Blackhawks smother Pullman 88-57 in final home dual meet
Cheney High’s boys track and field team exacted a measure of revenge on Pullman last Wednesday, April 18, for a whipping the Greyhounds laid on the Blackhawks last season — and by doing so earned the Great Northern League’s regular-season championship.
Cheney downed the visiting Greyhounds 88-57 to wrap up an unbeaten season in dual meet action. Last year, the Greyhounds handed the visiting Blackhawks an 89-56 loss.
In fact the only time the Blackhawk boys didn’t finish on top of the team standings in 2018 — dual meet or invitational — was the season’s first meet, the Dolphin Invitational at West Valley March 17 when they finished second, three points behind 4A Ferris.
“I thought it would be closer,” Cheney head coach Derek Slaughter said about Pullman, who he thought was a deeper team than what they showed.
“To blow them away by more than at West Valley (77-68) and East Valley (86-59) was a good senior night for the boys,” Slaughter added.
Cheney won 11 of 17 events, placing at least two athletes in the top five in 12 and a minimum of three in the top five in nine. Charles Johnson led a 1-2-3 finish in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.84 seconds, followed by Peyton Putney (11.24) and Jacob McGourin (11.95).
Putney won the 200 in 23.35, with Carson Brown second, and Johnson — racing in the event for the first time — won the 400 with a personal record of 50.13, with Brown in second with his own PR of 50.46. Kevin Houndonougbo led five Cheney runners in the top-five slots in the 800 with a time of 2:07.91, with Julian Torres PR of 2:08.09 giving him second.
Isaiah Rigo was first in the wheelchair 1,600 in 4:37.37, while Isaiah Dunn was first in the 300 hurdles with a PR of 41.35, sophomore Bas Holland second in the 3,200 and Danny Boyd second in the 110 hurdles. Cheney’s 4x100 team of Zach Jongeward, McGourin, Putney and Johnson was first in 43.28 and the 4x400 team of Houndonougbo, Brown, Dunn and Johnson was first in 3:30.29.
Slaughter said they’ve kept the 4x400 team together, rather than mixing in different combinations of runners. It’s worked as Cheney’s 3:23.67 at the Arcadia Invitational April 7 is still the top overall time in the state among all classifications.
McGourin and Cole Omlin led Cheney in the field events. McGourin took first in the shot put (43 feet) and the discus (160-10) while Omlin was first in the high jump (6-06) and the triple jump (42-07).
Omlin’s personal record leap in the high jump tied him with Pullman’s Cole Hawes, but the Cheney freshman emerged the winner based on fewer misses. Omlin was second in the long jump, with fellow freshmen Ryan Riekmann second in the javelin and Cameron Villalobos third in the pole vault.
Slaughter will lead most of his team to the 18th annual Nike/Jesuit Twilight Relays this Friday and Saturday in Portland, Ore., what he termed a “kind of state prep meet.” What the Blackhawks really have their sights set on is finishing alone atop the team 2A state trophy stand in late May at Mount Tahoma High School in Tacoma, and Slaughter keeps trying to set new goals for them to achieve that.
The latest he found among a history of state 2A track and field, where he discovered the highest point total for any team at state was 81 in 1989.
“I told the guys, let’s go for that, let’s get 82,” Slaughter said. “Let’s get the most points in the state.”
John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].
Cheney edges Pullman to win third GNL title in four years
The Cheney High School girls track and field team experienced what legendary baseball player and manager Yogi Berra described as “Deja vu all over again” when it came to last Wednesday’s dual meet with Pullman.
Last year the Blackhawks escaped Pullman with a 78-72 win to go unbeaten and claim the Great Northern League’s regular-season championship. Wednesday, April 18, Cheney also escaped, but this time at home after both teams did a little shuffling of athletes in preparation for their league showdown.
In the end, it was Cheney on top just as last season, 78-72. And just like last year, the Blackhawks finished 4-0 and regular-season champs, their third title in four years.
“I looked at that and said, wow, we got lucky,” head coach Tom Stralser said.
The Blackhawks split winning vents with the Greyhounds, nine each, but were more successful in placing athletes in consecutive finishes in a number of events than the visitors.
As an example, Megan Habegger led three other Cheney runners to top-four finishes in the 400-meter run. Habegger set a personal record of 1:093.19 for first, and was followed by Maddie Warren in second with a season-best of 1:04.54, Sara Graham third with a PR of 1:05.77 and Sierra O’Neill fourth with a PR of 1:06.65.
Jolene Whiteley won the 800 in 2:31.53, with Alexia Batchelor second in 2:37.89 and Jaela Thornburg third with a PR of 2:38.50. Hannah Spakousky was second in the 3,200, with Marion Mager-Reeser third and Ryleigh Bowes fourth while Kaitren Fisher finished second in the 100 hurdles, with Hannah Davis third.
Alsatta Bakana won the 100 in 12.71 while Warren took the 200 in 28.35. Cheney swept the relays, with Warren, Alexis Miller, Stephanie Assonken and Alexis Van Horne winning the 4x100 in 52.50; Warren, Miller, Habegger and Van Horne the 4x200 in 1:51.36 and Thornberg, Whiteley, Habegger and Bakana the 4x400 in 4:15.89.
In the field, Sophia Van Wormer went 10 feet, 6 inches to win the pole vault, followed by Zoe Lamb in second, Makayla Miller third with a season-best nine feet and Laureen O’Callahan fourth. In the javelin, freshman Hope Schnieder set a new PR of 85 feet for second, with Kinsey Dewan third.
Bakana captured first in the high jump, with Assonken second in the long jump and third in the triple jump. Taishae Wallace nabbed third-place finishes in the shot put and discus.
While most athletes were getting ready for prom last Saturday, four Cheney girls decided to get a little competition in beforehand by taking part in the annual Mooberry Relays at Rogers High School. For Sophia Van Wormer, it was a record-setting move.
The sophomore turned in a new PR of 12 feet to capture the pole vault, giving her the top mark in state in 2A this season and coming within three inches of a school record. Lamb was fifth at 10 feet.
Bakana is the only other Blackhawk girls atop the state leader board in 2A, having the best marks in the 400 and high jump this season
Also competing at Rogers were Hannah and Mayah Spakousky, who finished 12th and 15th respectively in the mile, setting a season and personal best times of 5:54.60 and 6:05.76.
Cheney changed their meet plans this week. Instead of part of the team traveling to Portland for the 18th annual Nike/Jesuit Twilight Relays Friday and Saturday, with the rest at the Undeberg Invitational in Ritzville, the Blackhawks instead will compete at Central Valley’s Strandberg Relays.
John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].
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