Rigo repeats, Blackhawk boys seventh at state

Cheney High School's Isaiah Rigo has another athletic accolade he can add to his trophy case, or hang on his wall at home.

The Blackhawks sophomore burst out to a big lead on the cold and foggy 2.3-mile wheelchair course at last Saturday's cross country state championships at Pasco's Sun Willows Course, and managed to hold off a late charge from Spokane-area rival Michael Hoyt of Mt. Spokane to win his second consecutive state championship.

Rigo finished with a time of 7 minutes, 15.5 seconds, three-10ths of a second ahead of Hoyt and 37.4 seconds better than his state-title time in 2014.

It was the start of a good day for Cheney runners. The Blackhawks boys finished their season of exceeding expectations by, well, exceeding expectations to finish seventh overall in the state 2A race.

Cheney earned 202 points, one ahead of Ridgefield but well back of the 55 earned by Sehome, which won its fourth straight state title and sixth in the last eight years.

Drake Johnson led the Blackhawks boys, finishing 25th overall in a time of 16:26.7. Head coach Derek Slaughter said the junior ran in the top-20 pack for the majority of the race until a nagging hip injury caused him to fade late.

Four of Cheney's top-five scoring runners at Pasco are juniors. Besides Johnson, Matt Christianson finished 38th with a season-best time of 16:42.4, with senior Mason VanStone 62nd in 17:01.2, followed by Kaleb Lerch in 66th at 17:03.9 and rounded out by Jack Peabody's time of 17:08.4 for 71st.

VanStone, Lerch and Peabody all posted new season-best times, as did senior Luke Huguenin, 117th in 17:54.2 and freshman Tucker Cunningham in 127th in 18:22.3.

"Everyone ran as fast as they could," Slaughter said.

Slaughter said he was impressed with all seven runners in a race that, as typically happens at state, started out at a very fast pace. It was good to see the team stay with the pace of the lead pack, he added.

Cheney's only female competitor, Hannah Spakousky, also had a good day in Pasco. The sophomore started out around 40th, Slaughter said, but picked up her pace late and finished strong, placing 30th overall in 20:07.9.

"She's been a tough runner this season in the second half (of races)," he added.

Slaughter said the Cheney girls had high hopes this season, having made state last year as a team. This year they came up short in regional competition, but learned a valuable lesson.

"The girls got a kick in the butt that state's not automatic," Slaughter said.

As for the boys, Slaughter didn't know exactly what he had at the beginning of the season. Now that they have won a Great Northern League regular season title, a District 7 championship and were second at regionals against a strong Central Washington Athletic Conference, the Blackhawks boys have a sample of what could be and know what they have to work on in the off season to make what Slaughter thinks is the next step.

"A good goal for the next year is getting a trophy (at state)," he said.

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