Cheney High School senior Jamie Bradley clears the bar at 10 feet, 6 inches in the pole vault competition last Thursday against West Valley. Bradley's vault earned her first place.
Cheney's Gaige Felix leaps for the pit in the prelims of the long jump competition against West Valley. The junior finished third in the event, but jumped 40 feet, 3.75 inches to take first in the triple jump.
It didn't take long for the Cheney High girls track and field team to return to the top of the Great Northern League.
The Blackhawks scored in all events save one for a 94-56 win over visiting West Valley, giving the Cheney girls their first league title in two years, finishing the season 4-0. The Blackhawks had reeled off a string of six titles in a row before finishing second in 2013 to East Valley.
A young Cheney boys team still has a bit of a ways to go before returning to their championship ways. The Blackhawks finished the regular season with a 2-2 mark after their 109.5-39.5 loss to the Eagles.
For the girls, Alsatta Bakana notched a pair of season records to win the 100- and 200-meter dashes with times of 12.60 seconds and 26.70. KD Skillingstad won the 100 and 300-meter hurdles with times of 15.20 (season best) and 46.10, with Helen Levchenko right behind her for second in both events.
Cheney went 1-2-3 in the 400-meter dash, with Kristie McGourin first in 1:03.60, followed by Jolene Whiteley and Shelby Elliott. Abby Hammermeister and Lelie Holland went 2-3 in the 800 while Hannah Spakousky and Alecia Brooks did the same in the 3,200. Spakousky placed third in the 1,600.
The 4x100 relay team of Ally Jones, Skillingstad, Stephanie Assonken and Bakana finished first with a new season best of 50.10, while the 4x400 team of Whiteley, Jones, Hammermeister and Savannah Hyde also finished first.
Jamie Bradley led a 1-2-3 punch in the pole vault, winning the event with a vault of 10 feet, 6 inches, with Brooklyn Spencer and Zoe Lamb second and third. Rylie Pease did the same in the javelin, winning with a season-best throw of 123-02.50, with Levchenko and Breann Passey second and third.
Bakana won the high jump, going 5 feet with Kayla Lemelin in third. Jones and Assonken went 2-3 in the long jump and Skillingstad and Lemelin went 2-3 in the triple jump. Arianna Rich and Marissa Hunley (season best 28-04.5) went 2-3 in the shot put, and then reversed that order in the discus, Rich setting a new season best with a toss of 92 feet.
Cheney girls head coach Tom Stralser attributed the title to "great senior leadership" that provided a lot of the scoring punch.
"Basically though, we're still pretty young, so it's pretty exciting," he added.
Drake Johnson, Steaven Zachman and Matthew Christianson all captured firsts on the track, Johnson winning the 400 in 2:00.10 (season best), Zachman the 1,600 in 4:26.30 and Christianson the 3,200 in 10:42.50. Kaleb Lerch was second in the 3,200.
Third place finishes went to Charles Johnson in the 100 (season best 11.10), Carson Brown in the 400 (season best 56.60), Carson Kerr in the 800 (season best 2:04.30) and Spencer Jackson in the 110 (season best 16 seconds) and 300 hurdles.
Gaige Felix and Brett Wyborney both claimed first place finishes in the field events, Felix the triple jump at 40-03.75 and Wyborney the shot put at 47-11.50. Wyborney was third in the discus and Felix third in the long jump. Cameron Hardt finished third in the high jump.
Friday the Cheney girls captured the Riverside Invitational title, with the Blackhawk boys finishing seventh among 23 teams.
Top three finishes for the boys went to Peyton Putney with season best marks in the 200 (first, 22.82) and 100 (second, 11.42), Jackson in the 110 hurdles (third) and Wyborney in the shot put (third). For the girls, Skillingstad won the 100 hurdles, Levchenko second in the 100 and 300 hurdles, Pease first in the javelin and Bradley second in the pole vault.
In relays, the 4x100 team of Assonken, Bakana, Levchenko and Jones was first with a season best 50.98, and the 4x400 team of McGourin, Whiteley, Skillingstad and Bakana finished second with a season best 4:18.20.
Cheney now awaits District 7 competition, which takes place May 15 at West Valley.
John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].
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