Cheney sprinter Charles Johnson leans at the finish line of the 100-meter dash against West Valley last Wednesday. Johnson won the event, and set a new personal record three days later at the Pasco Invitational of 10.82 seconds.
See a photo gallery from the event here.
While the scoreboard might not reflect it, Cheney boys track and field head coach Derek Slaughter said his Blackhawks team is "rolling."
Cheney just missed an upset last Wednesday of West Valley at home, with the outcome of the Great Northern League dual meet coming down to the final event - the 4x400 meter relay. In the end, the Eagles edged Cheney by 2/100ths of a second for a 77-68 win.
The Blackhawks were led on the track by Charles Johnson. Johnson captured first in the 100 meter dash and in the 200. Carson Brown set a new personal record of 51.40 for first in the 400, while Drake Johnson won the 3,200.
The 4x100 team of Zach Jongeward, Peyton Putney, Chris Diaz and Johnson was first while the 4x400 team of Brown, Kevin Houndomougbo, Jongeward and Johnson finished second in 3:37.90, just behind the 3:37.88 of West Valley's Garrett Morton, Eduar Bran, Caleb Simpson and Weston Warren.
In the field, Chase Reed took first in the discus while Will Rushing's 11-foot, 6-inch vault was first in the pole vault.
Saturday, the Blackhawk split the team to compete in two invitational meets. Cheney took 15 athletes to the Tri-Cities for the Pasco Invitational, finishing 15th out of 55 scoring teams in the 100-team meet.
Others stayed home to take part in the 36-team Van Kuren Invitational, formerly the Big Red, finishing 21st out of 24 teams scoring overall.
At Pasco, Charles Johnson set a new PR of 10.82 for fourth in the 100, and was third the 200.
Drake Johnson was fifth in the 1,600 in 4:26.97, also a new PR, while the team of Jongeward, Putney, Diaz and Charles Johnson was third in the 4x100. In the field, Reed was the only top-10 finisher, placing eighth in the discus.
Sophomore Jacob McGourin has the highest finish for Cheney at the Van Kuren, setting a new PR of 130-08 for second in the discus. Dawson West was eighth in the high jump, while Kylar Peterson and Greg Michel were 10th in the shot put and javelin respectively.
William Prater was eighth in the 400 for Cheney's only top-10 finish on the track. The 4x100 team of Prater, Charles Cindric, Aiden McCrum and Julian DeLosSantos was 10th.
Overall, Slaughter is pleased with the team's performances last week, along with its depth, which was evident Saturday. At Pasco, Cheney showed it is capable of being a good, big meet team.
While upper classmen showed up more on the medal podium and in the scoring, Slaughter pointed to performances from sophomores Rushing and Tucker Cunningham along with freshman Andres Magraf. The latter two did well on the track, and Rushing is very close to "popping" a big mark in the pole vault.
"He's consistently around 12 (feet)," Slaughter said. "He could be 13, 13-6 by state."
All in all, it's results Slaughter believes will eventually show up on the scoreboard.
"It's not the end of our run," he said. "It's the start of our run with these guys."
John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].
See a photo gallery from the event here.
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