Blackhawk boys' track and field splits at Colville

The Cheney boys’ track and field squad earned a split in Great Northern League action last Thursday at Colville, losing 106-39 to West Valley but downing the host Indians 80-56.

Jesse Hallstrom and Calvin Berstler led the Blackhawks with a pair of first place finishes on the track. Hallstrom turned in a season-best of 2 minutes, 1 second to capture the 800-meter dash while Berstler went 15:37 to win the 110 hurdles, finishing second in the 300 hurdles in 40.90.

Tom Trude was second in the 400 (54.44) with Carson Kerr fourth while Kyle Lerch finished third in the 3,200 and fourth in the 1,600. Samson Brown and Joey Kowalski tied for third in the 200 at 23.79 each.

The 4x100 relay team of Eric Igbinoba, Marquis Diomede, Brown and Berstler was second in 44.73 with the 4x400 team of Hallstrom, Kerr, Trude and Matthew Duray second in 3:46.80.

In field events Igbinoba won the triple jump with a leap of 42 feet, 5 1/2 inches, a season best by 2 1/2 inches and putting him into the top 10 in 2A state at ninth. Kowalski was second at 41-04 1/2.

Igbinoba and Berstler went 2-3 in the long jump at 19-05 and 18-11 3/4 with Bret Wyborney and Josh Baker 3-4 in the shot put, Tom Littau fourth in the pole vault and Jordan Vivar, Bradley Kinman and Brown fifth in the discus, javelin and triple jump for Cheney’s other top-5 finishes.

Saturday the Blackhawks competed at the Riverside Invitational, placing fifth out of 23 teams. Berstler earned the only individual meet titles, winning the 110 hurdles in 15.28 and the 300 hurdles in 39.72, the latter a season best and moving him into sixth in the state. Lerch was fourth in the 1,600 and Hallstrom fifth in the 800 for the other top-10 individual finishes.

Caleb Deshazo, Berstler, Brown and Igbinoba captured first in the 4x100 relay with a time of 45.07. In field events, Igbinoba was third in the triple jump and seventh in the long jump while Kinman was ninth in the javelin.

Cheney wraps up its GNL season Wednesday with a meet in Clarkston. District 7 competition takes place May 9-10 at West Valley.

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