Panthers claim title

It’s always nice to save the best for last, and at a track meet that usually means a compelling 1,600-meter relay.

The long relay at the Greater Spokane League girls championship meet at Shadle Park Wednesday didn’t disappoint, with Highlanders sophomore Brianne Brown gamely holding off an amazing charge by Mead’s Nikki Codd.

But this time the grand finale was the shot put and Ashley Hutchinson came through in a big way.

With the unusual circumstance of being the final event, thereby drawing a huge crowd, the Mead junior uncorked a throw of 43 feet, 1 inch, the area best and a personal record of 35 inches.

“I don’t know, a lot of hard work paid off,” Hutchinson said. “I’m not a big fan of crowds – I stress a little bit. But there will be crowds at regional and state, I might as well get used to it. Maybe it helps, all that adrenalin.”

That put the exclamation point on Mead’s championship, the first for the Panthers since 1998.

The Panthers beat Shadle Park 81-68, North Central 89-61 and Mt. Spokane 82-68.

The Highlanders ended up second, NC third and Mt. Spokane fourth.

“They did it as a team,” Mead coach Dori Robertson said. “We had some real studs but every kid competed. They (competed) with confidence. They wanted it and believed it.”

Hutchinson also placed third in the discus and fourth in the javelin without a hint this would be a special day.

“I’ve been working on a lot of things lately,” she said. “I knew it would come eventually.”

Befitting of a championship, there were seven area bests with five coming on the track despite a stiff cross wind.

Codd provided the highlight run in the 400, blazing to a state-leading 57 seconds and pulling Anna Walters to a 3A best of 57.4, both lowering their school records.

The Panthers also nipped Shadle, the area leader, in the 400 relay. The Highlanders went 49.8, a two-tenths improvement, only to lose by a tenth.

“We knew we had to bear down and go after it,” Amanda Dahlstrom, Mead’s sophomore anchor said. “I knew it was a big meet, but I just wanted to have fun. Last year I was nervous. I knew how to do it now.”

That was the only time Shadle sophomore speedster Jordan Carlson didn’t finish first.

She helped the Highlanders lower their state-leading 800 relay a half-second to 1:44.1, went 12.7 in the 100 and lowered the area best in the 200 to 25.6.

“It was an OK day,” Carlson said. “A few of my races could have been better, but it leaves room to improve. I was really set on PRs, but this was more about team. I was hoping to catch (Dahlstrom), but you can’t catch them all.”

Teammate Renee Before ran on all three relays and the senior grabbed the area lead in the 300 hurdles at 45.9.

NC’s Kendall Mays won the pole vault and matched the all-time Spokane best of 11-7 set by University’s Katie Hawkins last Thursday.

NC’s standout thrower, Ashlee Michelson, had a strange day.

A state-placing discus thrower and the highest seed in this meet, she had one of her worst days of the season, finishing fourth at 116-3.

She turned around and had a PR of 39-8 in the shot for second.

“I could have won first overall (in the discus, but) the shot put makes me feel better,” she said. “I think I’m just over-thinking. I’ve been throwing well in the shot.”

Mt. Spokane got the easy and expected double win from distance star Megan O’Reilly, but more important, found some new points. Junior Sam Patrick, after one week of practice, cleared 5-0 in the high jump, easily making her a contender to advance in the postseason.

“I did it last week without practicing and I got 4-8,” said Patrick, who last high jumped in eighth grade.

“Coach said we needed the points to win and I said I’d try. It’s really fun, very relaxing. I do hurdles –they’re very technical, very stressful. In the high jump you just relax and let it flow through you.”

Patrick never high jumped in high school despite her father being the event coach.

“He never asked me to do it and it never entered my mind,” she said. I love having my dad as a coach. I say I can do 5-2 or 5-4 (and make state). That would make my dad happy.”

In the other two meets to determine the final GSL standings, each had five teams and were scored invitational style.

At Hart Field, Ferris scored 110 points to easily capture fifth, followed by East Valley, host Lewis and Clark, Central Valley and Gonzaga Prep. Kelly McNamee of Ferris and LC’s Ellie Siler were double winners but EV’s Eleaya Schurech had the big day. She increased her area best in long jump (17-10 3/4) and league best in triple jump (37-3), both close to state bests. … In the meet at Cheney for the bottom five places, it went University, West Valley, Cheney, Rogers and Clarkston. There were no top marks, but West Valley’s Bri Almy won three events and Brittanie Vargo of Rogers and U-Hi’s Dana McClendon were double winners.