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Prelude To Supremacy U-Hi’s Wilson Has Lofty Goals In Her Plan To Rule Gsl Track

By Dave Trimmer davetrimmer@yahoo.com

Adrienne Wilson has wheels.

She’s not talking about the kind that may allow her to replace graduated teammate Katherine Hough as the best sprinter in the Greater Spokane League.

No, she has her 19-foot wheels, a Honda Prelude that her parents gave her - contingent on the University senior reaching 19 feet in the long jump this year.

But even with car keys in her pocket she’s not putting her track season on cruise control. She really wants to jump 20, and she hopes on her way past 19 she may get to accessorize.

“I’m kind of shooting for 20,” Wilson said. “I don’t know if that is an unrealistic goal or not.”

Her coach isn’t selling her short.

“I think, barring some injury problem, which is always a scary thought, she can jump 19 this year. It wouldn’t surprise me,” Steve Llewellyn said. “I don’t know, perhaps she can jump further than that. She’s fast and she’s stronger this year.”

Wilson got off to a good start, jumping 17-feet, 7-3/4-inches. She hopes to go beyond 18 feet this weekend in Yakima, the same place she broke that barrier a year ago with a career-best 18-7.

Besides jumping for 20, Wilson will have plenty of other responsibilities for the Titans this spring. She tried triple jumping midway through last season and quickly became the best in the GSL, setting a school record of 36-10-1/2.

Wilson finished fourth in both jumps at last spring’s state meet and was on the Titans’ champion 400-meter relay team and anchored their second-place 800 relay team.

With sprint standout Hough gone, Llewellyn must decide where Wilson best benefits the team. It’s a tough decision.

“She’s just got a lot of terrific natural talent,” the coach said. “Like a lot of great athletes, she makes it look easy.”

Wilson has run a 12.5-second 100. Llewellyn said she can lower that closer to 12 and Wilson has some vision of her own.

“I think it would be kind cool replacing Katharine,” she said, “but it would be kind of hard to fill her shoes. I’ve been chasing after Katharine since junior high.”

Hough was strictly a sprinter while Wilson is a leaper with sprinter’s speed.

“I was always jumping over stuff with my brother,” she said. “At the beginning of high school, when the coaches said I was pretty good at jumping, I knew if I really worked at it it was the only way I was going to get to college.”

Her triple jump goal is also daunting, 38 feet to begin with, 40 feet by the end of the year, a number only two Washington high school girls have reached.

Wilson and classmate Heather Silvey ran the relays with Hough and Laura Auch. If two Titans can step in to replace Hough and Auch, Wilson and Silvey could be back in the relays.

“If it was my choice I would do relays,” Wilson said. “I seem faster when I’m holding a baton.”

When Wilson gets to college, sometime after her fourth trip to state, Llewellyn wouldn’t be surprised to see her compete in the heptathlon, a two-day, seven-event test of strength and endurance.

But that is the future. For now, Wilson has her sights set on a little running and a lot of jumping.

“I’d like to reach my goals and be a state champion,” she said. “All the long jumpers that beat me last year have graduated. But I’d rather reach my goals than be state champion, because if I jump 20 feet and someone jumps 21, I’m going to be happy.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: GSL TRACK Defending league champions: Mead boys 14 straight; Mead girls three straight. State placings: Mead boys won their second consecutive state title; University girls second, Mead third. Returning state champions: Mariah McConnaughey, Ferris, 1,600, 5:04.28; Allison Beatty, Mead, javelin, 152-7. Returning state placers: Matt Sturm, Mead (8th-100; 6-200); Dana Harper, Ferris (6-400); Beau Chandler, Mead (4-javelin); Oliver Cook, Shadle Park (7-javelin); Whitney Schmaljohn, Central Valley (3-400, 6-200); Kristen Parrish, Ferris (4-800); Autumn Wood, Mead (2-300 hurdles); Rebekah Paul, Lewis and Clark (4-300 hurdles); Adrienne Wilson, University (4-long jump; 4-triple jump); Sarah Hiss, LC, 8-long jump; 8-triple jump). Key league meet: Third week of triple duals, April 25, features Ferris and U-Hi at Mead. Other crucial matchups, U-Hi girls at CV April 11 and CV-Mead boys at Rogers April 18. Big invitationals: April 13 at Pasco; April 20 Mooberry Relays at Rogers; April 27 Coeur d’Alene; May 4 Strandberg Invitational at CV. Postseason: The District 8 meet is May 9-10 at Spokane Falls CC; the Eastern Regional is May 17 and 18 at Richland; State is May 24-25 at Tacoma.

This sidebar appeared with the story: GSL TRACK Defending league champions: Mead boys 14 straight; Mead girls three straight. State placings: Mead boys won their second consecutive state title; University girls second, Mead third. Returning state champions: Mariah McConnaughey, Ferris, 1,600, 5:04.28; Allison Beatty, Mead, javelin, 152-7. Returning state placers: Matt Sturm, Mead (8th-100; 6-200); Dana Harper, Ferris (6-400); Beau Chandler, Mead (4-javelin); Oliver Cook, Shadle Park (7-javelin); Whitney Schmaljohn, Central Valley (3-400, 6-200); Kristen Parrish, Ferris (4-800); Autumn Wood, Mead (2-300 hurdles); Rebekah Paul, Lewis and Clark (4-300 hurdles); Adrienne Wilson, University (4-long jump; 4-triple jump); Sarah Hiss, LC, 8-long jump; 8-triple jump). Key league meet: Third week of triple duals, April 25, features Ferris and U-Hi at Mead. Other crucial matchups, U-Hi girls at CV April 11 and CV-Mead boys at Rogers April 18. Big invitationals: April 13 at Pasco; April 20 Mooberry Relays at Rogers; April 27 Coeur d’Alene; May 4 Strandberg Invitational at CV. Postseason: The District 8 meet is May 9-10 at Spokane Falls CC; the Eastern Regional is May 17 and 18 at Richland; State is May 24-25 at Tacoma.