Venema breaks hurdle record
Andrew Christiansen
Reporter
Twenty-two athletes plus two relay teams set personal records at last Friday's Greater Columbia 1B league championship event. The top four places earned a trip to Kittitas where the combined District 5 and District 6 meet will be held to qualify top two for State.
Andrew Venema led the Bickleton boys to the title with three wins; a respectable second place in the shot put, considering it was only his third time in the event, and a record setting 15.7 in the 110 hurdles. It was the second time this month Venema broke the 16 second barrier, and second time under the State track meet record of 16.16. Venema's other wins were in the 300 meter hurdles and high jump.
There is likely to be a stiff challenge if Venema makes it to State, coming from Jordan Haber, of Lopez. On the same day as Venema was running his 15.77, Haber clocked a 15.45, which is incredible as the senior hadn't gotten close to 16 seconds all season. Which Haber shows up at State remains to be seen.
The Trout Lake-Glenwood girls defended their title with three event winner Anna Schmid and double winner Neola Putnam leading the way. Both girls were under the State qualifying standard, in the 300 hurdles for Schmid and 1600 for Putnam.
Bickleton and Klickitat girls battled for second place with Bickleton getting the nod 67 to 60 over the Vandals, in spite of the four-win performance of Samantha Brewer.
Brewer wasn't pressed in the long jump, triple jump or 100 meter hurdles, but fellow sophomore, Katelynn Clinton made Brewer earn her victory in the high jump as Clinton cleared five feet for the second time this month, erasing her mother's name from the Bickleton record holders in the event. Brewer won at 5-1, the fourth time she has gone beyond five-feet this year. The State meet record is 5-2.
In addition to the personal records set, there were other performances of note as several athletes are getting their game together at the right time of year. Mikael Dick, of TLG, had his best 400 of the year, and Klickitat's Ron Prominski set new bests in javelin (143 feet), long jump (18-1) and triple jump (35-8).
Also peaking at a good time is Cole Walters, of Klickitat, who cracked the 100 foot mark with a 102 in the discus. Pirates, Holly Goodnight and Alejandra Molina are making late season strides in throwing events; Goodnight finished second and broke the 31-foot barrier in the shot put for the first time, and Molina is approaching her 100-foot-plus form from last year in the discus, as she had her best of the year at 98-4, also for second place.
Star Kibby continues to inch towards the State record in the pole vault, clearing 9-3, which breaks her own record for the second time this year. She will need to jump 9-6 to match State record holder, Kindra VanLaar, who represented TLG last year at State.
Other best-of-the-year times gained Bickleton a sweep in the 100 by Craig Osborne (1st in 12.1) and Patrick Maeder (2nd in 12.2) and the 4x200 relay team of Johanna Jensen, Dede Kibby, Danielle Raschko and Nakai Kibby who clocked a 2:02.4. Not coming up with his best, but pretty good considering his injured hand which altered his grip, was double winner Edgar Molina, who won shot put and discus for Bickleton.
A welcome site for Klickitat was Jeromie Mason who can turn his focus to jumping since his Columbia Bruin baseball team was eliminated from playoffs. He did so in great fashion, going beyond 41 feet for the first time, winning by six feet with a 41-2 jump.
Freshmen Timberwolves tops at sub-district meet
Andrew Christiansen
Reporter
Goldendale qualified 21 athletes for individual events plus three relay teams to compete at the District track meet, this Friday in Goldendale starting at 4 p.m. The qualifying performances came at the sub-district held at Highland on Friday.
A more amazing number is the number of freshmen, 10, and events by freshmen, 18. Leading the way for the younger set were Kylie Montgomery and Kurt Wilkins, each qualifying in three events.
Montgomery has made steady progress, most notably in the 800 meter run, where she shaved three seconds off her previous best for second place at 2:47.52. Montgomery also qualified in shot put (28-4.5) and a personal best of 69-1 got her into the district discus event.
Wilkins will go in shot put, discus and javelin. His distances in the events have been erratic during the year, but he unleashed a throw of 119-1 in the javelin to claim sixth place, 26 feet longer than his previous best.
The leading qualifier for the Timberwolves is Tyler Hunziker, a senior. Hunziker won the long jump (19-5) and high jump (6-0) and placed second in the triple jump (39-0.25) and fourth in the 100 in a time of 11.6, tying his best time of the year.
The hard luck award would go to freshman Braydon Ross, who placed ninth in the shot put and discus with just the top eight going to District. Ross will be there, however, on the strength of his seventh place finish in the javelin.
Asa Israel put together a pair of wins in the 800 and 1600. The 800 was a special moment for Israel as it marked his first time under the two-minute mark at 1:59:59, just one second off the state standard for 1A.
Another great story for the Timberwolves was Steven Bischoff, who cleared 11-9 in the pole vault, giving the first year vaulter, and senior, first place.
The girls 4x400 relay team, an all-freshman quartet of Carlee Wheelon, Sarah Lancaster, Lexy Knowlton, and Montgomery cut 13 seconds off their best time, edging Highland by less than a second for first place.
Sadie Shattuck and Nikki Williams also had a good sub-district, each qualifying in the shot put, discus and javelin. Shattuck's 32-5 was first in the shot put. Her 86-5 in the javelin was her best of the year, good for fourth place. Williams had her best shot put at 28-3, and while she was third in both discus and javelin, the 100 foot toss still eludes the senior, who has thrown the discus 92-10 and the javelin 99-3 earlier this year.
A call has to go out to Torey Spaulding-Jimenez, who quickly rehabbed from a broken leg that probably kept him from going to State in wrestling. The sophomore turned in a 55.14 PR in the 400 to finish third and qualify for District. He is also a member of the qualifying 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams.
Other Goldendale qualifiers: Bianca Adams high jump, long jump; Brady Conway high jump, long jump; Ariella Davenport 1600, long jump; Patrick Golding 110 hurdles; Logan Humphreys high jump, triple jump; Lexy Knowlton 300 hurdles, long jump; Sarah Lancaster 100 hurdles, long jump; Jacob McElravy discus, javelin; Chelsea Osborne triple jump; Camilia Richards javelin; Hannah Swigart high jump and pole vault; Carlee Wheelon 400.
Pair of heartbreak losses end Wolf year
Goldendale's baseball team had the kind of District that tends to stay with you for awhile as you ask yourself a lot of "what-ifs." Two one-run losses have plenty of plays that were made or weren't made which could have changed the outcome of the games. But there is no changing the results, River View won 7-6 on Tuesday, and Cle Elum eliminated the Timberwolves 6-5 on Friday.
At Finley, the Wolves were rolling along with a 6-1 lead going into the bottom of the ninth behind a homerun and three RBI from Aaron Cochran and lights out pitching by Trevor Fields. Then it all went away, and Goldendale could do nothing to stop the bleeding as the Panthers scored six runs for the win.
The Wolves showed their mettle as they came back and battled Cle Elum on Saturday. The teams swapped the lead in the second and third innings. The Warriors scored three in the bottom of the sixth, including a run on a squeeze bunt, to take a two-run lead. Goldendale tried to come back, scoring once in the seventh, but the rally stalled and their season came to an end.
Naches Valley is the only SCAC west team to advance to State. Columbia Burbank, River View and Connell finished second through fourth and will also play at State.
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