Rehm has a good morning after 1A 1,600 win

Domenic Rehm didn’t like running the 1,600 meters in the morning. That was until Friday morning when the Medical Lake senior torched his final 400 meters en route to his first State 1A championship.

Rehm ran his last 400 in 56.8 seconds and beat three other runners who had earlier posted faster times.

“That was the fastest lap I’ve ever had, even in an 800,” said Rehm, who qualified for today’s final in the 800. “If I was in the lead in the last lap, I didn’t think anyone else could get me.”

The 1,600 was supposed to be run on Thursday but a thunderstorm forced officials to move the event to the beginning of Friday at the 1A, 2B and 1B championships at Eastern Washington University’s Roos Field.

Moving the event to Friday upset Rehm, a senior, who felt great and ready to run Thursday.

“I don’t really like running in the morning,” Rehm said. “But Coach (Gene Blankenship) likes to emphasize adapting to everything.”

Blankenship said Rehm, who finished third in the 1600 and second in the 800 last year, was nervous all week heading into the state meet.

“I’ve never seen him so nervous,” Blankenship said. “He said he runs better in the afternoon. I told him to forget that, he was going to win. There were three guys in the race who were faster, but not today.”

“It was my first state championship. It was great,” he said. “I didn’t really know how to react.”

In the 1B triple jump, Odessa-Harrington’s Sam Schafer didn’t have his best day, but it may not have mattered because Neah Bay’s Elisha Winck jumped 43 feet, 8 inches to win.

“That was a really good jump,” said Schafer, who will run in the finals today of the 100, 200 and compete in the long jump. “The triple jump is a tough event. It’s hard to stay consistent.”

Schafer finished in second place with a jump of 41-5 3/4 and teammate John Dewulf finished fourth with a jump of 40-4 1/4.

In the 1A discus, Deer Park’s Aaron Obert would have won the state title if he had come close to his personal record of 169-8. But he threw 161-5, which was good enough for second place.

“I’ve never competed with this kind of (hot) weather before,” Obert said. “It was hard to get the energy to go out and throw.”

In the 1A boys team standings, King’s led with 32 points. Deer Park was second with 11; six teams, including Medical Lake, were tied for third with 10.

Blankenship said his team has several athletes qualified for today’s final and he expects it will be difficult for Medical Lake to repeat as team champion.

“King’s just has too many bodies,” Blankenship said. “But, I think we’ll finish in the top three.”

North Beach leads in the 2B standings and Lyle/Wishram leads in the 1B