Blackhawks drop league meet with East Valley

Cheney High's boys' and girls' track and field teams came up a bit short in their upset bid attempt of East Valley at a Great Northern League dual meet in Cheney, April 21. The Blackhawks boys fell to the Knights 82-63 while the girls went down 91-59.

The Cheney girls notched four first-place finishes in track competition, led by Alsatta Bakana. The sophomore captured both the 100- and 200-meter dashes in 12.94 seconds and 26.73 respectively, the latter a season-best time.

Kristie McGourin won the 400 with a time of 1 minute, 3.30 seconds, also a season best. The 4x400 team of Savannah Hyde, Ally Jones, Abby Hammermeister and McGourin easily out-distanced their competition, winning with at time of 4:26.59.

Second-place finishes went to Hammermeister in the 1,600, Hannah Spakousky in the 3,200 and Julliette Gaul in the 300 hurdles. Spakousky finished third in the 1,600, as did Jolene Whiteley in the 400, Alexis Schmidt in the 800, Brette Draper in the 3,200 and Stephanie Assonken in the 100 hurdles.

Cheney was led in the field by Rylie Pease, whose throw of 138 feet, 9 inches was not only good for first in the javelin and a season best, but was also the best throw by 2A athletes so far this season. Bakana captured the high jump with a jump of 5 feet while Zoe Lamb took first in the pole vault at 10 feet and Ally Jones won the triple jump with a season-best leap of 33-09.

Third-place finishes went to McGourin in the discus, Makayla Miller in the pole vault, Assonken in the long jump and Hyde in the triple jump.

Drake Johnson paced the Cheney boys on the track, capturing the 1,600 in 4:50.36 and the 3,200 in 10:41.14, with Isaiah Rigo winning the wheelchair 1,600 in 4:39.20.

Peyton Putney won the 400 in a season-best 52.43, while the 4x100 team of Chris Diaz, Putney, Khalil Wallace and Charles Johnson hit the tape first in 44.74.

Charles Johnson notched a pair of second-place finishes in the 100 and 200, setting season-best marks in both, while Drake Johnson was second in the 800, also a season best. Kaleb Loos was third in the 100, as was Putney in the 200, Gaige Felix in the 400, Matt Christianson in the 1,600 and 3,200 and Isaiah Dunn in the 110 hurdles.

In the field, Houston Moczulski captured the pole vault with a season-best 11-06, Charles Johnson won the long jump in 19-05.25 and Felix captured the triple jump in 39-11. Second-place finishes went to Brock Winegar in the javelin, Dawson West in the high jump and Felix in the long jump with third-place finishes going to Chase Reed in the shot put, Luca Fleri in the high jump, Zach Nance in the pole vault and Loos in the triple jump.

Saturday, both Blackhawks squads competed against 22 other teams in the 53rd annual Mooberry Relays at Rogers High School in Spokane, with the girls placing ninth and the boys 12th.

In the traditional track and field events, Pease gave Cheney its only first-place finish, winning the javelin with a throw of 134-11. Bakana was third in the high jump; Miller was one of 14 who tied for second in the pole vault at 8 feet while Hyde tied for sixth in the triple jump.

Bakana was second in the 100 and Spakousky finished fourth in the 3,200 and ninth in the 1,600. The 4x100 team of Jones, KD Skillingstad, Assonken and Bakana was sixth.

Charles Johnson was third in the 100 while Putney finished sixth (season best 11.30). The 4x100 team of Loos, Garrett Hagel, Wallace and Diaz was ninth.

Reed set a new season best of 139-05 for seventh in the discus, Charles Johnson was fourth in the long jump (season best 20-09.5) while Felix was sixth in the triple jump and seventh in the long jump (season best 20-0.5).

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