Blackhawks top Clarkston in GNL cross country opener

Cheney High’s cross country teams began their Great Northern League schedules on a positive note by knocking off squads from Clarkston at a dual meet last Wednesday, Sept. 21.

The Bantams only fielded two runners in the girls race so no complete scoring was recorded. Cheney head coach Derek Slaughter said this allowed the Blackhawks to rest several varsity runners battling some injuries and illnesses.

Jolene Whiteley led the field with a top time of 21 minutes, 49.02 seconds. She was followed by Jessica Vietzke in second (21:50.28), Megan Habegger in third (22:03.86), freshman Alexia Batchelor in fourth (22:12.24) and Alexandrea Gardner in seventh (24:20.55) to round out Cheney’s five scoring runners.

Cheney’s Shannen Gladden, Maisie Short, Megan Christianson and Barbara Martinez completed the field.

Slaughter said the Blackhawk boys wanted to work on keeping together in a pack, and for about two to two and a half miles they maintained a 1 – 5 gap of about 35 seconds before Slaughter said they “released the hounds, so to speak.”

Drake Johnson finished first with a time of 17:22.41 on the 3-mile course, followed by Matt Christianson in second (17:34.94), Bas Holland third (17:35.76), Jack Peabody sixth (17:58.24) and freshman Andres Margraf seventh (17:59.21). Dillon Newbry and Patrick Purviance finished the varsity-seven by placing ninth and 10th.

Saturday, the Blackhawks got a chance to have some fun by competing in the Mountain West Classic on the University of Montana Golf Course in Missoula. Slaughter, co-head coach Camille Moseley and their assistants loosened things up a bit by providing some challenges — beginning with a chance to be the lead head hunter.

Slaughter said the Blackhawk who passed the most runners after the 2-mile mark of their respective races would win a prize. That award went to Kyle Peabody, who passed 36 runners to finish 196th in the field of 303 junior varsity athletes in 19:35.56, a personal record for the freshman.

In fact, 11 of the 13 JV runners either set new season or personal bests in the race, led by the 67th-place finish of JT Gasper in 18:19.62, helping Cheney to an 18th overall finish in the team field of 45. That success also went to the Cheney JV girls, who finished 14th out of 31 teams and had all five runners set new PRs, led by freshman Alexia Batchelor who finished 45th in 21:27.82.

Slaughter challenged the varsity boys to beat his best on the Missoula course, which Johnson did with a 41st-place time of 16:11.09. If Cheney had handed out a grit award, it probably would have gone to sophomore Tucker Cunningham, who lost a spike a half mile into the varsity race and essentially ran as if he had only one shoe the rest of the way, battling to finish 177th out of the field of 303.

“I feel bad for his feet,” Slaughter said, adding he heard from other coaches that losing shoes was a normal occurrence that day.

On the girls side, Slaughter said they challenged junior Hannah Spakousky to beat former Blackhawk Aime Zachman’s 20th-place time from the 2A state meet where the Cheney girls finished second overall. Zachman ran second to Cheney’s top runner, Sanne Holland, with a time of 19:32, and Spakousky bested that with a 48th-place time of 19:15.60 at Missoula, setting a new season record in the process and leading Cheney to 25th out of 49 teams.

Cheney was to host East Valley in its second GNL meet of the season Wednesday, Sept. 28. The Blackhawks return to the invitation circuit this Saturday, traveling to Lewiston, Idaho for the Inland Empire Challenge.

John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.