Blackhawk boys edged by Selah for regional title

The Cheney High boys cross country team fulfilled one of its season goals last Saturday - making a return trip to the 2A state cross country championships this Saturday at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco.

The Blackhawks were edged out of a title by Selah at the Central Washington Athletic Conference regional championships, Oct. 29, at Apple Ridge Golf Course in Cowiche, losing 65-66 to the Vikings. The top-four teams from the regional glue-in advanced, with Pullman third at 69 points and Ellensburg fourth at 70 points.

Matthew Christianson continued his late-season surge, finishing as Cheney's top runner with a time of 16 minutes, 11.6 seconds, good enough for seventh overall and a season best mark. Bas Holland was ninth in 16:13, also a season-best, with Drake Johnson 11th in 16:15.7.

Jack Peabody was 25th in 16:42.5 while Kaleb Lerch finished 28th with a time of 16:45.7 to wrap up the Blackhawks scoring. Both times were season-best performances.

Tucker Cunningham was 31st in 16:53.6 while Andres Margraf finished 46th in 17:20.6, continuing performances that stretched onto the girls side with season-best marks.

Co-coach Derek Slaughter was pleased with his guys efforts. The seniors on the squad - Christiansen, Johnson, Lerch and Peabody - are all running hard.

"If they don't give 100 percent, they know they'll have regrets," Slaughter said.

Slaughter praised Cunningham's race, noting he was only 5.9 seconds off Cheney's fifth scorer's pace at the finish. If that effort continues this Saturday, the sophomore could end up helping the Blackhawks score by holding off other teams' No. 5 runners.

"This means, he counts," Slaughter said. "It gives him a lot of confidence he can compete now with other fives at state."

The five Cheney girls finished just short of their goal to get into the top 28 individual places and by doing so compete as a team at state. As a team at regionals, the Blackhawks placed fifth overall with 123 points, 13 back of surging West Valley-Spokane in fourth and 64 back of regional champion Selah. The Great Northern League's other entry, Pullman, was second with 60 points.

Hannah Spakousky led Cheney with an eighth-place time of 19:33.8, with fellow junior Brette Draper 20th in 20:02.3 and freshman Megan Habegger 23rd in 20:14.5. Senior Lexi Brooks just missed the cut, finishing 29th with a time of 20:34.9, 3.5 seconds behind Ellensburg's Elisa Wallace in 28th. Junior Jolene Whiteley rounded out Cheney's field with a 44th-place finish in 22:08.4.

Slaughter was impressed with how the Cheney girls ran, especially against West Valley-Spokane. The Eagles top-four runners have managed to place themselves between Spakousky and Cheney's No. 2 runner at the last two meets, but at Cowiche, Draper and Habegger were able to break up this pattern.

Part of that came from Draper's effort on the stretch run to the finish, where she passed several runners including Habegger, then helped pull the freshman along to place higher at the end.

Slaughter was disappointed for Brooks, who finished one spot out of qualifying for state. Her sister Alecia finished one spot short of qualifying for regionals out of districts Oct. 22.

"As a coach, that's the kind of stuff that strikes your heart," Slaughter said.

Alecia Brooks did get to run in the junior varsity girls race against the CWAC, finishing second in 21:01.8 and helping the Blackhawks to a third-place finish. The Cheney JV boys also had a good race, finishing second with 61 points, well back of Ellensburg with 23 points.

Slaughter said the boys had some added incentive as the top-two team placers in the JV race would qualify for Pasco as alternates. That honor went to Dillon Newbry, fourth overall in 17:48.8, and Patrick Purviance, 12th in 18:27.3.

According to information from the meet website, the 2A girls race begins at 11:30 a.m. with the boys slated to begin at 1:30 p.m.

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