By John McCallum
Editor 

Blackhawk boys share 2A state track and field title

 

Last updated 6/1/2017 at 10:33am

Tom Stralser

Cheney sprinter Alsatta Bakana receives accolades from her teammates while standing next to the reader board displaying her state 2A meet record-setting time in the 200-meter dash.

Almost 60 hours later, Cheney High boys track and field head coach Derek Slaughter still couldn't believe it.

"It's surreal," Slaughter said Tuesday afternoon about his Blackhawk boys accomplishments at state last weekend. "It still hasn't sunk in yet."

The Cheney boys tied Ridgefield with 48 points to earn a share of the 2A state championship at competition May 25 – 27 at Mount Tahoma High School in Lakewood. The Blackhawk girls weren't far back either, tying Ellensburg with 45 points for fourth overall.

While the boys sealed their win with a state championship in the 4x400 meter relay, it was their only first-place finish of the meet. What got them to a title were some all-time performances.

Junior Charles Johnson set new school records with a pair of second-place finishes in the 100 and 200, turning in personal bests of 10.66 seconds and 21.60. Add to that Drake Johnson.

The senior out-leaned Ridgefield's Silas Griffith at the tape for second in the 1,600 in 4:18.45, setting a school record and new PR in an event he finished 14th in last year. Drake Johnson also set a new school record and PR in the 800, finishing third in 1:54.82.

And then there's Brock Winegar. The senior bettered his previous PR by 16 feet to take second in the javelin with a throw of 186 feet, 10 inches - placing him second all-time in the event in school history.

That set the stage for the final event - the 4x400. The Blackhawks were seventh in the prelims, but after Peyton Putney pulled himself from the lineup because of an injury, Isaiah Dunn stepped in and the all-junior lineup of Carson Brown, Kevin Houndonougbo, Dunn and Charles Johnson held off Great Northern League rival West Valley -first in prelims - for the state title in 3:25.08.

Add in junior Isaiah Rigo's second-place finishes in the 100, 400, 800 and 1,600 wheelchair races, and Cheney finished second to 3A Mount Spokane in the combined team scores. Slaughter said the boys have battled all year, losing by one or two points in meets but coming up big when it counted most.

"In the end, our guys followed through and did what they needed to do," he added.

In contrast to the boys, Cheney's girls notched three state titles, two by junior Alsatta Bakana. The junior set a new meet, school and personal best in the 200 with a 24.48 in prelims, and fell just short of bettering that for first in the finals in 24.49.

Bakana captured first in the 400 in 56.86, and was second in the high jump at 5-04. Girls head coach Tom Stralser said it was sprints coach Stephanie Butler who deserves the credit for the junior's improvements this year.

"It is the event coach that did the work," he added.

Rylie Pease finished her high school career with something that has proved elusive her last couple times at state: a title. The senior, slated to compete in track and field at Princeton next year, was second in 2015 and third in 2016 in the javelin, but she won it all this year with a throw of 147-06.

"She was calm, cool, collected, unlike last year," Stralser said. "She only had one throw under 130 (feet) and two throws under 140, out of six throws. She deserved to win it, she was the class of the competition."

Slaughter added that it was a credit to javelin coach Shannon Root, who not only had a state champion but a runner up in Winegar.

The only girls' relay team to mount the podium was the 4x400, with Maddie Warren, Jocelyn Cone, Jolene Whiteley and Bakana placing fifth. Joining Bakana with points in the field were pole vaulters Sophia Van Wormer and Zoe Lamb, placing fifth and eighth.

Cheney will feel the loss to graduation of seniors such as Drake Johnson, Winegar and Pease. But with most of their young team likely to return next season, both Slaughter and Stralser can hardly wait for February 2018.

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

Author Bio

John McCallum, Retired editor

John McCallum is an award-winning journalist who retired from Cheney Free Press after more than 20 years. He received 10 Washington Newspaper Publisher Association awards for journalism and photography, including first place awards for Best Investigative, Best News and back-to-back awards in Best Breaking News categories.

 

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