Winning Finish Track Team Makes Championship Dreams Come True For Vally Christian

For three years Valley Christian School’s boys basketball success enticed partisans with dreams of a State B championship.

After three near misses in hoops, it was left to the Panther track program to deliver on the promise.

Last weekend, in record-setting fashion, the Valley Christian boys won the school’s first team title in any sport.

Jared Evans — a key member on all three of VC’s basketball teams, including this year’s that was unbeaten until the state semifinals — turned in the performance of his life in the track meet.

He won two individual events and was a member of both relay victories as the Panthers piled up a meet record 85 points.

It brought spectacular closure and a measure of satisfaction to his long and productive high school athletic career.

“I thought the basketball championship would come first. I really thought we’d win it in March,” said Evans, reflecting upon the irony. “Back then if you had told me we’d win state track, I wouldn’t have cared.”

Nearly three months later, the care was evident in the determined efforts of Evans and his track teammates.

Six athletes - senior Shane King, sophomore Misha Fomenko and juniors Jeremy Hopson, Nate Isaak and Jayvan Eberle, another basketball player - scored points during Valley Christian’s rampage.

The school obliterated the old meet scoring record by 20 points, while recording the second-highest boys score, all classifications, in state history.

The Panthers’ performance also attracted a new legion of fans. Two vanloads of parents and students, including seniors headed off on their annual trip, were at Eastern Washington University’s Woodward Stadium to witness the championship.

“Basketball rules. Everybody goes to the games and we’re begging people to come to our meets,” said coach Linda Lanker. “We were thrilled (at the turnout).”

Everything went perfectly for Valley Christian, from its flawless preliminary performance on Friday to its dominant showing in the finals on Saturday in Cheney.

Evans, so powerful that he left little doubt who the winner would be, and Eberle went one-two in the first race, the 110 high hurdles.

“If they run well, the whole day’s going to go well,” said Lanker. “This is the best I’ve ever seen Jared run. In the warmup, I knew. He looked real, real relaxed.”

Hopson followed with a 100-meter dash victory decided in the final five meters when he caught and passed season-long rival Austin Becker of Sprague-Harrington at the finish.

“He was a little bit slow out of the blocks, but he ran such a smart race,” said Lanker.

A wealth of emotions spilled out after the 400 relay team of Isaak, Eberle, Fomenko and Evans stormed to a school record 44.57 triumph.

It was early in the meet but by then it was evident that the day belonged to Valley Christian.

“The 4x100 is really scary,” said Lanker, after she had hugged each of the runners. “Anything can happen, but their handoffs could not have been more perfect. I’m so excited I could cry right now.”

Hopson finished fourth in the 400, the hurdlers went one-two again, with Isaak fifth, at 300 meters shortly thereafter, Hopson followed with second at 200 meters, King finished seventh in the 3,200 and the 1,600 relay team of Evans, Eberle, Fomenko and Hopson capped it by running 3:30.18.

And so the track team beat the basketball players to a state title. But as Hopson pointed out, “The basketball team worked hard and you can’t take anything away from them. A couple of them run with us and are as excited as we are to win track.”

Reflecting upon it all, Lanker noted that before each race she and the athletes say a prayer. A coach overheard them, she said, and told her, “Great. My kid doesn’t have a chance in hell. We’re running against God.”

Not the Almighty, just a group of mighty track athletes, including Evans, who for the past six years, has been coached by Lanker.

“To have that many years together and to have it end like this is the greatest thing in my whole life,” the third-year coach said.

It was equally gratifying for Evans, even though he had hoped the basketball team would win state first.

“We went out with a bang,” he said. “It’s the first one I’ve done as far as a team title. It’s great to finish the year like this.”