Cheney wins league, district crowns for second straight season
Alexis Van Horne reaches back to take the baton from Alsatta Bakana to begin the anchor leg of the girls 4x200 relay. The Blackhawks' foursome breezed to a win in the event, helping Cheney earn its second straight District 7 championship.
After winning their second consecutive Great Northern League regular-season title, the Cheney High girls track and field team followed that with another repeat - winning their second-straight District 7 championships by edging Pullman 178-176 last Friday in competition at Cheney's Tom Oswald Field.
"That was pretty sweet," girls head coach Tom Stralser said. "Everything worked just fine."
The girls were led by Alsatta Bakana. The senior won district titles in the 200 and 400-meter runs, capturing the former in 26.01 seconds and the latter with a season's best 57.94.
Alexis Miller, Jaela Thornburg and Jolene Whiteley each brought home second-place finishes - Miller in the 100 in 13.29, Thornberg in the 400 with a personal record of 1:01.82 and Whiteley in the 800 in 2:26.75. Miller advanced to regionals with a third-place finish in the 200, while Hannah Spakousky also moved on by finishing third in the 3,200 in a season's best 12:16.03.
Kaitren Fisher moved on in both of her hurdle events, placing second in the 300 with a PR of 49.31 and third in the 100, also with a PR of 17.32.
Cheney won two of the three relays. The 4x100 team of Maddie Warren, Miller, Stephanie Assonken and Alexis Van Horne was first in 51.18 while the 4x200 team of Miller, Warren, Bakana and Van Horne was first in 1:44.91.
The 4x400 team of Warren, Thornberg, Megan Habegger and Whiteley was second in 4;16.99.
Cheney's high point in the field events - especially for Stralser - came in the pole vault as the Blackhawks swept all three of the top spots. Sophia Van Wormer captured first with a vault of 10 feet, 6 inches, while Zoe Lamb was second at the same height and Makayla Miller was third with a season's best 9-06.
Cheney's time in the 4x200 relay moved it into the top spot in the state among teams in the 2A classification. Bakana currently has the fastest time in the 400 and second fastest in the 200, with Van Wormer's 12-foot vault at the Mooberry's in late April ranking her second in the pole vault.
Cheney moves on the regional action this Friday at Ephrata with teams from the GNL and the Central Washington Athletic Conference. The top-four placers advance to state, May 24-26 at Mt. Tahoma High School near Tacoma.
"I think we should be able to get everybody through (regionals) that we're thinking could get through," Stralser said.
John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.
Reader Comments(0)