Medical Lake’s Poteet Runs To 3,200-Meter Victory

State A track

“Didn’t she just get done running?” asked the puzzled security guard as Amie Poteet dashed away.

As a matter of fact, yes. Poteet ran 3,200 meters on Friday and didn’t mind logging a few more.

So into the Zaepfel Stadium crowd disappeared the Medical Lake senior, her day completed before the rest of Class A athletes had begun theirs.

Poteet inaugurated the State A/B track and field championships by winning the girls 3,200 in 11 minutes, 32.5 seconds.

Poteet, a former State A cross country champion, positioned herself in seventh then steadily picked off runners, winning by 6 seconds.

Pointing at well-wishers in the stands, Poteet smiled broadly and broke away from the finish line as quickly as she could. Given that she was the only Cardinals girl to qualify for state, and the only Medical Lake athlete in a competition on Friday, why hang around? After all, Poteet has the 1,600 to run today, when all other finals are decided.

Those who stayed for the next 9 hours were baked by the sun on a cloudless, slightly breezy day at Eisenhower High’s track.

Lakeside sophomore Lindsay McElroy finished sixth in the event won by Poteet.

Outside of the 800 heat won by Colfax’s Katie Kneeshaw - last year’s runner-up in the event - the day’s top girls efforts belonged to Chewelah.

Leading the way was Cougars sophomore Hayden Kristianson, last year’s third-place finisher in the 400. Kristianson, who added the 800 to her repertoire this year, won her middle-distance heats in 59.75 and 2:23.90.

Chewelah sophomore Deanne Perkins, fifth last year, won her 300 hurdles heat in 46.35.

Boys: Greg Belzer kept it a red-letter day for Chewelah by finishing second in the shot put, with a personal-best 53 feet, 6 inches. Favorite David Cherrington of Castle Rock won at 56-4.

Another Cougar, Chris Frizzel, finished fourth in the 1,600 (4:26.53), moving up a spot when the second-place runner stumbled and fell yards shy of the finish. Frizzel later qualified for the 800 final.

In Friday’s other finals, Scott Edinger of Colfax was fifth in the high jump (6-2) despite interrupting his jumps with a finals-qualifying time in the 300 hurdles, and Freeman’s Jeremy Ashmoore took sixth in the pole vault (13-6).

Riverside’s David Yonkers won his 110 hurdles heat in 14.9 and also qualified in the 300 hurdles.