Mead Sweeps Aaa Track Titles

The legend of the Beast from the East continues to grow.

Greater Spokane League athletes won 11 of 34 events and swept team titles as Star Track XIV ground to a halt late Saturday night in the Lincoln Bowl.

Mead won its third straight boys State AAA track title, but that wasn’t enough for the Big Blue Beast as the Panthers added their first girls team title.

“We finally get to prove we can make a mark,” senior Autumn Wood said after the girls escaped the shadow of a boys team that won for the fifth time in eight years.

For Mead it was speed.

The girls won both 400- and 800-meter relays. The boys, long dominant in the distances, scored more points in the sprints.

“I think it’s probably the first time it’s ever been done,” said senior sprinter Matt Sturm, the center of attention after anchoring the winning sprint relay team and finishing second in the 200. “I’m loving it. It’s really been shocking.”

The team titles capped a terrific weekend for GSL athletes, highlighted by the Red Brigade of Ferris.

The Saxons swept almost all of the distance events, led by a 1,600-3,200 double by junior Isaac Hawkins and a talented trio of senior Kristen Parrish, junior Jenny Smith and sophomore Missy Blackshire that almost pulled out a girls team title.

It wasn’t until well after the Lewis and Clark girls 1,600 relay team won the final event that meet officials decided not all of the 800 relay teams had to run again, letting Mead’s win stand. (Pasco had been disqualified and places 4-7 were decided in a runoff).

Those 10 points gave the Panthers 50 to 43 for the Ferris threesome that won the 800 (Blackshire), the 1,600 (Parrish) and the 3,200 (Smith).

On the boys side, the Panthers scored in 10 different places to pile up 58 points, 13 more than Curtis.

Girls

Mead’s accomplishment was just as impressive as Ferris’. The Panthers brought seven girls and they all placed. The quartet of seniors, Autumn Wood (300 hurdles) and Jen Dunford (100), junior Emily Williams (high jump) and sophomore Abby Hornstein (100), each placed in an individual event besides handling the relays.

“We were kind of fired up to win the GSL, that was hard competition,” Mead coach Annette Pedersen said. “What we did here depended on how many we got here.

“We used Wes’ (Player, assistant coach), ‘Two Van Plan.’ We knew if we had to bring two vans here, we had a chance.”

Ferris was in position to win after Blackshire charged from behind to win the 800 in a meet-record 2:10.27. The previous best was 2:10.34 by Dena Day of Mercer Island. Blackshire ran the fifth-fastest 800 in state history, thanks to a 63-second opening lap.

“I just tried to stay up with the leaders and in the second lap turn it on,” the sophomore said. “My plan was to run a 63 or 64 (first lap) because I wanted to get 2:10.”

Parrish was fourth in 2:13.21, a season best but a second slower than she ran in winning the state title as a sophomore.

Alisha Booterbaught of Battle Ground, runner-up last year and state leader this year, pushed the pace early and that may have helped Mead. Freshman Nicole McRae, who ran a 2:12 preliminary Friday, was never in the race and faded to fifth.

The Saxons took the lead in the 1,600 when Parrish charged past Smith down the homestretch to win in 4:52.63, a huge personal record and easily the state best.

All four LC runners ran a sub-minute split in the 1,600 relay, with freshman Teresa Brooks holding off Wenatchee’s Siobhan Everson-Stewart down the stretch. The 3:56.2 wasn’t quite as fast as the school record the Tigers ran the day before in prelims, but it wasn’t bad for a team put together the week before the district meet.

“Shannon leads it, Bekah kicks it, Keri keeps it and Teresa whomps it,” LC’s Anderson, Paulk, Nichols and Brooks explained.

Boys

The Mead boys were fast, 25 points coming from the sprint relay, the 100 and 200, but the Panthers also did their distance thing. Jason Fayant was second to Hawkins in the 3,200, the same finish as the 1,600 a day earlier.

After tracking down an early rabbit in the 1,600 on Friday, Hawkins led the charge in the 3,200, with Fayant right behind.

“The mental aspect of this one was tougher, to come back and have the same mental focus I had in the mile,” Hawkins said after his 9:13.04 run. “Physically, I knew I’d be fine, but with Fayant and (teammate) David (Schruth), I knew I’d have to go to the limit to beat them.”

Fayant was 3 seconds back, but Schruth got caught at the line and was fourth.

“I never look back,” Hawkins, the state cross country champion, explained. “I don’t know why I don’t, maybe it helps if I run scared. I always dreamed (of the double) but I never knew. As soon as cross country was over, I started thinking about it because all of the great distance runners doubled.”

The Mead boys got nine points in the javelin and Beau Chandler guaranteed an amazing state-wide accomplishment. Chandler threw 200 feet in the preliminaries, giving the state four 200-foot throwers. But two others passed Chandler in the finals. Before Matthew Getman of Hudson’s Bay threw 202-10, three throwers were within 11 inches.

“It was a real team deal,” Mead coach Gary Baskett said.

, DataTimes