Shaffer brings home four titles

CHENEY – Caitlin Shaffer established a pair of personal records to go with four titles as the Cheney track and field athlete returned from the state 3A championships in Tacoma at Lake Stevens High School with the biggest haul of hardware.

Shaffer, who competed as the lone entry in the wheelchair division, set a PR at 27.21 seconds in the 100-meters as well as in the javelin where her 12-foot throw was also a winner.

Just a freshman, Shaffer also won the 800-meters in a time of 4 minutes, 12.54-seconds and the discus at 13 feet, 7 inches.

“It was a good weekend overall for CHS track and field,” head coach Derek Slaughter wrote in an email.

The Blackhawks’ Braxton Hinton had the next highest finishes with a sixth in the 200-meters in a time of 22.44 seconds.

“Braxton made his first final of his high school career and I was happy to see him on the podium after four years of hard work in our program,” Slaughter said.

Joy Assonken was ninth in the javelin at 116 feet, 6 inches. “Joy made her first final as a junior and was two inches away from placing,” Slaughter reported.

In the high jump, Shauna Elliott cleared 4 feet, 10 inches, good for 11th, prompting Slaughter to say, “Shauna had a great attempt at 5 foot, but just came short of the podium in her senior year.”

Calvin Hilton ran to a 9 minute, 32.60 second finish in the 3,200 meters. “Calvin is gaining experience each year at state and moving up the leaderboard,” Slaughter said.

While the boys’ 4X100-meter team of Hinton, Kordel Laher, Teagan O’Callaghan and Tucker VanWormer did not make the finals, their 42.92 was certainly noticed by Slaughter.

“The boys 4X100 set a PR but was in the toughest 4X100 field I have ever seen at state,” was Slaughter’s observation.

It was a memorable season and one that saw good weather and better track, Slaughter noted. “We are headed into another very competitive season next year.”