Long-awaited reward
Of all the events that make up a track meet, it is the last one – the 1,600-meter relay – that is West Valley coach Jim McLachlan’s favorite. “It always has been,” McLachlan, 57, said. So it was fitting in the final race of the State 3A meet in Pasco last weekend that the long relay team, made up mostly of distance runners, ran the fourth-fastest time in school history and brought the longtime Eagles mentor his first team championship. The Eagles scored 40 points, edging Columbia River by two, in earning the long-awaited reward. There was no such expectation on the way to Pasco. WV had a relatively small state contingent from the smallest school in the Greater Spokane League.
Horizontal jumper Rashad Toussaint, among the nation’s top prep long and triple jumpers, but coming off injury, set two meet records and accounted for half of WV’s state points.
Discus thrower Kevin Lemieux, 400-meter runner Marc Smith and the three distance guys – Chris Vennum, Curtis Fitzhugh and Wes Riehle – who with Smith made up the 4x400 relay team, finished no lower than third in their specialties.
In a hot race with state champion East Valley, the relay runners lopped three seconds off their previous best over a two-day period and finished second by just fourth-tenths of a second.
The 1,600 relay is often the most thrilling and dramatic conclusion to a track meet. Four runners take turns circling the 400-meter track once, each passing an aluminum baton to his teammate.
McLachlan, in 32 standout years as WV head coach, has been witness to numerous such spectacles. But this year’s quartet of runners will hold a special place in his heart.
“It’s a wonderful story,” he said. “We’ve been devoid of a good 4x400 team for years. This is a group of distance kids who kept getting better and better.”
Last year West Valley did run 3:27.34 in the event, its fastest in several years, though until this season it had been 14 years since last the Eagles qualified a long relay team to state. And a half-point loss for the title in 1999 by a star-studded team without a relay entrant was often a topic of discussion around this year’s Eagles.
“We’ve been told that several times,” said Vennum. “We hear about it during the season when it comes down to that race.”
Vennum last fall had trained hard for cross country and was in the best shape of his career. But he said he lost his conditioning during trips with his family to Fiji and Costa Rica and last winter traded long runs for the hurdles, shoring up a track event that was short-handed.
Riehle, from a distance family whose sister was a state cross country champ and whose two brothers had run before him, discovered this spring he was more suited for middle races than longer runs.
“It’s kind of ironic,” said Riehle. “He (McLachlan) was talking about it (1999) on the way down and we ended up kind of fixing the mistake.”
Fitzhugh, who transferred from University two seasons ago, was a distance runner, pure and simple. Until the state semifinals.
“I’ve hated the 400 ever since I ran it,” he said, recalling how he was sitting in the stands at the Pasco Invitational eating popcorn and nachos and drinking pop when he was railroaded into the relay. “There was no way out this year.”
Even Smith, a junior who placed sixth in state at 400 meters last year and ran 49.61 to break a school record last established in 1969, had doubts.
“I was scared,” he said. “I was running only in the 53s at mid-season.”
Then things began to happen. His times came down. The relay runners broke 3:30 at the Mooberry Relays. At regionals, chasing EV as they had all season, they ran 3:26.89, cutting more than a second off their previous best.
Last weekend in the state prelims they dropped another 1.6 seconds, to 3:25.27 – three-tenths faster than the Knights – giving them hope for the finals.
In the torrid final against EV, Riehle timed 50.6 on his leg – “the greatest effort of his life,” said McLachlan – Vennum and Fitzhugh 51.4 each and Smith, who placed third in the open 400, brought it home in second place.
“I was trying to catch Keith (Holt), but he had two of his big old strides ahead of me and every time I tried to go faster he sped up,” said Smith.
The quartet credits the friendly rivalry with the Knights, a little good fortune and Toussaint with bringing home the team championship.
“It was more for Otis (McLachlan’s nickname) than anything,” said Smith.
Added Riehle, “He’s a great coach looking out for all of us. Even if it’s not a super team he’s so positive.
And Vennum concluded, “He’s coach of the championship team he wanted so badly. When you see that it’s just like, yeah, that’s right.”
McLachlan has had two state girls cross country champions and a horde of second places and top four finishes in both boys and girls cross country and track over the course of a brilliant 35-year coaching career. But he’d never won track until last weekend.
It came after being diagnosed last fall with cancer and having an eye removed, making him even more thankful.
“It’s been a real up and down year,” McLachlan said. “The dangerous thing is to judge your whole career by whether you’ve won a state championship or not. We really didn’t expect this one. All of a sudden it’s become a reality and it’s neat, but I wasn’t fretting.”
Indeed, McLachlan shifted the credit to his athletes, even refusing to hold the state championship trophy, said his runners.
Toussaint, who had been fighting a heel injury this spring that prevented him from being named All-GSL, reached 24-1 ¾ in the long jump and 49-11 ¾ in the triple jump, both meet records. The relay runners said the trophy should read, “Rashad and the rest of the team.”
“I’ve always said Mark Munns was the best field event competitor I ever had,” McLachlan said. “Rashad was equally that way. He told me, ‘don’t worry coach, I’m going to get it done.’ I knew at the moment he’d perform.”
After his winning long jump, the determined Toussaint had both arms jammed at his side, fists closed with a cold stare on his face, said McLachlan. “It was eerie; I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Lemieux added a third in the discus, for more valuable points.
“He kind of got stuck this year,” said his coach. “He had some awesome throws in practice, but couldn’t get them in the meets. But he had his best throw at state (164-7) on his first throw.”
Smith didn’t like his 50.27 state 400 effort, vowing to win it next year. But again, the third place added six big points.
And when Columbia River dropped the baton in the 1,600 relay and other breaks occurred along the way, WV had a state title without realizing it at the time.
“It snuck up on us so fast and was so different than you or I would imagine,” McLachlan said. “I’ve gone to state before and expected really good things. It took me a lot of tries to realize how hard it was. It got to the point in my career I thought it wouldn’t happen.”
His throws coach and father-in-law Howard Dolphin is retiring after 53 years as a coach. McLachlan is unsure of his own coaching future, although he’ll stick around West Valley in some capacity, with only a boys cross country title yet to achieve.
His favorite event, the 1,600 relay that performed “beyond my wildest imagination” got him the track title he never thought he’d achieve.
“I’m extremely pleased,” McLachlan said. “This championship is for every kid who’s ever been in track at West Valley and struggled through the good and bad years.”