Not even close: TLG girls track dominance unreal
Andrew Christiansen
Reporter
It's hard to pick the top five highlights of the State track and field meet, held last Friday and Saturday at Eastern Washington University in Cheney. The county's 1B schools won 18 events and there was plenty of drama and several clutch performances out of Goldendale and Lyle-Wishram, too.
The outstanding single competitor has to be Anna Schmid, of Trout Lake-Glenwood. The senior was first in the 100, first in the 200 and first in the 300 hurdles. She was also part of the biggest mismatch at the meet, the girls 4x400 relay which the Mustang-Eagles won by more than 100 yards. If the other teams in the race were focused on finishing second, you couldn't blame them. As the teams paraded down the front stretch for introductions, the faces of the TLG girls were very familiar to the crowd...they had seen them frequently on top of the podium receiving first place medals.
Who could compete with a line-up that starts with Neola Putnam, winner of the 800 and 1600 gold medals, followed by Schmid, already toting a fistful of gold, then Emily Paxson, winner of the 3200 and runner-up to Putnam in the 1600? She would make the final pass for the last 400 meters to Liz Vogt, gold medalist in the individual 400. The race was pretty much over when Putnam put 75 yards on the field in the first lap. Passes were clean and the lead grew with each leg, although Vogt might have had something left in the tank when she crossed the line for a 4:12.01 State record, 15 seconds ahead of the second place team.
Folks from Klickitat would probably give the nod for best individual performance to Samantha Brewer, who picked up three first place medals and a third. Brewer was first in the 100 hurdles, the only individual track event not won by TLG, and was first in long jump and triple jump where her 33-0.25 was a new best for the sophomore. Although Brewer had cleared 5-3 in the high jump during the year, she couldn't go higher than 4-9, where she tied Bickleton's Katelynn Clinton. Brewer won the third place medal on fewer misses, and Clinton was fourth.
Clinton also got close to a first place medal in the discus. She was leading going into the finals when Klickitat freshman, Charice McConville let loose a 100-foot toss to win gold and leave Clinton in second place at 97-5.
Among the most anticipated events, if you are from Klickitat County, were the two hurdle events which matched Bickleton's Andrew Venema versus TLG's Tyler Cope. The field for both races was them for first and second and everyone else vying for third...or that is the way it should have been. It turned out to be two no-contests, but each runner got his gold. Venema had a false start on the 110 hurdles, which disqualified him from the race. Lack of pressure didn't stop Cope from setting a new State record of 15.9 seconds. Cope returned the favor in the 300 hurdles, crashing on the second hurdle, leaving Venema to cruise for an easy win in 41.43, which was a new personal record and State record.
Venema also gets the nod for best effort at channeling adversity to power, as he grew more and more focused during his long walk from his false start in the 110 to the south end of the track where he was in the middle of high jump competition. The Bickleton senior wasted no time in clearing 5-7, guaranteeing a top three finish. He was still pumped up when he set a new PR at 6-1, but couldn't make 6-2 happen and he settled for the second place medal.
Asa Israel made his own drama in the preliminary of the 800 meters when he fell to last place early in the final lap. "I said to myself 'what am I doing?'" said the Timberwolf senior. At that point he began to pick-off the front runners one-at-a time until he swung wide for a sprint to the finish, winning the heat by two seconds. Israel could only manage fourth place in the finals, but he ran a PR 1:58.02. His 1600 was also interesting, as he fell back in the pack in spite of plans he and coach Dave Stelljes set out for Israel to be in the top two or three slots. He fought his way back for fifth.
Tyler Hunziker, of Goldendale and Robbie Phelps, of Lyle-Wishram became victims of circumstances that might have kept them from finishing higher in their events. Delays in the track events due to trouble getting starting blocks anchored, and a prolonged 2B girls' pole vault event, put the two runners in conflict with their field events. Hunziker went to the starting area for the 4x400 relay, putting high jump on hold. The wait for the race was longer than expected and by the time Hunziker ran the final leg of the event, he was hustled over to the high jump pit and asked to jump 6-2, which would have been a new record for the senior. With little time to recover, he took three jumps with little time between attempts and had to settle for fifth place at 6-0.
Phelps was under pressure to get to the start of the 4x400 preliminaries, where the team had a good shot at first place. Phelps had cleared 12 feet and was in line for attempts at 12-6 when second call came for the relay. The vaulting official allowed Phelps to move up a slot in jump order, but his mind was on the race when the final call came and two rushed jumps left last year's runner-up in fourth place based on number of misses. There was redemption for the senior, however, as he helped his team make the finals in the relay and ran a strong third leg on the team that did, indeed win the championship for 2B 4x400 in 3:28.61. The team ran Ty Freemantle, Henry Matai, Cody Carlsen and Phelps in the preliminary. Matai substituting for Jim Price who was recovering from a lung infection, did his job to help the team to the finals and spare Price from having to run two races. Price ran the lead-off leg in the finals, going out strong, but was caught at the exchange. Freemantle didn't waste time on the second leg, quickly passing two teams and giving Phelps about a 10-yard lead for the third leg. Carlsen, runner-up in the 200, still had a short lead when he took the baton from Phelps and was never challenged as he broke the tape for a new school record. Other great performances for area athletes include Patrick Maeder's win in the pole vault, setting a new Bickleton school record and tying the State record set by Kristian Rubesh of TLG in 2008 at 12-9. TLG's McKenzie Zoller upset Bickleton's Star Kibby in the pole vault. Zoller had her best ever jump of 9 feet edging Kibby, who also cleared 9-0. Kibby showed a lot of determination, as she stayed alive at 8-6 and 9-0, clearing the heights each time on her third jump, but the extra misses left her in second place. Jeromie Mason, of Klickitat, had his doubts in the triple jump after seeing Odessa's Aaron Bruya launch a 21-1 in the long jump, leaving Mason in fourth with his 19-5. But Mason was the class of the triple jump at 41-4.75, nearly four inches longer than Bruya's best effort. Mason participated in just eight meets this year due to baseball conflicts, exceeding the 40-foot mark at seven of the meets. Matching the girls with a 4x400 relay win were the TLG boys with a time of 3:41.96 run by Mikael Dick, Alec England, Cope, and Lucas King. TLG girls won the team title, a regular occurrence for them, scoring 125 points. Klickitat was third at 67 and bickleton was fourth with 42. The Bickleton boys were third, TLG fourth and Klickitat 14th. Lyle-Wishram boys were 10th and Goldendale boys were 18th.
Other results by school:
Bickleton: Danielle Raschko 4th in 3200, 6th in 800; Holly Goodnight 4th in shot put; Edgar Molina second in shot put, fourth in discus; Junior Hernandez third in 3200, 6th in 1600; Andrew Venema 8th in shot put; 4x400 boys 2nd with Molina, Maeder, Hernandez and Craig Osborne; 4x100 boys 6th with Maeder, Hernandez, Osborne, and Nic Venema; 4x100 girls 6th with Clinton, Dede Kibby, Nakai Kibby, and Johanna Jensen; 4x200 girls 6th with Jensen, Clinton, Dede Kibby, and Raschko; 4x400 girls 6th with Jensen, Raschko, Christina Wilson and Trisha McBride. Goldendale: Sadie Shattuck 15th shot put; Nikki Williams 11th discus; Hannah Swigart 11th pole vault; Steven Bischoff 9th pole vault; Tyler Hunziker 10th long jump, 14th triple jump; 4x100 boys 14th with Nate Bischoff, JimJack Davenport, Hunziker, and Torey Spaulding-Jimenez. Klickitat: Zoe Lindner 3rd shot put, 3rd javelin; Kali Fargher 4th javelin, 5th triple jump; Ron Prominski 5th high jump. Lyle-Wishram: Teaera Churchwell 10th 100 meters; Jim Price 8th shot put. Trout Lake-Glenwood: Liz Vogt 3rd 200; Anna Nakae 7th 400, 8th 100; Mikael Dick 4th in 200, 4th in 400; Alec England 3rd in 800, 4th in 1600; Lucas King 4th in 800; Tyler Cope 6th in long jump; Nick Rubesh 2nd in pole vault; 4x100 girls 5th with Schmid, Nakae, Lindsey Scott, and Megan Anderson; 4x200 girls 3rd with Nakae, Scott, Anderson, and McKenzie Zoller.
Check off another goal for Zach
Shooting two rounds of 68 was very fitting for Zach Wanderscheid as he won his first State 1A golf title last week. The Goldendale junior has been incredibly consistent over the past two years, rarely having a bad round.
Wanderscheid was one stroke behind Ilwaco's Jack Whealdon after the first round on Wednesday. He and Whealdon battled in the final threesome on Thursday with Wanderscheid tying Whealdon on the fourth hole and taking a lead on the fifth.
Wanderscheid was up by two standing on the 17th tee, but a bogey and a Whealdon par cut the lead to one on the final hole.
Wanderscheid's second shot at 18 looked like trouble when it found the bunker and Whealdon was on the green in two. But the Timberwolf had been there before and told himself he could get it close, which he assumed he would need to do if Whealdon was going to two putt. Close it was, as his chip rolled to within seven feet of the cup. Whealdon's putt left him with a one-foot tap in.
Admittedly a little nervous, Wanderscheid stepped up and sank the putt to preserve his one shot win.
Goldendale's other State golfers, Ron Lindhe and Amber Ihrig shot 93 and 108, respectively, on the first day missing the cut.
Winning the State championship was a major goal for Wanderscheid who had won league and district titles and was in the top five at State last year. He missed winning the district title this year because he was busy working on his next goal, the U.S. Open.
Wanderscheid had shot a 69 at the PGA qualifier tournament the day before the District golf match. "I was mentally tired," said Wanderscheid, offering a reason for the atypical round at District.
Being mentally tired is not common for the Timberwolf who credits his participation in cross country for making him better able physically and mentally for playing a lot of golf. Wanderscheid plays 72 holes of golf on the weekends when he isn't in a tournament, and he doesn't use a cart.
"Cross country helps you mentally by telling yourself to don't quit and stay focused on your breathing. It helps me stay calm after a bad shot and I control my breathing on the course. I don't get tired easily, " said Wanderscheid.
Monday is sectional play at Tumble Creek near Roslyn. If Wanderscheid is in the top two there, his next stop will be the U.S. Open, June 18, in New York.
Bellamy, Carley medal in tennis
Goldendale's two tennis doubles teams took similar paths in last weekend's State tennis tournament in Yakima. While the boys pair of Chase Wing and Fletcher Wilhite came up short in the consolation round, the girls team of Kylee Bellamy and Ryell Carley forged on with three straight, three-set wins to claim the fourth place medal.
Bellamy had a taste of State last year as a singles player and came close to the medal match. This time, she and Carley wouldn't be denied. After losing 6-4, 6-2 in their second match, they lost the first set of the consolations to Blair Riddle and Katie Bauer of Freeman before fighting back 7-5, 6-4. The next match was even tougher, as they beat Connell's Lauren Booker and Anali Galvez 6-7,7-6,7-5. The final match was a 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 win for the medal.
Wing and Wilhite were sent to the consolations by eventual winners, Willie Corbit and Ben LeVeque, of University. |
