Getting a good look
Now four full weeks into the spring sports season, area girls track and field coaches are just now getting a look at what they have.
“Even though we started a week early, we still don’t know exactly what we have,” East Valley coach Shane Toy said. “We weren’t able to get on the track because of snow and ice and I can’t remember when we’ve had so much cold weather.”
Still, Toy said, there is an upside.
The Knights have put in plenty of work in the weight room and on fundamentals.
“The hope is that we can avoid injuries later on,” he said.
The Knights are in Lewiston for their first meet today. Central Valley is in Snohomish for their annual Cross-State Rivalry meet with the Panthers. The first Greater Spokane League meets are next week.
“We’ll get a look at some of our kids in Snohomish, but we’re only taking one bus and we have just two kids per event,” CV coach Dennis McGuire said. “But we come back and have our first league meet Wednesday and the next day is the freshman/sophomore meet at our place. In the course of five days, we’ll get a chance to look at every one of our kids. This time next week we’ll know a whole lot more about what we have.”
Central Valley Bears
The heart of the CV squad is its distance runners – most of them veterans of McGuire’s successful cross country program.
“They’re all versatile kids,” he said. “We can use them in a lot of events and relays.”
McGuire has 97 girls out this spring, so getting a good look at what he has is a challenge.
“Last year you’d have to say that the sprints were our weakness,” he said. “This year I think we have some very good, young sprinters. We’re just not going to know for sure until we put them in the blocks and let them run a race or two.”
Twin senior sisters Camille and Brittany Carter, senior Melinda Miller and juniors Eden Lake, Breanna Barsten and Ari Rios and sophomore Ashley Renz will all see duty in everything from 400 meters and longer.
Renz reached the 800 finals at last year’s Eastern Regional meet as a freshman and Brittany Carter was a regional qualifier in the same event.
Barston, Renz and Lake all qualified for the regional’s 1,600-meter final and Lake doubled in the 3,200.
The Bears have a solid group of returning throws, with a talented group behind them, pushing to see varsity playing time.
Senior Lauren Puhek is a state veteran in the shot put and junior Emilee Deishel reached the state meet in the javelin and was a regional qualifier in the shot.
Senior Rachel Howard was a regional qualifier in the high jump, where she cleared 5-feet to place fifth.
East Valley Knights
Toy is excited about senior Morgan Dunning.
Already top returning Class 3A pole vaulter in the state with a personal best mark of 10-6, Dunning spent the winter practicing and competing in indoor meets.
“She cleared 10-7 in an indoor meet,” Toy said. “She’s already getting her toes up to the bar at 13-6.
“With pole vaulters, it’s all about getting used to using the right pole. She’s using a 130-pound pole now and she’s really getting comfortable with it.”
With her toes already nearing 13-6, adding at least a foot to her personal best should be within easy reach – with room to spare.
“She’s looking seriously about vaulting at either Washington State or Idaho. She has her heart set on both schools and I think she’s going to wait to see what happens this season before she decides.”
Dunning doubles as one of the Knights’ top jumpers.
Toy is also excited about junior newcomer Mallory Mott.
“She came out for the first time this season,” he said. “She’s a soccer player and we knew she had really good speed. We had her run a time trial and she turned in a 12.7-second 100 meters. And that was from a standing start. We have her working out of the blocks now and she’s really picking that up fast. It will be exciting to see how she does once we get into the season.”
The state’s leading 100 meter times coming into the season is 12.06, and a time of 12.41 puts a sprinter among the state’s top 10 in all classifications – at least to start the season. Last year’s state champion turned in a 12.45.
Hurdler Lori Bourgeous made huge strides a year ago and has state-caliber times in both the 100 and 300 hurdles. Her 100 time of 15.56 is a top-three time; her 45.67 300 time also ranked among the three best in Class 3A.
But Bourgeous will start her senior season slowly.
“Lori was doing some plyometric exercises a couple weeks ago and she hurt her back,” Toy said. “She’s seeing a doctor, but in the meantime, we want her to go very slowly. The last thing we want is for her to do something now that could end her season.”
A year ago Bourgeous and University hurdler Madeline Fuchs waged a season-long battle in both the 100 and 300. The pair are scheduled for their first rematch next week.
“They really like running against one another,” Toy said. “It’s possible she could run then.”
University Titans
The Titans have a new coach in former Bowdish Middle School cross country and track coach Elizabeth Wardsworth.
“It’s really a lot of fun for me to see some of the kids I knew and worked with in middle school doing so well at the next level,” she said. “I am really having a blast working with these kids.”
Wardsworth said she has been faced with two big challenges in her first four weeks on the job: learning everyone’s name and figuring out what events will be their strengths.”
“I think I’m finally getting to where I know who everyone is,” she laughed. “Figuring out what they do is another question.”
Wardsworth said she and new head boys coach Doug Fry are on the same page with their approach to coaching the sport.
“We met with the parents and the kids a week before the start of practice and talked about what we expected,” she said. “It’s all about being a team. The one thing that makes me mad is when people say that track and field is all about individual events. It’s not. It’s a team sport.”
Fuchs begins her junior season with one of the state’s best times in the 300 – 45.29. She just missed out on a state berth at that length a year ago, running 45.32 in the regional final to place fourth.
Alicia Knowles cleared 9 feet at last year’s regional meet as a junior, and senior Tori Brincken cleared 8-6. Senior Laura Leach jumped 15-4 in the regional long jump and 32-10 1/2 in the triple jump.
Senior Evelyn Baker threw 110-3 in the discus to place fourth at last year’s regional and missed a state berth by just three inches. She also reached the regional in the shot put.
Junior Elise Thatcher reached the regional in the 800. Junior Stevie Gildehaus did the same in the 3,200.
The Titans 4x400 relay team placed fourth at the regional. Fuchs, Messling, Thatcher and junior Alexandra Evenson all return from that team.
West Valley Eagles
The Eagles are on a roll, and girls track coach Rick Kuhl is excited.
“This school has never had a year like this for girls sports,” he said. “The soccer team got all the way to the state quarterfinals. The volleyball team got to the state tournament. The girls basketball team got to state.
“Wouldn’t it be something of they all could do that?”
The Eagles have that kind of potential.
Seniors Melissa Mauro and Ashley Kenney both are state track veterans and already are college bound.
Mauro accepted a scholarship to be a high jumper at the University of Montana. Her spring-coiled jumping ability helped get the Eagles into both the state volleyball and basketball tournaments.
Her personal best jump of 5-foot-5 is the standard for Class 2A – a distinction she shares with two other jumpers. She placed fifth at the Class 3A state meet as a sophomore.
Kenney already owns school records in both the shot put and discus and is among the state’s leading throwers in both events. Still, she is not the leading returning thrower in the Great Northern League. That distinction goes to Pullman’s Anna Albrecht.
“Those two really enjoy going against each other,” Kuhl said. “They’ve done it so often that it’s funny – after this year they’ll be teammates at Washington State.”
Kenney’s returning best mark of 39-4 is among the best in the shot put, and her 144-6 in the discus is second only to, and just a foot behind, Albrecht.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had anyone work harder than Ashley does,” Kuhl said.
Also back for the Eagles is junior sprinter Bri Almy, an All-Great Northern League first-team pick at 200 meters, a second-team pick at 100 and the league’s Sprinter of the Year a season ago.
Senior Alyssa Wold, who cleared 5-5 in the high jump and was All-GNL a year ago, opted to concentrate on playing club volleyball this spring. Her sister, sophomore Bailey Wold, returns in both the pole vault and triple jump after being voted the GNL Jumper of the Year.
Freeman Scotties
Coach John Hays has another solid team. He’s just having trouble finding a home track for them to work on. Compact snow and ice still had sections of the Scotties’ home track buried beneath snowdrifts this week.
The team’s first meet, with Northeast A League rival Newport, was moved. The teams meet today at West Valley.
Freeman has three state veterans back to lead is squad.
Junior Carley Heinen still is recovering from the ankle she sprained in the district basketball tournament. When she returns, she will run the sprints and hurdles, where she is a former state placer.
Sophomore Taylor Naber was the league’s freshman sensation a year ago. She was an all-league first-team pick and placed seventh in the state 400 meter final.
Senior Melanie Frankart threw the discus 107-6 in last year’s state final to place fourth.
“We have a pretty strong group of freshmen coming in,” Hays said. “We’re excited to see what they can do.”