Great individual efforts highlight Medical Lake’s track outing

By PAUL DELANEY

Staff Reporter

From a team standpoint,

last Thursday’s Great Northern

League track meet with Cheney

was just another case where undermanned

Medical Lake came up

on the short end of the score.

From the individual standpoint,

however, there were significant

improvements once one

peeled back a few layers from the

Blackhawks’ wins - 91-49 on the

boys’ side and 98-45 for the girls.

Most notable among the Medical

Lake efforts might have been

the sweep Emily Pake accomplished

in throwing events.

Pake swept throwing events,

winning the shot put with a throw

of 32 feet, 7 ½ inches, the discus on

a fling of 107-4 – a PR for the senior

– plus win by 10-feet in the javelin

at 104 even. “A sweep is a nice

thing and to do it against Cheney,”

coach Phil Averill said.

“It’s nice to see her progressing

like that,” Averill said. “I think she

was ranked in the top-10 in the

state with her previous mark so

it’s exciting to see her improve at

this stage in the season.”

Making the effort that much

more special was it was Senior

Day and Pake’s parents were on

hand to watch.

Shadowing Pake was freshman

Libby Klettke. “I know Libby

Klettke had a pretty good day,”

Averill said of the freshman who

threw the shot 27 10 ½. “That’s

nice to have her working with

Emily because as Emily improves

so does Libby and that’s the effect

you want your seniors to have on

the underclassmen.”

In the long jump, Shelby Murray,

“is doing a pretty good job

of improving,” Averill said. She

won the event with a leap of 13-

11. The sophomore has shown

steady improvement in all of her

disciplines, including the triple

jump. “She also plays a vital roll in

the girls’ relay team,” Averill said.

With Sarah Vincent sidelined with

an ankle injury, Averill said it was

nice to see Murray “come up big

and have a PR,” he added.

The Cards got a great performance

from Madison Greenhall,

Hanna Chavez, Lauren Allgood

and Nicole Berry who combined

for a time of 57 seconds to win the

4x100, the other first place finish

on the girls’ side.

Richard Aley had a pair of second

places finishes in the shot put

(38-6) and discus (124-5). What

might be most remarkable is that

the senior was doing his throws

without aid of being able to rotate

– of use his lower body – due to an

injury sustained in football.

“It’s just crazy,” Averill said,

“he’s fourth or fifth in the conference

without being able to do the

full rotation.” Aley was scheduled

to see his doctor and hopefully get

clearance to return to his normal

routine.

Averill said one of the good

things about Aley’s training and

competition so far is that he’s

been able to fine-tune all the other

aspects of his throws.

“So when it comes time for him

to be able to do the spin, the other

stuff is going to be taken care of,”

his coach said. “We’re hoping for

him to be in a position to get to

state when he gets to spin.”

Junior Matt Friddle battled

Cheney’s DeAngelo Jones into

“overtime” so-to-speak in the high

jump as the two had to compete in

a “jump-off” to decide things. The

two were tied at 5-feet, 8-inches.

The bar was moved to 5-10 and

neither made it, but Jones won

it on his leap of 5-9. “DeAngelo

cleared it and Matt didn’t; kind of

the sudden death of jump-offs.”

Friddle did nail down a first

place in the triple-jump at 39-5.

So did Clay Watters in the 110

hurdles, clocking a time of 17.20.

Jarrod Swanson trailed Jones

by 11 inches in the final tally in the

long jump, but Averill reminded,

“Jarrod had another great day.”

He PR’d in the long jump by six

inches. “He has a little side bet

with his mom on how far he can

jump so he’s working towards that

every day.”

Swanson also won the 200 meters

in close to his season-best time

and had a couple of legs in the

relays. Swanson and the Cards’

Dominique Brown went one-two

in the 200. Brown also clocked

an 11.30 to beat teammate Tim

Haynes in the 100.

Averill thought the team did

pretty well in their strong spots.

“We’re just hoping we can have

some positive performances and

develop as a team when conference

rolls around and hopefully

send some kids to state.”

Medical Lake will next hit the

track in a double-dual meet next

Thursday at West Valley when

they face the host Eagles and

Colville in an event beginning

at 3:30 p.m.

Paul Delaney can be reached at

pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.