Small Blackhawks contingent does well at state track

For a young team, the Cheney boys and girls track and field squads gave indications of good things to come next year during their post-season meets, including last weekend’s 2A/3A/4A state competition at Mount Tahoma High School in Tacoma.

Three of the four girls making the trip made it to the medal stand, while the lone Blackhawk boy, Steaven Zachman, also brought home hardware. The junior qualified for the finals in the 800-meter run with a preliminary time of 1 minute, 59.38 seconds on Friday and then turned around and bettered it 24 hours later by over 3 seconds with a season-best 1:56.75 to place fifth.

The performance helped Zachman end the season with the sixth-best boys 800 mark among state 2A schools.

Senior Johanna Sherman led the girls with a fifth-place finish in the 300 low hurdles, running a 46.55 in the prelims and 46.54 in the finals, also a season best. Freshman KD Skillingstad turned in a jump of 35 feet, 4.75 inches for sixth in the triple jump, and while not a season best, she ended her first high school season ranked seventh in the state among 2A school athletes in the event.

Senior Kinsey Pease was Cheney’s final placer, tossing the javelin 122-01 to finish seventh. With an earlier season toss of 126 feet, Pease ended her high school career ranked seventh in the state in 2A.

The only Cheney athlete missing the medal stand was junior pole-vaulter Jamie Bradley. Her 9-foot vault was six inches short of getting her onto the podium; although head coach Tom Stralser saw promise for the future by noting she had “some great practices up to the meet.”

Stralser said both Sherman and Pease would be competing next year in college. As for the future of Cheney track and field, Stralser sees good things, especially with the girls, who will have more experience, and expects to see a good group coming up from the middle schools.

“Our athletes all got better, stronger and learned how to compete during the season,” he said in an email. “We look forward to next year and the development into the type of team that continues to define the history of Cheney girls’ track and field.”

John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.