Cheney track and field girls remain unbeaten in GNL

The Cheney High School girls track and field squad downed West Valley 85-65 last Wednesday to run their Great Northern League dual meet record to 3-0. The Blackhawks capped that with a first place team finish at their own Van Kuren Invitational.

Senior Alsatta Bakana led Cheney at West Valley with three first-place individual finishes and a leg on the first-place 4x400 relay. Bakana set a new personal record to win the 100-meter dash in 12.48 seconds, won in the 400 in 1:01.01 and was first in the high jump at 5 feet even.

Kaitren Fisher earned a sweep of the hurdles, winning the 100-meter in 17.80 and the 300 in a new PR of 49.53. Jolene Whiteley took first in the 800 in 2:29.80.

Second-place finishes went to Maddie Warren in the 200, setting a new PR of 27.51; and Jaela Thornberg, Alexia Batchelor and Hannah Spakousky in the 400, 800 and 3,200, with Thornberg and Batchelor setting new PRs of 1:04.07 and 2:35.51 respectively.

The 4x100 relay team of Warren, Alexis Miller, Alexis Van Horne and Allana Gillingham was first in 52.83 while Bakana, Whiteley, Sara Graham and Thornberg cruised to a victory in the 4x400 in 4:19.80.

In the field, Taishae Wallace set a new season record of 104 feet, 10 inches to win the discus, with setting a season mark of 10-feet even to win the pole vault and Stephanie Assonken setting a new season mark of 30-09 1/2 to capture the triple jump. Assonken was also second in the long jump, Hunter Holsten was second in the shot put and Hope Schneider was second in the javelin with a PR of 84-09.

Saturday the Blackhawks easily won the team title at the Van Kuren, scoring 101 points. Gonzaga Prep was a distant second with 63 points while Lynden High School finished third with 58.

Bakana set a new season mark of 25.03 to win the 200, and was first in the 400 in 58.73. Whiteley got the win in the 800 in 2:31.93 while Spakousky edged Pullman’s Ryan Hyatt to win the 3,200, setting a new season record of 12:19.39 in the process. Fisher won the 300 hurdles in 49.63.

In the relays, the 4x400 team of Whiteley, Graham, Thornberg and Bakana took first in 4:14.24.

In the field, Sophia Van Wormer went 11 feet even to capture the pole vault.

Cheney concluded its dual-meet GNL scheduled on Wednesday, April 18, by hosting Pullman.

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