North Side Athletes Excel At State Tournament

Katie Prichard displayed dominance and grace as she swept the long-distance races at the State 2A track championships last weekend.

Nobody seriously challenged the Riverside High sophomore as she strode powerfully along the track at Eastern Washington University’s Woodward Stadium.

Her three state titles in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 meters give her four overall. She won as a freshman in the 800.

Only two others in state history have won a distance triple: Rachel Rieke of Cascade in 1993 and Lisa Braun of Cashmere in 1982.

After each race, Prichard stepped to the top of the awards stand and clapped her hands as each of the other seven placers received their medals.

“I feel really blessed,” Prichard said. “I’ve really fallen in love with track the last couple of years. I’ve kind of seen where I can go with it.”

She’ll be heavily favored to claim more gold the next two years. But Prichard isn’t going to take anything for granted, saying there’s more than her will at work in her running.

“I know if I work really hard and if the Lord keeps me injury free, I’ll just keep running for Him,” she said. “I can (repeat) if the Lord lets it happen.”

Prichard also picked up a medal on the 1,600 relay, which finished eighth. She was thrilled when the Rams guaranteed themselves a medal by qualifying for the final during preliminary heats Friday.

“I know we’re not really competitive in it, but we got ourselves a medal and that’s all we could ask for,” Prichard said.

Big schools shine

North Side athletes brought home two State 4A championships for the Greater Spokane League.

Shadle Park senior Katie Schurra won the triple jump (36 feet, 8 inches), and Mt. Spokane sophomore Cameron Schwehr won the 1,600 (4:12.55).

Shadle Park missed a team trophy by two points in the boys meet, finishing with 34 points.

The Highlanders were fifth, just behind Snohomish and just 11 points behind champion Lake Washington.

Mt. Spokane also slipped into the top 10, tying for seventh at 22 points.

Shadle Park senior Demetrius Scott was third in the 400 (47.97) and fourth in the long jump (22-11-3/4), and the Highlanders were second in the 1,600 relay.

The only other GSL runners to break 48 seconds in the 400 were Jim Thompson of North Central in 1962 (47.54), Rob Simpson of Gonzaga Prep in 1984 (47.8) and Ron Fabien of Shadle Park in 1985 (47.8).

“I felt good the whole race,” Scott said. “This track is weird. … I forgot where I was, and I kicked too late.”

Several other runners mentioned the Lincoln Bowl track had longer curves and shorter straightaways, but Scott wasn’t complaining.

“I thank God for the opportunity to be here,” Scott said. “A lot of people would like the opportunity to be in my place. For someone who hated the 400 when I was little, to be third in state the only year I ran it, I thank God.”

The Highlanders won state last year in the 1,600 relay, running 3:20.8 in the finals. This year, the team of Alex Moon, Nick Kimmet, Cody Storms and Scott ran 3:18.89 in the preliminaries and came back in 3:17.69 for a school record.

Shadle Park junior Michael Kiter was fourth in the 1,600 (4:13.85) and second in the 3,200 (9:06.46) with a 7-second PR. Senior Jared Lee was seventh in the pole vault (13-6).

Schwehr was one of four placers for Mt. Spokane.

Schwehr, a junior, credited God, distance coach Craig Dietz and 1998 champ Tom Becker, the Wildcats’ first ever winner at Star Track.

“(Becker) was a great mentor, my coach has trained a lot of great runners, and I put a lot of faith in him and the Lord,” Schwehr said.

Senior Pat Ray was fifth in the 200 (22.20), classmate Cameron Stewart was sixth in the discus (165-2) and junior Tyler Hartanov was fourth in the 800 (1:53.87), almost a 2-second PR.

Other placers from North Side schools included:

Gonzaga Prep senior Matt Blaine was third in the 800 (1:53.12) Mead junior Lars Slind was seventh in the discus (163-9), improving his best by 16 inches.

North Central senior Jennifer Kennedy was third in the 100 (12.48), fifth in the 200 (25.52) and ran the second leg of third-place 800 relay (1:44.08) with senior Nicole Bostic first, sophomore Dani Reid third and junior Nicole Brown anchor.

Gonzaga Prep senior Carly Barnes was second in the 1,600 (5:00.85), a 4-second PR.

North Central sophomore Laura Hodgson was fourth in the 3,200 (11:02.19), a 14-second PR and 29 seconds faster than her best just two weeks ago.

Mead senior Cassie Rosette was fifth in the discus at 127-9, a 7-foot PR.

Rogers senior Sarah Bayne was seventh in the shot put (39-7).