Cheney edges Pullman to finish second at regional competition in Ellensburg
Blackhawks runner Mason VanStone puts in extra effort as he nears the finish line at regional competition last Saturday in Ellensburg.
After a year's absence, the Cheney High School boys cross country team is headed back to back Pasco.
The Blackhawks used a 40 second time gap between their first five runners, with all five finishing in the top 20 overall, to take second at regional competition between the Central Washington Athletic Conference and Great Northern League last Saturday in Ellensburg. Cheney scored 61 points, edging fellow GNL opponent Pullman by seven while finishing 24 points behind regional champion Selah.
Drake Johnson led Cheney, finishing fourth overall with a time of 16 minutes, 46 seconds on the 5,000-meter course at Ellensburg's Rotary Park. Matt Christianson was 11th overall with a time of 17 minutes even while senior Mason VanStone and freshman Jack Peabody set new season best marks of 17:20 and 17:26 for 17th and 19th overall and Kaleb Lerch finished 20th in 17:26, an identical time to Peabody's but just behind the freshman.
Seniors Luke Huguenin and Ryan Axtell were 40th and 49th in 18:31 and 18:45 with Axtell's time also being a season best.
The Cheney girls ran well, with five of the seven varsity runners setting new season best marks, but faced some difficult competition at Ellensburg in their bid to return to state, finishing sixth overall and missing the cut by 21 points. The top four teams, Ellensburg, Selah, Ephrata and regional champion Pullman, and 20 individuals advance from regional competition to the state meet this Saturday at Sun Willows Golf Course.
Sophomore Hannah Spakousky will be the only Cheney girl making the trip competitively, turning in a season-best mark of 19:57 to finish seventh overall. She was followed by senior Abby Hammermeister (season best 21:20), Brette Draper (season best 21:25), Lexi Brooks (21:44), Sara Nanny (season best 21:52), Jolene Whiteley (season best 22:01) and Alecia Brooks (22:46) in 26th, 30th, 36th, 49th, 40th and 44th respectively.
Cheney's state participants will be joined by teammate Isaiah Rigo, who will be vying for a second straight 2A state championship in the wheelchair division. The sophomore has spent the last several weeks in Doha, Qatar, competing for the United States in the Paralympic World Track Championships.
Rigo represented TeamUSA in the 1,500-meter and 400-meter wheelchair races, placing sixth in the former with a time of 4:11.12, and 12th in the latter in 1:11.44.
The wheelchair division race begins at 9:30 a.m., with the 2A girls race at 11 a.m. and the boys at 1:30 p.m.
John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].
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