Hawks off to good start with wins over GNL's Valley schools
By JOHN McCALLUM
Editor
Cheney's boys' track team opened their run for a third straight Great Northern League title in successful fashion last Thursday, downing East Valley and West Valley in the first league meet of the season. The Blackhawks had little trouble knocking off either school, beating East Valley 80.33 to 64.66 while handing the host Eagles an 89-56 setback.
“The guys competed hard and stepped up,” Cheney head coach Todd Hering said. “They showed why they belong at the top.”
Seniors Diondre Moore-Young and Nashua Springberry led the Blackhawks on the track. Moore-Young captured first in the 100-meters with a time of 11.55 seconds, the 110-meter hurdles in 15.31 and the 300 hurdles in 40.62 while Springberry captured firsts in the 800 and 1,600 with times of 2:05.40 and 4:39.
Senior Aaron Brenton teamed with Springberry to give Cheney a 1-2 punch in the 800 and 1,600, taking second in both races, clocking 2:06 and 4:40. Devon Poulsen took second in the 3,200 in 10:23 while seniors Collin Beeler and Dillon Phelps went 2-3 in the 400 in 54.63 and 55.25.
Ryan Utley was fourth in the 200 in 24.57 with Jeff Pool fifth in the 110 hurdles in 18.60. In the relays Cheney's 4x100 team of Devon Johns, Moore-Young, Zac Mitchell and Dietrich Smith took first with a time of 44.70 while the 4x400 team was second in 3:36.20.
Seniors Michael Payne and Dakota Condos both came up with wins in field events. Payne took first in the discus with a toss of 137 feet, 5 inches, finishing second in the shot at 49-04 while Condos captured first in the javelin with a throw of 171-09. Condos also took a pair of fourth-place finishes in the shot (40-01) and the discus (127-10), with senior Chris Sutter fourth in the javelin (139-06).
In the high jump Johns finished in a three-way tie for third with a leap of 5-4, and teamed with Sutter for a 3-4 finish in the long jump, placing third at 19-4. Robert Meyer and Josh Bradley went 2-3 in the pole vault with vaults of 11 feet even and 9-6 while senior Krieg McEuin took third in the triple jump in 39-02.
The Blackhawks placed no fewer than two participants in the top 10 in all track events and no less than three in all field events to propel them to the two league wins, placing a high of five in the top 10 in the 100, 800, 1,600 and triple jump. For Hering the wins came down to Beeler and Phelps in the 400 and the 4x100 team.
“Those two events I didn't have us doing real well, and at that time we were behind,” he said. “That (two results) put us ahead and we stayed there.”
Besides league competition the Blackhawks split their squad on Saturday, sending qualifiers to the Pasco Invitational in the Tri-Cities with the rest of the team staying home to compete in the seven-team Big Red Classic where they finished sixth with 41 points.
Smith led the Blackhawks at the Big Red, finishing third in the 200 in 23.21 and fourth in the 100 in 11.10. Phelps was fourth in the 400 in 54.05 with Eric Igbinoba and Pool both fifth in the 110 and 300 hurdles respectively in 17.00 and 45.66.
In the field Johns finished second in the long jump with a leap of 20-3/4, with Sutter fifth. Sutter was third in the high jump at 5-8 with Meyer fifth in the pole vault at 12 even.
At Pasco the Cheney boys finished 15th out of 55 teams from all classification levels in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Canada. Moore-Young captured first in the 110 hurdles in 14.78, a quarter-second improvement over his prelim time, while finishing fourth in the 300 hurdles in 40.40 and eighth in the 100.
In the field, senior Brennen Wynd finished tied with seven other vaults in the pole vault at 13-06.
Cheney returns to league action this week, taking on Pullman and Clarkston Tuesday at Pullman, and finishing the week Saturday at the annual Mooberry Relays at Whitworth University.
John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.
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