Medical Lake sends Swanson, Friddle and Pake to state track championships

By PAUL DELANEY

Staff Reporter

Medical Lake got two of the athletes they expected to reach state and a surprise they maybe didn't anticipate following competition last Thursday and Friday in the District 7 championships, staged at Eastern Washington University.

Senior Jarrod Swanson was third in the 200m with a time of 23.79 and scaled the long jump with a 20 feet 3 inches, good for third and triple jump at 42-7 where he was second to Cheney's DeAngelo Jones with 45 1/2.

Matt Friddle's 6 foot 2 inch effort got the junior a third place in the long jump, three inches behind DeAngelo Jones of Cheney.

“We expected Jarrod and Emily to do well,” coach Phil Averill said. “Matt did an excellent job of having a big PR at the right time to surprise some people.”

On the women's side, Emily Pake tied for first in the shot with Pullman's Chelsea James at 35-3. Pake was also second in the shot with a toss of 106 1/2. The senior threw the javelin 100-10 for fourth.

Others who were close to joining their teammates were Nick Murray, a junior, who ran fifth in the 400m with a time of 54.19, just 2.35 seconds away from a trip to Tacoma. Sophomore Clay Watters was two seconds out of third and a state spot in the 300m hurdles. The Cardinals' 4x400 relay team of Murray, Swanson, Dominick Huey and Christian Bowman were fourth in that event, 3.22 seconds off the state pace.

Senior Richard Aley fell well short of the winning distance in the shot put recording a 38-foot, 5-inch heave, 12-feet and some change off the winning throw of 50-11 ½ and finished 14th. Aley was closer in both the javelin where he was sixth with a 131-6, but well away from the winning 166-3 of Dakota Condos. Six-feet, seven inches separated him from Tacoma in the discus where Aley threw 126-10, but Michael Payne of Cheney earned the final slot with a 132-3.

Cheney rolled to the team championships in both men's and women's competition, scoring impressive and easy victories. The Blackhawks' guys out-pointed West Valley 356-230 with Medical Lake finishing seventh with 113 points. Cheney's girls scored a 385-274.25 win while the Cardinals earned 82.25 points.

Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].