Blackhawks race past Clarkston to stay perfect in GNL

Cheney High's boys and girls cross country teams ran their respective Great Northern League records to 2-0 with wins over visiting Clarkston Sept. 23 over a revamped course at Salnave Park. The Blackhawk boys out paced the Bantams for a 21-45 win while the Cheney girls landed seven runners in the top eight slots for a 19-61 win over the 5,000-meter course.

Hannah Spakousky was first for the Blackhawks girls, finishing with a time of 21 minutes, 54.5 seconds. Alecia Brooks was third overall in a time of 22:16.9, three seconds back of Clarkston senior Olivia Lane.

Cheney senior Abby Hammermeister was fourth overall in 22:19.6, and was followed by Brette Draper in fifth with a season-best 22:20.3 while Lexi Brooks wrapped up the Blackhawks scoring with a sixth-place finish in 22:41.9. Jolene Whiteley was seventh in 23:20.0 with Deja Williams eighth in 23:34.4.

Drake Johnson led the Cheney boys, overtaking several runners about midway through the race to win in a time of 17:58.0. Matt Christianson was second in 18:20.5 and Kaleb Lerch completed Cheney's 1-2-3-finish by placing third in 18:22.7.

Luke Huguenin turned in a season-best 18:45.8 to finish fifth and Jack Peabody wrapped up the Blackhawks' scoring by finishing sixth in a time of 18:57.4. Tucker Cunningham's season's best time of 18:58.2 earned him a seventh-place finish while Ryan Axtell was ninth in 19:06.6 to put all seven Cheney varsity boys in the top-10 over the course that this year includes two passes over the undeveloped, uneven portion of Salnave southeast of the park's parking lot.

Saturday both Blackhawks teams traveled to Portland, Ore. to compete in the Nike Portland XC, formerly the Nike Pre-nationals, run on the course at Portland Meadows Race Track. The meet featured 99 teams from the high schools and middle schools from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California and other parts of the U.S.

Most Cheney athletes competing in the various divisions set new season best times for 5,000 meters. Lowering their times for the varsity boys were Johnson (16:36.63), Christianson (16:56.56), Lerch (17:24.41), Peabody (18:22.98) and Axtell (18:55.22).

For the Cheney girls it was Spakousky (20:47.74), Hammermeister (21:33.99), Alecia Brooks (22:14.82), Lexi Brooks (22:21.78), Draper (22:30.06) and Whiteley (22:36.92), along with Jessica Vietzke (22:37.83) and Williams (22:41.35).

The Blackhawks take a break from competition this week with no meets scheduled. They return to action Wednesday, Oct. 7, with their third GNL meet, traveling to West Valley to face the Eagles.

The West Valley boys come in ranked eighth in the state in 2A by the Seattle Times while Cheney's girls enter as the 10th-ranked team.

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].