Collins, Gordon, Widman Soar Even Higher

Prep track

Rick Collins needs new socks, but he wasn’t the only athlete to jump out of his shoes on Saturday.

Collins surprised himself at the 37th annual Pasco Invitational by winning the pole vault at 15 feet, 6 inches, a personal record by 9 inches.

His vault highlighted a day of great heights as Ezra Gordon of Colville and Laura Widman of Colfax beat more celebrated competitors to win high jump titles.

Gordon, a junior who is high jumping seriously for the first time, upped his rapidly improving PR by 3 inches to 6-9.

Widman, a senior, finally got a new PR after clearing 5-6 as a freshman, by sliding over the bar at 5-8.

Less surprising was Mead High, which won the boys team title for the third straight year and the fifth time in six years. The Panthers scored 49 points, edging Davis by three and University by five. Gonzaga Prep, Ferris and West Valley also finished among the top 10.

Hanford junior Adam Tenforde was named athlete of the meet after winning the 1,600 and placing second in the 3,200.

On the girls side, Pasco won the team title with 50.5 points. Kamiakin was second at 42. Lewis and Clark led the Spokane contingent by placing seventh at 28. Mead was next with 22. The athlete of the meet was Steilacoom sprinter Alexis Yeater, who won the 100 (12.23) and 200 (24.94).

Boys

Collins paid a home visit to vault coach Herm Caviness on Tuesday for a goal-setting session. He emerged with 15-6, a height he had cleared a couple of times in practice, and the words “state champion” written on a pair of socks.

Now he’s thinking 16 feet.

“This was a big breakthrough,” he said. “My Saturday meets are always the best. There’s no school. That’s when I concentrate the best. Competition pushes me. They’re so good, it psychs me up, makes me nervous. I charge that into positive energy.”

It took Collins three attempts to get over 15 feet, but he sailed over 15-3 and 15-6 on the first try. He came close at 15-9.

Gordon’s reaction was shock. “This is my only event, I wanted to do it for a better vertical for basketball,” he said. “I’d have to say this is my sport. It kind of makes me mad, I’ve been working on basketball so long.”

Gordon was locked in a great competition. Five jumpers cleared 6-6 and four made 6-7 with Mt. Spokane’s Casey Clark passing. Gordon was the first over 6-8 and Clark was the only other jumper to clear, leaving behind Kurt Kraemer of Hanford, Ryan Schroder of West Valley and Matt Aleverson of Cascade. Kraemer and Schroeder had shared the state lead with Clark at 6-8.

Gordon sailed over 6-9 on his first attempt and Clark passed to 6-10. Both barely brushed the bar on their third attempt at 6-10.

“I tried it (high jumping) in junior high, but I never got anywhere with it, so I just stopped,” Gordon said. “I went 6-2 at a jamboree and then 6-6 in the first meet at Clarkston. I was in shock, everybody was in shock. I thought I can do this, I’m going to work on this more.”

The Greater Spokane League had five champions, Mead long jumper Chris McCullough (22-6-1/2), Ferris’s Tyrone Asterino in the 110 hurdles (14.71, 14.4 in prelims), University sprinter Anthony Buchanan in the 100 (10.78), Mead sprinter Joe Zelinski in the 200 (22.08) and Gonzaga Prep’s Jim Rucker in the 3,200 (9.14.7).

Rucker also ran a 4:20 anchor leg in the distance medley relay as the Bullpups set a meet record with a 10:31.9.

“That’s probably the best I’ve run,” Rucker said of his 14-second PR in the 3,200. “I stayed patient and waited for my chance. Training has been going well. I knew I could run faster, it was a matter of when I would.”

Girls

Jumping high is not rare for Widman but a PR in the high jump is.

She credited the competition. Tami Standish of Ellensburg, who shared the state lead with Widman at 5-4, and Jenny Brogdon of LaGrande, Ore., cleared 5-6.

“It’s really fun to have three good jumpers,” said Widman, bound for Seattle Pacific on a track scholarship. “Both of them beat me in meets this year. There’s a lot of adrenaline having that much competition.”

The only GSL winners were LC’s Teresa Brooks, who lowered her state best in the 400 to 56.86, and the Central Valley 1,600 relay team. The CV girls lowered their state best to 3:58.91, less than .3 shy of the meet record.

“Everybody ran a great split,” anchor Leslie Meredith said. “I think we can all take a second off.”