By John McCallum
Managing Editor 

Cheney football has turnaround season with strong start

 

Last updated 1/3/2019 at 8:49pm



The Blackhawks baseball team seemed to harness the same late-season magic that carried it to a state tournament appearance in 2017 — winning their final five games that included sweeps of East Valley and Clarkston. But unlike 2017, the third-seeded Blackhawks were eliminated in the opening round of districts by Clarkston.

Girls track

After winning their second consecutive Great Northern League regular-season title, the Cheney High girls track and field team followed that with another — repeating their District 7 championships by edging Pullman 178-176. Hoping for a podium appearance at state, the Blackhawks finished eighth overall in competition at Mt. Tahoma High School in Lakewood.

Rigo’s runner-up

In the wheelchair division at the state 2A track and field championships at Mt. Tahoma, senior and University of Illinois-bound Isaiah Rigo was second in the 1,600, third in the 400 and fourth in the 100.

Football flourishes

Led by two touchdown passes from quarterback Alex Long and the stout defense of linebacker Jacob McGourin, the Cheney High School football team put an end to their eight-game losing streak with a 27-22 win over visiting Colville in their season-opener Sept. 6. The Blackhawks went on to win six straight games before losing their last four, including a heartbreaking 17-14 loss to then sixth-ranked West Valley that could have earned Cheney a playoff berth. The team finished the season with a 27-7 loss to visiting Othello in crossover action between the Great Northern League and the Central Washington Athletic Conference.

Boys cross country back to state

Cheney’s cross country contingent may have been its smallest in a number of years, but they made the most of their appearance. The Blackhawks sent just three runners, with Bas Holland posting the day’s top finish. The junior was sixth overall in the 5,000-meter boys race in a time of 16 minutes, 10.20 seconds — 25.40 seconds behind state champion Eliason Kabasenche from Great Northern League foe Pullman. The Blackhawks only girls runner, Marion Mager-Reeser, was 29th in 20:27.50 — setting a new personal record in the process.

Erickson is top coach

Jesse Erickson earned the vote as coach of the year for boys tennis. Also, the Cheney doubles team of Aaron Fillmore and Dixon Gerber qualified for state.

VanWormer to state

Cheney’s Sophia VanWormer took seventh at state in gymnastics.

Taylor runner-up at state wrestling

Cheney’s wrestling team placed at state and won the academic award. Boedy Taylor took second at 182 pounds.

(Grace Pohl contributed to this story.)

Author Bio

John McCallum, Retired editor

John McCallum is an award-winning journalist who retired from Cheney Free Press after more than 20 years. He received 10 Washington Newspaper Publisher Association awards for journalism and photography, including first place awards for Best Investigative, Best News and back-to-back awards in Best Breaking News categories.

 

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