Reign in the rain: Wildcats’ Schneidmiller wins discus
Wind and rain made life less than pleasant for everyone at the District 8 track meet at Spokane Falls Community College Thursday night.
But on occasion the sun poked through, at least long enough for Ian Schneidmiller to enjoy himself.
The Mt. Spokane senior spun the discus 163 feet, 5 inches, a personal record by almost 10 feet, to win the 3A side of the combined Greater Spokane League 4A/3A district championship meet.
“I’ve been throwing well in practice,” Schneidmiller said. “I finally got the form down right and there it was.”
That was the big mark of the day that only had running finals in the 400-meter relay and 3,200, plus 4A preliminaries, and a handful of field events. The meet resumes at 4:30 p.m. today with all finals.
The top eight individuals and top four relays in 4A advance to regional next weekend in Richland, along with the top four 3A individuals and two relays.
Well, not always two relays.
In one of the more odd occurrences, the GSL won’t send any 3A boys 400 relays to regional because both North Central and East Valley failed to get the baton around the track cleanly.
That happened despite the fact they were the only two teams entered and both assured of a regional spot as long as they finished the race.
But that didn’t happen, as the two teams with season bests just a couple of tenths of a second apart couldn’t take it easy. NC messed up the first exchange and EV did the same on the second.
In both cases it was a matter of one runner failing to get the baton to the next within the allowable zone.
That happened during the hardest part of the rain, which can’t be used as an excuse since Ferris’ Kelly McNamee cleared 5-8 at about the same time and then became the only double winner on the day with a leap of 17-3 3/4 inches.
Schneidmiller didn’t have to deal with the rain.
What he had to contend with was his season-long frustration of continually breaking 150 feet, but only recently getting to 154.
“I knew I could do better – I did do better in practice,” he said. “Coach (Bryan Payne) had faith in me. That really helped. That helped me stay in the game mentally.”
Finally everything worked and he uncorked a throw that put the GSL ahead of area 2A and B throwers.
“I think I’ve got more,” Schneidmiller said. “I have some things I can fix that should give me more distance.”
Lewis and Clark shot putter Kiki January had been continually improving in recent weeks, reaching a best of 38-7 just seven days ago, 2 feet beyond anyone else in the league. Then she found herself stuck in the 34s and in second place.
“I’ve got to tell you, I was more than a little upset,” she said.
Finally, one her last throw, she made it past 35 feet, just enough to win.
“If I’m just going to throw 34, I decided what do I have to lose?” she said. “I knew something was wrong, but I might as well go for it.”
January finally decided she could blame her big sister, Briann, a basketball star at Arizona State who is visiting home.
“My sister’s in town, she’s keeping me up late at night,” January said. “I don’t know what was wrong, I really don’t know.”
It was pretty cold when it was time for the 3,200 but East Valley junior Lauren Bergam wasn’t fazed as she coasted to a front-running 8-second win.
“I kind of knew no one would be pushing me,” she said. “Just getting out there and running is my passion. It was great running.”
Without worrying about doubling as is often the case in a league meet, Kelly Lynch of Mead won the 4A boys race with a strong stretch run.
“The GSL wasn’t too fast because I was always going for points,” he said. “I would have like to fun faster times but I knew I could in a big race.”
Great Northern League
West Valley’s girls and boys won league championships with double-dual wins against host Pullman and Colville. Bailey Wold was a triple winner for the girls and Tim Pring and Richard Keroack each won two events for the boys. … Doindre Moore-Young was a triple winner to lead the Cheney boys to a double dual win over Riverside and host Medical Lake. On the girls’ side, Emily Stralser was a double winner to help the Blackhawks win the double dual. … Zach Dixon won the long jump and triple jump to help host Deer Park beat Clarkston in a dual meet. Chantel and Jessica Duenichs won the 1,600 and 3,200 as the Stags girls won their dual.