Sasquatch leave big imprint

Everyone else had vacated the awards stand, so Andrew Fuller climbed to the top step, just for the heck of it.

“Can I just get a picture of me up here?” he pleaded. “Something?”

First place can be a hard place to get to, individually, on the Community Colleges of Spokane track team. Collectively, that’s another story.

For the 10th time in NWAACC history, the Sasquatch swept the men’s and women’s team titles at the conference track and field meet at Spokane Falls – only this one was truly one step beyond. As a yardstick, consider that Lane’s men scored 242 points – good enough to win every NWAACC meet dating back to the first in 1947.

This time it was good enough for second to CCS – 45 points behind. The Sasquatch women, too, broke the conference scoring record with 266 for a 60-point gap on Lane – 42 of those coming from high-point athlete Amber Nash, who won three events.

That’s reflective of a down year in the NWAACC, but also of Spokane’s depth, talent and competitive drive, which took any number of forms Tuesday. In Fuller’s case, that included just getting into the meet. Lauded by coach Larry Beatty as the best distance runner he’s coached in terms of range, Fuller encountered some academic hiccups this spring and didn’t gain eligibility until two weeks ago. That left him one meet to get his NWAACC qualifying marks, which he did by running a taxing triple in Seattle 10 days ago.

It didn’t get any easier here. After taking second to teammate Kyle Anderson in Monday’s steeplechase and advancing through the 800-meter heats, Fuller returned and finished second in both the 800 and 1,500 and gutted his way to a seventh in the 5,000. He did everything except stand on his head – well, actually, he did that, too, posing for a post-meet photo – and earned co-track athlete of the meet honors with Treasure Valley hurdler Keith Williams.

“I know I didn’t win anything, but in the bigger picture, we won the trophy and that’s all I was shooting for,” he said. “I’ll remember this forever.”

He should, especially since he helped deliver both the knockdown and knockout punches. Lane’s outside chance at dethroning the Sasquatch hinged on winning the head-to-head matchups in the longer races, and A.J. Casteel had just that in mind when he launched his last-lap kick in the 1,500 – building a lead of 25 meters on CCS’ Rick Bogatay. But Casteel was already reeling as he hit the final stretch, and both Bogatay and Fuller surged past him in the last 10 meters, with teammate Cordero Cisneros fourth.

“I didn’t think there was enough time to catch him,” said Bogatay, who was timed in 3 minutes, 57.50 seconds, “but I’m glad to be wrong.”

Later, Blake Harmon and Matt Helgath sandwiched Fuller and Cisneros in a 1-2-3-4 sweep of the 800. Casteel, a 1:51 half-miler but wiped out from his 1,500 ordeal, jogged the race.

“That was the dagger,” said Beatty.

Even when the meet was decided, the Sasquatch distance corps didn’t let off the gas – Mark Currell leading another 23-point barrage in the 5,000. Currell could empathize with Fuller’s No. 2 blues; including cross country, the sophomore from Selah had been runner-up in five NWAACC championship races until blowing away the field in the 5,000.

“It’s been something of a curse for me,” he said. “I do really good throughout the year and then somehow fall apart at the end. But sometimes things really do work out.”

Ask Deji Adebayo, whose debut season as a sprinter had the requisite storybook finish with a narrow victory in the 100 in 10.81. Or Elvie Williams, who after adding a foot to his lifetime best in winning the long jump Monday, came back with a 4-inch PR in high jump and wound up scoring 33 1/2 points to earn field athlete of the meet honors. Or even Rashad Toussaint, who bombed badly in the long jump – missing the finals he was expected to win – but recovering to go 49 feet, 4 1/2 inches to win the triple jump.

The Sasquatch women had some big producers – Shannon Long winning the 100 (12.48) and 200 (25.68) and anchoring the short relay, and Natalie Abersfeller using a victory in the triple jump (37-5) as the centerpiece of a 26 1/2 point effort. But none was bigger than Nash, who was pretty much unbeatable – though her nerves tried.

Those came into play after she’d won the 100 hurdles in 15.03 to go with Monday’s high jump victory, a fifth in the 100 and a second in the heptathlon earlier this month.

With the 400 hurdles looming, however, she was ready to pull out.

“It’s just such a hard race – harder than all my others combined,” she said. “I’ve been running it for a while, but I still get that yucky feeling beforehand. It’s just nerves and because I know it’s going to be a hard race and I’m just not sure I’m going to be ready.”

And the antidote?

“The coach told me, ‘You just do it.’ So I just did it.”

And won it, too.

The women’s athlete of the meet awards went to Lane sprinter Kristina Ely and thrower Charlene Moody.