Blackhawks boys experience first loss against Colville
By JOHN McCALLUM
Editor
Cheney cross country coach Jay Martin knew heading into the season just how tough the Great Northern League was going to be.
After last Tuesday's double dual meet with visiting Colville and Pullman, it's likely the rest of the Blackhawks now have a better idea too.
The girls' team experienced their closest meet yet scoring-wise in downing the Indians 25-35, while also knocking off Pullman 19-49 to remain unbeaten in GNL competition. The boys on the other hand suffered their first loss at the hands of an up and coming Colville squad, 25-30, but like their female teammates, downed the Greyhounds 19-36.
Cheney's girls landed six runners in the top 10, led by Kendall Dunn. The freshman battled Pullman's Sarel Lumas throughout until pulling ahead at the wire to win in a time of 20 minutes, 11 seconds, two seconds ahead of Lumas.
“They were just neck and neck the whole way,” Martin said. “She (Dunn) had it at the end.”
Five Hawks and three Indians runners comprised the remainder of the top 10. Cheney's April Batchelor, Aime Zachman and Shelby Maurer finished 5-7 with times of 20:30, 20:43 and 20:58 while Savannah Phelan topped off the Hawks' scoring with a ninth place finish in 21:49. Amanda Batchelor was 10th in 21:53 and Sarah Benzel 11th in 21:57.
The Cheney boys also found themselves in a battle with Colville, staying with the pace until the Indians' Ned Fischer and Colton Hastings pulled away from the pack in the final mile to finish 1-2 respectively with times of 16:20 and 16:26.
Nash Springberry led Cheney with a third-place finish in 16:47. Devon Poulsen finished fourth in 16:57, nine seconds ahead of Colville's Jake Nielsen while Jacob Mager was sixth in 17:13 and Tully Kerr 10th in 17:40, two seconds behind Colville's Biagio Pietrobugh. Ian Kuula finished 12th in 17:32 to wrap up Cheney's scoring, while Thomas Orth-Hall was 18th in 18:20.
Martin said the race gave his boys' team a chance to see what they're going to have to accomplish at district competition if the Hawks hope to advance as a team to the state met in Pasco on Nov. 7. Colville has a strong top two in Fischer and Hastings, and solid running experience after that.
“If we're going to beat them we're going to have to break that up and pack it up on their fifth guy,” Martin said.
The Hawks get one more tune up meet before districts, if hosting Deer Park and Riverside on Tuesday, Oct. 20 can be called a tune up. The Rams boys placed fifth at 2A state in 2008, 20 points behind Cheney while the Stags and Rams girls' squads went 5-6 at Pasco's Sun Willows Golf course competition last fall.
The Rams boys lost four of their five scorers from last year, including top runner Joey Nyberg (eighth at 2008 state), but seem to always reload. The Rams and Stags girls each lost a pair of runners, including top finishers Amanda Wilson (11th in 2008) and Chantel Duenich (13th in 2008) but return a veteran group of underclassmen, led by Riverside sophomore Jesse Mildes, who was 18th at state last year as a freshman.
John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.
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