Athletes Advance To Regionals

Thursday’s first day of postseason track action produced numerous Valley regional qualifiers from the District 8 4A and District 7 3A meets.

During boys 4A finals, East Valley’s Blake Horgan won the shot put with a 56-6-3/4 throw and was joined by Central Valley’s 50-foot-plus throwers Kyle Osborn and Brad Burgess.

Also advancing for the Bears were high and long jumper Cameron Summers, who won the former at 6-4 and finished fourth behind third-place teammate David Pendergrass in the latter. Tye Scott won the javelin.

Top eight preliminary finishers who will compete in regionals are CV sophomore hurdler Josh Leyk and Jeff Hayward, 400 runners Bill Michael, who timed 49.8, and Bryce Daines, sprinters Dan Hayward and Chase Rasmussen.

EV high jumpers Andrew Burgess and Jason Paul also advanced.

University’s bid for a third straight state title was fueled by its sprinters, distance runners and a jumper.

Max Schmidt and Ryan Lancaster were third and fourth in the 1,600. Don Turner was second at 22-1 in the long jump and advanced in the high jump.

Top eight preliminary placers to move on are Anthony Buchanan and Tyler Moosman in the sprints, Nathan Braid and John Barbero in the 800 and Ryan Lightfoot in the 300 hurdles.

East Valley’s Brittany Hauser capped her remarkable comeback from knee injury by winning the district javelin with a 118-1 toss.

Joining her in the event are University Titans Crystal Kawamoto and Tasha Warwick.

Other Knights to move on to regionals in event finals were pole vault placers Mackensie Rogers and Leslie Friss, triple jumper Katie Douglas and 3,200 runner Melanie Frostad. Melissa Frostad advanced from her 800 preliminary.

League champion Central Valley and runner-up U-Hi pushed a wealth of talent on to regionals.

Bear Emily Roberts won the pole vault with Titan Marci Hulbert in second place. Heather Harding won the discus for CV at 120-9 with the shot put to go. Charlene Gannon raced to a 59.1 400 heat triumph.

Other Bears are Wendy Wager in the 800, Amy Nickerson and Kristin Ramsay in the 100, Melissa Loss in the triple jump and 100 hurdles, and Rebecca Kochendorfer in the 300 hurdles.

U-Hi’s Heidi Bunkowske blazed to a 45.6 300 hurdle heat victory and ran 26.8 in the 200 preliminaries.

Other Titans to regionals are Kati Morton in the 100 and 400, Elly Johnson in the discus, Ali Russell in the 100 hurdles and Courtney Martin in the 800.

Eagles move tracksters along

During the first day of District 7 3A regional qualifying, West Valley moved its share of tracksters along.

Kris Sly won the javelin at 171-7 in lieu of Corde Kurtz, last year’s state placer, who is unable to throw because of an arm injury.

Kurtz has become a sprinter instead and made Friday’s final.

Ian Cox won the shot put with Mike Schram taking third. Both will compete next weekend in Richland.

Dan Ferguson finished second in the long jump with two events pending, and John Frostad was second in the 1,600 with one more race to go.

For the girls, Jenny Gregorak had a break-through pole vault of 10-9 for the win and teammate Christine Carey was third.

WV’s consistent high jumpers advanced. Sara Biesen won and improved by 1-1/2 inches to 5-3-1/2 bringing 5-1 leapers Tina Ferguson and Jill Vermeers along.

Kelly Cole won the long jump at 16-, Shannon Groh and Amanda Holstrom finished second and third in the javelin.

Valley Christian continues apace

The first leg of Valley Christian School’s state track journey was a rousing success.

The Panthers dominated Bi-County foes Wednesday at Whitworth, winning nine boys events and seven girls events.

In a remarkable show of depth, the girls piled up 208 points and the boys scored 174.

Among the winners were school record-setting pole vaulter Nate Isaac in 11-6 which accounted for the bulk of VC’s field events.

The usual crew of Jeremy Hopson, Jared Evans and Jayvan Eberle dominated the sprints and hurdles. Three Kings among five Panthers advanced to district in the distances led by Shane King. Jason King and Andrew King will also move on.

All manner of girls athletes, particularly in the field events, have advanced to districts.

Valley Christian’s three relay teams, hurdler Amy Evans, distance runners Krisi Wright and Becca Diaz and discus thrower Stephanie Meyer were all victorious.

First round of handicap tourney

Hangman Valley Ladies Club golfers conducted their first handicap tournament outing.

Low gross leaders were Carol Wagner with 91 in A, Marie Nelson with 100 in B and Louise Robson with 106 in C. Net winners were Fran Nord with 75 in A, Kathie Thiesen with 80 in B and Ellen Boudewyns with 76 in C.

Painted Hills outings

During recent medal play among Painted Hills Ladies Club golfers, Stacey Johnson and Linda Garves in A flight and no-handicap golfer Debbie Stanley both shot 45 for nine holes.

Sandy Saty was at 48 and Karen Goyins at 52 in B flight, GG Emtman at 52 and Jean Jones at 54 in C and Lois Wolbert at 56 and Judy Young at 66 in D.

Net winners were Garves with a 32 and Carla Stendin with 33 in A flight, Ellen Spalding with 31 and Melody Chestnut with 35 in B, Janice Tarbutton with 30 and Joyce Thompson with 31 in C. Carol Ness netted 26, and Pam Lake 37 in D. No-handicap leader most recently was Alice Hamilton with 47.

Virginia Lemmer and Thompson had birdies.

Golfers brave the cold

Valley View Ladies Club golfers braved cold weather, but at least they missed the rain this past week.

Dee Elder shot 46 in A flight, Patsy Angelo had 57 in B, Angie Schauer nad 67 in C. There was a tie for no-handicap lead at 55 between Joanne Guell and Marian McLellan.

Net winners were Joyce Jacobs and Deanna Hauser with 32 in A flight, Emma Long with 33 in B and Marge Bratcher with 38 in C.