Cheney Experienced; Ml Strong In Throws

Thu., March 27, 1997

John Miller Correspondent

West Plains boys track

Cheney was 5-2 last year and tied for second in the Frontier League.

The Blackhawks also have an experienced core of tracksters returning.

So with these positives, why doesn’t coach Bruce Abbott sound more exuberant about the team’s fortunes heading into the 1997 season?

Well, for one, Pullman is tough. Last year’s champs, West Valley, also figure to be strong.

“I have good experience, but this league is so competitive,” Abbott says.

“Any given team can get the best of you on any given day, which makes (the Frontier League) so fun.”

If there’s any one strength at Medical Lake, which finished near the bottom of the Northeast A League a year ago, it’s in the throws, said coach John Giannandrea.

Duffy Haggerty, the team’s only senior, will be pivotal in Cardinal strength events.

He leads a good group of young, developing kids at the shot, discus, and javelin.

“We are missing depth in the sprints and distance (events),” according to Giannandrea.

At Cheney, more than 100 boys and girls combined signed up for the track teams in one of the largest turnouts ever at the West Plains school.

The Cheney boys are led by senior August Parker, who returns from a successful basketball season to the high jump, long jump, and the 110-meter hurdles.

Other seniors include Pat Heeren, who throws shot and discus, Gino Williams in the sprints and relays, Josh Stoddard at javelin and Paulo Tabino in shotput.

Mike Caskey, a junior, runs both the 110 and 300 hurdles and Jason Miller, just a sophomore, returns in both hurdles events as well as the pole vault.

In the 1997 Medical Lake lineup, ninth- and tenth-grade brothers Johnny and Jaryl Varona and junior Vince Moore join Haggarty in the throws.

Coach Giannadrea lost Tuyen Nguyen, a state A triple-jump qualifier from a year ago, to graduation, but looks for sophomore Hung Nguyen to fill his older brother’s shoes.

In the sprint events, junior Shuron Harvey and sophomore Brandon Fuqua are both speedy returners to a lineup riddled by graduation a year ago.

Promising new faces who Giannandrea expects to score points include Nic Alexander, a sophomore middle-distance runner, freshman Emery Meeks at hurdles and the jump events, and junior Fred Miller, also in the jump events.

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