After a little over a “week off,” the Cheney High School boys and girls cross country teams returned to action last week and picked up where they had “left off” — winning in the Great Northern League. The Blackhawks’ boys scratched and clawed their way to a close win over West Valley, 26-30, Oct. 7 while the girls had a little easier time dispatching the Eagles on their 5,000-meter home course at Plantes Ferry Park, winning 20-38.
Hannah Spakousky captured first place for the Cheney girls, finishing 9 seconds ahead of West Valley’s Sydney Stone in a time of 21 minutes, 6 seconds. Brette Draper (21:38), Abby Hammermeister (21:40) and Lexi Brooks (22:08) finished 3-4-5 while Alecia Brooks (23:03) and Jessica Vietzke (23:15) went 6-7.
Drake Johnson led the Cheney boys with a time of 17:07 to finish second, 6 seconds back of West Valley’s Jacob Nicholson. Matt Christianson was third in 17:27, Kaleb Lerch fifth in 17:42, senior Mason Van Stone in his first race of the season was sixth in 17:46 with Jack Peabody finishing ninth in 18:11 to complete Cheney’s scoring.
Luke Huguenin and Ryan Axtell were 14th and 15th respectively in 19:15 and 19:23 to complete the Blackhawks varsity finishes.
Isaiah Rigo was first in the wheelchair race with a time of 8:23. Boys coach Derek Slaughter said it was the last race for the sophomore for the next couple weeks as he left Oct. 14 for Doha, Qatar to compete in the Paralympic World Track Championships.
Rigo will represent the United States in the 1,500-meter wheelchair race, and will return in time to compete in the 2A state cross country championships Nov. 7 in Pasco.
“He’s got a big month ahead of him,” Slaughter said.
Last Saturday the Blackhawks traveled to Sandpoint, Idaho for the William Johnson Sandpoint Invitational, with the boys’ varsity placing second and the girls fourth over the 5,000-meter course.
Johnson took first overall in the boys’ race with a new season-best time of 16:24.53, just over 4 seconds ahead of Coeur d’Alene High School’s Nolan Mullen-Huber. Slaughter said he was impressed with way the junior ran the race tactically, noting he kept a solid pace until Mullen-Huber closed the gap and challenged him in the final 400 meters before the finish.
“He (Johnson) put 10 quick steps on the guy, the guy (Mullen-Huber) put his head down and I knew he had it won,” Slaughter said.
Christianson (16:48.70) was sixth, VanStone (17:32.88) was 18th, Lerch (17:35.58) was 22nd and Peabody 27th (17:43.29) to complete the Blackhawks scoring, Huguenin 42nd and freshman Tucker Cunningham 54th.
Spakousky was seventh for the Cheney varsity girls in a time of 19:58.05, also a season best. Lexi Brooks was 29th (21:46.67), Draper 31st (21:54.51), Hammermeister 36th (22:05.03) and Sara Nanny a surprising 38th (22:13.48) to emerge as the Blackhawks’ fifth and final scorer, with Vietzke 56th overall.
“She (Nanny) stepped up and ran an amazing race to be our five,” girls coach Camille Moseley said.
Cheney’s final meet of the regular season is at home today (Oct. 15) and it’s a big one. The Blackhawks host Pullman at Salnave Park in a battle of GNL unbeaten teams, with the winner in both the boys and girls races capturing the regular-season title. The boys come in unranked in the Oct. 7 Washington State Cross Country Coaches Association 2A poll, but own victories over eighth-ranked West Valley and “others” East Valley, while the girls received an “others” mention in their poll.
John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].
Reader Comments(0)