Blackhawks capture nine district titles, finish second as a team
Calvin Berstler (left) battles Deer Park’s Jade Wilson in the finals of the boys 110-meter high hurdles. Berstler finished 17/100ths of a second behind Wilson for second place and a berth in this weekend’s regional meet.
Chae Brown went 36 feet, 8 inches to capture the District 7 triple jump title and berth to this week’s regional meet with Central Washington Athletic Conference teams in Prosser.
The only place the Cheney girls’ track team didn’t dominate last weekend’s District 7 meet at West Valley was on the scoreboard. The Blackhawks won nine district event championships and placed second in three, but came up 10 points short of a team title, losing 155-145 to East Valley.
“We just didn’t quite have the depth as East Valley,” head coach Tom Stralser said, adding the Knights managed just two district champions and four, second place finishes.
The top two places advance to regional action with the Central Washington Athletic Conference this Friday at Prosser, with the top four moving on to state May 23-25.
While the team title proved elusive, it was a good day for Cheney, beginning with Chae Brown. The junior won the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.67 seconds, and was a part of the 4x200 relay team, along with Kendall Dunn, Johanna Sherman and Janessa Day, that turned in a season-best mark of 1 minute, 45.02 seconds for first in that event.
When she wasn’t sprinting on the track, Brown was sprinting between events on the field where she earned a district title in the triple jump at 36 feet, 8 inches, placing second in the high jump at 5-02. Colville’s Tora Luu captured first with a leap of 5-04.
“She (Brown) just missed at 5-5, and she had to pass at 5-4 due to other events,” Stralser said.
Day won district titles in the 200 and 400, the first in 25.88 and the second with a season best time of 57.57, fourth-fastest in state 2A classification this season. Sanne Holland captured district titles in the 1,600 and 3,200-meter runs with times of 5:15.95 and 11:58.55.
Dunn took first in the 300 hurdles with a time of 44.15, an automatic time that was not only a season best but also possibly another Cheney High record, Stralser said. Dunn also moved on to regionals in the 200 with a second-place time of 26.36.
Also having a good day was Kinsey Pease. The junior was fifth in the javelin until she tossed a new personal record of 121.5 that vaulted her into second and kept her there.
“It stood up all the way through the finals,” Stralser said.
Placing behind East Valley and Cheney in the final standings was Pullman, 126, West Valley, 81.5, Colville, 77.5, Deer Park, 57 and Clarkston, 28.
The Blackhawks boys fourth overall with 61 points, well back of East Valley, West Valley and district champion Deer Park. The Blackhawks had no first place finishes, but managed a couple of seconds from seniors Calvin Berstler and Eric Igbinoba.
Berstler advanced to regional competition in both hurdle events, placing second in the 110 highs in a time of 15.30 and second in the 300 in 39.76. Igbinoba was second in the triple jump with a season best mark of 42-10 3/4, giving him the 10th best mark in 2A statewide.
John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.
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