “I’m surprised I won with that. Mixed feelings. Hopefully I’ve got one more chance to get 60. I think we’re going to do one more meet. Right now I’m as happy as I can be.”
Then with three laps to go, Schroeder went.
“I wanted to be in the lead group and go with 1,200 left,” he said. “It worked for a lap. They sped up, I tried to go with them. It was an awesome race.”
Schroeder finished third in 9:06.80, two seconds under Cameron Schwehr’s 2000 record.
“I felt good but I’ve been working so hard all year and it’s discouraging to see those guys run away from me,” he said. “I have a kick, that’s usually what I like to use that last 400 meters.”
The fourth attempt at 14-9 was Bier’s best effort but after each miss the bar was lowered to 14-6 and Wilson had his worst effort before Bier cleared to win.
“I thought about it too much,” he said. “I know I was higher (on the 14-9 attempts) but things happen, little things go wrong. It’s a sport of perfection, basically, when you go that high. If you do little things wrong you’re toast.”
“My goal was to break 9,”
Girls
The 3A 3,200 was a pretty impressive performance by a trio of freshmen.
Neale and Juanita junior Tansey Lystad ran shoulder-to-shoulder in front of
“I was expecting the first part to go a lot faster,” Weitz said. “I was just really comfortable, I thought, ‘I can’t feel comfortable, I’ve got to push it.’ … I knew they’d go with me if I surged.”
Once again Weitz was out-kicked but she shaved 11 seconds off her PR with a 10:37.13.
Neale’s 10:31.75 was a record by .04 with Knight’s 10:31.86 now 18 seconds better than the school record before she arrived.
“It was a PR,” Knight said in a cheery voice. “I had to compensate (for the slow start). Luckily Kendra was there for me again and did the work.”
Running on the outside may have cost Knight but the truth is she’s only beaten Neale once while losing by a step several times in the half-dozen matchups.
“I thought about that, I don’t think it made a difference,” she said. “I thought maybe this time I would get that little step I need. She’s so fast and it just happened like that, it’s OK. She’s good.”