Medical Lake track accomplishes mission at Pasco Invitational

Members of the Medical Lake High School track team had one goal in mind when they ventured to the elite competition found at the Pasco invitational.

It was simply to get better, and according to head coach Gene Blankenship they did just that.

With 60 boys’ teams and another 56 on the girls’ side, the Cardinals chose not to chase team points, won by 4A schools, Wenatchee in boys and Kamiakin girls.

“The whole purpose of going there is to have the kids realize what it’s like so they settle their nerves early, learn how to deal with them and perform to the best of their ability against top competition,” Blankenship said.

Medical Lake’s boys reeled off a series of good performances at Edgar Brown Stadium.

Domenic Rehm set a school record in the 1,600 meters with a time of 4 minute, 21.86 seconds. Rehm’s 4:23.49 in the mile was also a record. Micah Dingfield’s 4:34.16 time in the 1,600 was his personal best.

In field events, Elijah Farmen recorded a personal best in the javelin with a throw of 164 feet, 10 inches.

The Cardinal girls had personal bests in the 100-meters with Lexie Rolan, where the sophomore clocked a 13.40 second effort. Mariah Pena recorded a time of 2 minutes, 24.91 second performance in the 800-meters. “Those are this year’s bests, they’re not their PRs (personal records),” Blankenship explained.

“Hopefully it prepares the competitors for districts and state,” Blankenship said. But before that comes the Northeast A League dual-meet schedule. Medical Lake traveled to Newport to face off against the hosts and Freeman April 22 and are home Tuesday, April 28 versus Deer Park and Lakeside.

Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.