Blackhawk boys finish second at District 5/6/7 meet, advance to state

As it turned out, head coach Jay Martin’s strategy of keeping close to Deer Park at District 5/6/7 competition proved beneficial for the Cheney boys’ cross country team.

The Blackhawks and Stags landed nine runners in the top 20 places in competition at Apple Ridge Golf Course near Cowiche, Wash. to earn the top two of four team spots to the 2A state meet this weekend. Deer Park captured first place with 37 points, with Cheney not far back in second, 52 points, while Selah (68 points) and West Valley-Yakima (102 point) grabbed the final two state slots.

Kyle Lerch led the Blackhawks’ five scoring runners, going sub-16 minutes for the first time this season over a 3-mile course with a time of 15 minutes, 50.4 seconds for sixth overall. Corey Klotz-Brooks was right behind in seventh, just missing the sub-16 minute mark at 16:01.7.

Nick Steele was 14th in 16:19.6 while Jesse Hallstrom also turned in a season-best to finish 17th in 16:24.7. Steaven Zachman wrapped up the Blackhawks scoring in 21st at 16:30.5, with Matt Duray 22nd in 16:31.4 and Derek Denenny 34th in 16:54.5.

Deer Park’s Daniel Amann captured was first with a time of 15:31.5, with East Valley-Spokane’s Scott Kopczynski second in 15:34.4, Colville’s Kevin Carpenter third in 15:34.6 and the Stags’ Nolan Woodard fourth in 15:43.4, giving the Great Northern League the top four slots, and 12 of the top 20 individual finishes overall when West Valley-Spokane’s Skylar Ovnicek’s 10th place is included.

Both Cheney boys’ and girls’ teams now turn their attention to state competition this Saturday at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco. The girls’ race begins at 11 a.m. with the boys getting underway at 1:30 p.m.

The Blackhawk girls will be defending their 2011 state title, making their fourth consecutive appearance in Pasco having finished second in 2010 and fourth in 2009. For the boys, Saturday’s trip marks their seventh consecutive team appearance at Sun Willows, finishing fourth in 2007 and 2008.

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].