Cheney girls' track and field is ready for the big meets

When it comes to early-season meet results, the Cheney High School girls track and field team’s ninth place finish at last Saturday’s Dolphin Invite at West Valley-Spokane may be a difficult one to use to gauge the Blackhawks success this spring.

Cheney was missing a number of its returning veterans from last year’s team that finished sixth overall at the Star Track and Field 2A state championships in Tacoma, so coming in ninth out of 13 teams wasn’t quite a true indication of what the Blackhawks are capable of doing. It was, however, a sign of the potential that might manifest itself later this season, and surely the next several from the rest of the Blackhawks’ young team.

Cheney has a good core returning from last year’s squad, beginning with KD Skillingstad, who captured both the 100- and 300-meter hurdle state titles last May. Rylie Pease was second in the javelin at Tacoma, while the 4x100 team of Skillingstad, Ally Jones, Alsatta Bakana and Stephanie Assonken placed sixth.

Also back with state experience are Jolene Whiteley, Savannah Hyde and Kristie McGourin. Others returning include Brette Draper, Abby Hammermeister, Hannah Spakousky, Lelie Holland, Alecia and Alexis Brooks, Shelby Elliot and Zoe Lamb.

The numbers are a good indication the Blackhawks will again be strong in the running events. Skillingstad, Bakana, McGourin, Whiteley, Holland and Hammermeister should compete for at least top-three finishes in the sprints, hurdles and middle distances, while Draper, Spakousky and the Brooks sisters will bring a solid cross-country season with them to the distance events.

Girls head coach Tom Stralser also has plenty of weapons to choose from for the three relay teams. The big question for him might be Skillingstad.

“Where do you put KD Skillingstad?” Stralser asked. “You put her anywhere you want.”

Stralser believes by the time the real warm weather in May rolls around the Blackhawks 4x400-meter team will be under 4 minutes — “That’s stinking fast!” — the 4x100 will be very competitive and the 4x200 team should be good.

Stralser said Cheney would struggle a bit, at least early on, in the field events and particularly the throws. Pease should again be consistently at or near the top in the javelin, and sophomore Zoe Lamb is showing indications she could soon replace 2015-graduate Jamie Bradley, who finished sixth at state last year, in the pole vault.

Bakana and Assonken could provide a good one-two punch in the long and triple jumps, while junior Marissa Peach is showing promise in the high jump. At this point, Stralser said it’s tough to gauge who might emerge in these and other events as potential point earners.

“We’ve got a bunch of young kids that we don’t know much about yet,” he said.

Most of Cheney’s top-10 finishes at the Dolphin Invite last Saturday came on the track. Draper was third in the 1,600 with a time of 5 minutes, 45.81 seconds, with Hammermeister fifth in 5:50.33, while Spakousky took third in the 3,200 in 12:27.70, Alexis Brooks and Megan Christianson finishing ninth and 10th.

McGourin was fourth in the 400 in 1:04.62. In the relays, the 4x400 team of Jones, McGourin, Peach and Whiteley was fourth in 4:33.07.

Cheney’s best finish of the day came in the field events where Lamb placed second in the pole vault with a vault of 9 feet, 6 inches. Peach was sixth in the high jump and McGourin finished ninth in the javelin.

Stralser thinks he’ll have indications of the team’s potential this week when Cheney travels to Central Valley for a non-league dual Thursday (today) with the Greater Spokane League 4A Bears. The Blackhawks face a tough early season challenge next week when they travel to Pullman for their Great Northern League opener March 30.

Regardless of the outcomes of either, Stralser thinks the Blackhawks will compete well not only in the league, but in what comes after.

“We’ll be a good big meet team,” he said.

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].