Cardinals top Colville and Newport

NEWPORT – Cardinal athletes dominated a road meet on April 20, with the Medical Lake boys blowing past Colville 80-64, and outdistancing Newport 89-56. The Lady Cardinals hit the century mark for the third time this season in a 100-48 win over Colville, and a crushing 133-10 defeat of Newport.

"Our distance runners dominated both teams," said Head Coach Gene Blankenship. "Reid Headrick quadrupled and still ran a 4:29 1600meters! Which incidentally moved him up on the school's top 10 list. Grace Grubaugh also improved her time on the top ten in the 1600 meter in 5:44."

Much of the teams' success came from some athletes performing well in new events according to the head coach. Blankenship explained how the other team coaches are helping the team gain confidence and improve as well.

"Coach David McNeil did an excellent job in placing athletes in new events," Blankenship said. "Our throwers team handled the competition very successfully which made a big difference in our overall scores."

Athletes in the sprinting and jumping events put up good numbers too, with Sophie Salinas-Sanders winning the 100-and 200-meter races along with the long jump. Kiyah Hatcher took first in the girls' high jump event as well.

Blankenship said some of athletes gave an extra effort by participating in multiple events to help Medical Lake achieve more points.

"Our freshman Dakota Phillips won the pole vault and while running in both relays picked up valuable team points as well," Blankenship said. "Our boys team also finished first in all three throwing events. Tyson Cooper won the shot, Parker Accord the discus, and Sebastian Cochran the javelin. They are the meat and potatoes of our throwing team."

The Cardinal boys fared well in the jumping events too, and had a successful relay team for the 4×400 meter race.

"Josh Henry was second in the long jump and won the triple jump," Blankenship said. "He also led off our 4×4 winning relay."

"There were a lot of solid performances-26 personal records among the boys and 26 for the girls as well."

The Cardinals competed in the Mooberry's relays three days later at Rogers High School in Spokane.

Medical Lake placed fifth in the opening 4×1600 meter relay event.

"We were led off by Connor Palmen, followed by Hector Gomez, Nakai Ornelas, and anchored by Reid Headrick, running a solid 4:29," Coach Blankenship said.

Ethan Outhenthapanya competed in the discus with a throw of 89' 11." Xane San Augustin threw a personal best 76'09" in the javelin event, and according to the coach the two have really improved their throws.

The girls distance medley team took home silver, setting a school record of 13:33.93. The team was led by Allison Payne running 1200 meters, with Jenna Castro in the 400-meter stretch, Grace Grubaugh followed up with the 800, and Kayla Ramsey finished the event running the 1600.

Blankenship said several Cardinal athletes continue to improve through the year, and have been putting in extra work to make that happen.

"Kylie Constantine was first in the ambulatory 100 meter," Blankenship said. "She broke her own school record finishing with a time of 21.05."

The girls also performed well in the field events, with Chiche Okemgbo finishing ninth in the shot and the javelin.

Blankenship noted other athletes are trying new events. He said Kayley Askew showed incredible effort in the shot competition. Fialoa Nelson competed in the discus and Adasha Gardener participated in the javelin event.

The head coach also noted that Katie Hiatt ran a full mile in 6:01.7, and the girls throwers relay team finished ninth with a time of 1:05.9.

Blankenship looks for the team to continue its consistency and hopes for further improvement in upcoming events.