Albrecht takes tasty triumph
PASCO – As it turns out, Anna Albrecht wasn’t the only area athlete to have a sweet day at the 46th Pasco Invitational track meet at Edgar Brown Stadium on a damp, breezy and cool Saturday.
“Candy,” the Pullman junior said after she pulled off a last-throw personal record to win the shot put. “We get candy when we PR.”
Other area girls joining Albrecht in the winner’s circle were Mead’s Ashley Hutchinson in the discus, Mead’s Nikki Codd in the 800 meters, Mead’s 1,600 relay team and Mt. Spokane pole vaulter Jordan Roskelley, who backed up her Spokane-record 12-foot, 6-inch vault on Thursday by clearing 12-0.
Mead finished second in the team race with 43 points, seven behind Evergreen of Vancouver and one ahead of Richland. Shadle Park was fourth, Mt. Spokane fifth.
There were some close calls, with Hutchinson (shot put) and Albrecht (discus) finishing second, West Valley’s Ashley Kenney finishing third in both throws, Northwest Christian freshman Lisa Vanderburg placing second in the 1,600 and Shadle freshman Andrea Nelson taking second in a photo finish in the 3,200.
Andrea Jensen of Fife, who swept the hurdles, was named the Athlete of the Meet.
On the boys’ side, Newport hurdler Adam Walden and Mead shot putter Mike McGee were the area’s only individual winners. Central Valley won the 1,600 relay and Mead, CV and North Central swept the distance medley relay.
Class 2A Prosser won the meet behind Athlete of the Meet Nestoly Barbosa, who set the only meet record when he ran 4 minutes, 8.86 seconds in the 1,600. The Mustangs, the smallest school to win the meet, scored 47 points to edge Evergreen by one. CV and Mead tied for sixth with 26 points.
Girls
Albrecht finished last season with a flourish, winning the 2A shot put and placing third in the discus. She was the state leader at the beginning of the week at 42-1 1/4 and this time reached 42-3 1/2, edging Hutchinson by 3 inches.
“I honestly don’t know why, I just go out and try to do my best,” she said. “Coach said he’s noticed such an improvement in my feet. It started to click. It started at the end of last year when I had huge PRs.”
Hutchinson got Albrecht’s measure in the discus with a throw of 122-5 to win by 3 inches.
Roskelley pole vaulted for two years without little to show for it, reaching 10-3 and staying there. But a couple of weeks ago she became the state leader when she went 11-8.
Then came Thursday’s vault that was 6 inches better than what NC’s Kendall Mays cleared last year. That made her 12-foot vault at Pasco a little disappointing, especially when she got over 13 on Thursday but hit the bar on the way down.
“I’ve been practicing hard and I’ve been working on going upside down and it all paid off,” she said. “You can always do better so it’s really frustrating, but it’s good to win a meet. I’m never overconfident, I’m never under-confident, I’m nervous before every meet.”
Vanderburg understands nerves. Pasco is daunting for any freshman especially coming from a B school.
“I didn’t know what to expect (here),” she said. “I like it, it’s cool. I wasn’t expecting to do too much. I was trying to get like eighth place, trying to PR, I sure did all of that.”
Her career best was a 5:19 as an eighth-grader and she had run 5:24 this year. Chasing after Bronwyn Crossman of Sqalicum, eighth in the 3A mile and second in the 2-mile last year, Vanderburg ran 5:07.96.
Codd’s win was impressive considering she made a tactical blunder at the start and ran about an extra 20 meters. She failed to cut in at the start, which threw her into the middle of the pack and probably cost her a good 3 seconds. She finished in 2:14.26, still good for the state lead.
Codd anchored the 1,600 relay quartet that included Alexa Banaugh, Jazmine Redmon and Taylor Cook to a state best 3:58.26.
Nelson led seven laps of the 3,200 but Redmond’s Sara Lord pulled it out with a lean, winning by two one-hundredths of a second in 10:54.52.
Also among the notable small school performances, Tekoa-Oakesdale-Rosalia junior Ashley Stabl placed seventh in the 400 and fifth in the 300 hurdles and Chewelah’s Erin Smith was third in the triple jump with teammate Rebecca Johnstone fifth in the triple jump.
Boys
Walden admitted to a case of nerves racing against athletes from larger schools, leading to a slow start out of the blocks in the 110 high hurdles finals.
“I think I was wired up too much,” he said. “It was hard for me to get to sleep last night. This is actually bigger than the state meet for me. My coach (Barry Sartz) teaches us how to be prepared and think positive, always think you’re going to win.”
McGee was disappointed he only threw 53-3 1/2.
“I’m happy with the win, I’m happy with the 10 points for the team, but I’m not about throw,” he said. “I’ve been here before and see guys at 62.”
However, he has been limited by shoulder surgery for a football injury and has just returned to weight lifting.
James Adams, Danny Groby, David Churchill and Brad Whitley combined to give CV the state lead of 3:24.83 in the 1,600 relay.
T-O-R’s Kris Widman tied for fifth in the high jump.