TACOMA — Following their appearance at the state 3A state championships last weekend in Tacoma, Blackhawks track and field athletes appear to have a bright future according to he’d coach Derek Slaughter.
Cheney had podium appearances from four boys and three girls prompting Slaughter to observe in an email, “This year turned out to be a better year for the Blackhawks at state.”
Senior Eugene Hennequin had the Blackhawks’ highest finish with a third in the long jump. His 23-foot, 1.25-inch effort trailed the 24-1.25 of Josiah Alanis’ from Evergreen in Vancouver.
Hennequin ended a foot shy of the high jump leader, Shukurani Ndayiragl, recording a 5-08.
Calvin Hilton recorded a PR of 9:08.66, good for fourth in the 3,200 meters, trailing winner Seattle Prep’s Jack Henzke with a 9:02.49. Hilton was also ninth in the 1,600 with a 4:15.11.
“Calvin medaled in a great 3200 race and will be back his senior season,” Slaughter said.
Alma Smith’s 13-6 in the pole vault was sixth best behind Yelm’s Jordan Lasher at 16-6. Smith is quickly closing on the school record of 15 feet and may conquer it, Slaughter said.
Cheney’s 4x400 relay team of Mason Stinson, Cameron Johnson, Trevor Ewert and Tucker VanWormer were 12th in the preliminaries. “Who knows this might be the next crew to get a team trophy at state next year?” Slaughter said. “The Cheney boys scored more points than last year and learned valuable lessons to bring back next year.”
Joy Assonken was Cheney’s top female competitor with a fifth in the javelin at 124-03 and added a 12th-place in the shot put at 34-05.75. Clara Browne rounded out the Blackhawks’ throwers finishing sixth in the discus at 124-05.
Hurdler Natalie Richards was eighth in the 100-meter hurdles in a time of 17.11 seconds but her 47.60 was not good enough to get out of the preliminaries in the 300.
“The girls that competed at state ended up on the podium. I was very proud of this crew and how they showed up on a cold weekend,” Slaughter said.
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