Davis, Detray Get A Step On Gsl Competition

Let the sun shine, please. The potential is there for an outstanding track season if Mother Nature cooperates.

Consider Skiy DeTray.

The Mead senior ran the 3,200 meters in 9 minutes, 4.76 seconds at the prestigious Arcadia (Calif.) Invitational last Saturday, good enough to win last year’s State AAA meet and rank 30th in Washington high school history.

Teammate Micah Davis ran 9:01.39, tied for 16th in the state all-time.

That duo gives rivals something to shoot for as track and field athletes hit high gear this week, with the 34th Pasco Invitational Saturday.

Pasco draws far more teams and athletes than the state meet, which gives participants a chance to gauge their fitness as they prepare for the final six weeks of the season.

Though some top athletes are missing because of a meet in Tacoma or they used their mid-season test at Arcadia, Pasco will have its usual array of standouts. More than 70 teams are sending individuals who have met the qualifying standards.

The meet begins at 10 a.m., with the last events scheduled for 6 p.m.

First, though, the Greater Spokane and Frontier league seasons get underway.

The GSL begins its four-week run of three threeway duals at 3:45 today with Rogers and Mead at Lewis and Clark; North Central and Gonzaga Prep at CV and University and Shadle Park at Ferris.

The Frontier goes on five straight Thursdays, beginning today at 3:30 with Cheney at Clarkston, West Valley at Pullman and Colville vs. East Valley at Riverside.

At Arcadia, Davis finished second and DeTray third in the 3,200.

However, it is because of Arcadia that two of Washington’s best track and field athletes, River Ridge seniors LaShonda Christopher and Gabe Garrett, won’t be at Pasco.

Christopher won the triple jump with a meetrecord 42 feet, 1 1/4 inches. She was also second in the long jump at 20-1/2. Both distances are short of where she finished last year when she was ranked first nationally in both events. The North Carolinabound senior won the triple jump at the National Indoor High School meet in Syracuse last month. Garrett won the 400 title.

More impressive than Christopher was Heather Gambill of Battle Ground. She won the shot put (46-9 1/2) and discus (158-11) at Arcadia. Gambill signed with Boise State on Wednesday.

Garrett won the state 200 and 400 titles last spring and finished fifth in the 100. He won the 400 at the indoor and finished fifth in the 200 (22.1) and 400 (48.6) at Arcadia. The Tennessee-bound senior is gunning for the sprint triple crown this spring.

Erik Mickelson of Newport in Bellevue, who edged Rob James of Mead for the state 800 title last spring, won the Arcadia 1,600 in 4:10.61.

Other Washington placers at Arcadia included Richland’s Kevin Moore, third in the discus (182-8); Lynnwood’s Ben Lindsey, fourth in the shot put (58-10 1/4 ); Eisenhower’s Chris Schafer, fifth in the 800 (1:51.3); Richland’s Dan Johnston, sixth in the 300 hurdles (39.0); Puyallup’s Travis Price, eighth in the 800 (1:53.81); River Ridge’s Erin Rinear, sixth in the 100 hurdles (15.22) and seventh in the 300 hurdles (45.24); and Eisenhower’s Aleah Thome, eighth in the 1,600 (5:02.12).