Gubler redeems herself
Other than the weather, there wasn’t much for local fans to talk about following Friday’s second day of competition in the WIAA/Dairy Farmers of Washington 2A, 1A and B Girls Track and Field Championships at Eastern Washington University’s Woodward Field.
On a blustery, bone-chilling day that featured rain, strong winds and hail, Republic’s Crystal Gubler emerged as the only champion crowned from Eastern Washington.
The exuberant senior sprinter atoned for last year’s disappointing second-place finish in the Class B 400-meter dash by winning this year’s event – one of four in which she is once again competing – with a solid time of 58.5 seconds.
Her effort, she admitted, was hampered by the hostile weather conditions that plagued athletes throughout the day.
“Coming around that last corner was the worst part,” explained Gubler, who held off DeSales runner-up Leticia Cervantes down the windy stretch run. “It was like hitting a brick wall.
“Otherwise, it wasn’t that bad – especially on the backstretch when the wind was at my back.”
The wind, according to meet officials, blew steadily at 15 miles per hour during much of the day and gusted upwards of 30 on several occasions. A brief hail storm blew in during the running of the 2A 800-meter preliminaries, the meet was stopped briefly a short time later to wait out the heaviest downpour of the afternoon and the pole vault competition was moved indoors to nearby Thorpe Fieldhouse.
Still, meet records fell. In the 2A high jump, where Forks’ McKinnon Hanson soared 5 feet, 7 inches; the 2A pole vault, where Chelan’s Stephanie Whitsil claimed the gold medal by clearing 11-3, and the B discus, where Crescent’s Ruth Wilhelm unleashed a winning toss of 141-3.
In the B discus event, runner-up Annie Hess, from Bickleton, also bettered the previous meet record of 129-0 set by Wahkiakum’s Wendy Seaberg in 1988.
The B 400-meter dash was the only running final held Friday. All other finals were field events.
Today’s schedule, which starts at 9:30 a.m. with the B pole vault, features 13 finals in Class B, 12 each in A and 1A.
The first running event final is the B 100-meter hurdles, which is scheduled to take place at 10:25 a.m.
B
DeSales, after finishing third last year, sits atop the team standings after five events with 18 points. Christian Faith is second with 16 points, followed by Crescent (12) and Valley Christian.
Republic, thanks to Gubler’s win in the 400, is tied with Riverside Christian for fifth with 10 points.
In other finals held Friday, Riverside Christian’s Sharelle Wells won the triple jump with a leap of 35-5 and Christian Faith’s Danielle Ansotique captured the javelin gold with a throw of 115-6.
1A
University Prep used sophomore Katherine Reynolds’ winning leap of 17-10 3/4 in the long jump to forge a 24-21 lead over defending champ King’s in the team race.
Reynolds, who won last year’s long jump event and all three sprint titles as a freshman, kept alive her chance of winning 16 career gold medals, while Sara Mosiman, another sophomore, kept King’s close by winning the javelin with a throw of 138-3 that was nearly 22 feet longer than that of her nearest rival, Kalama’s Janice Morrow, who finished second at 116-6.
Other field event champions crowned included Rainier’s Maria Savoca, who cleared 9-9 in the pole vault and Winlock’s Whitney Bryant, who tossed the shot 36-3.
Along with winning the long jump, Reynolds qualified first in Friday’s 100, 200 and 400 preliminaries and will be favored to win all three of those event finals today.
2A
Despite the meet-record efforts turned in by Hanson and Whitsil, Woodland grabbed a narrow lead in the team standings after just six events with 21 points.
Woodland got a first-place finish from Tara Ward in the long jump (17-8 1/4 ) and took third and fourth in the discus.
Cascade is in second place in the team standings with 20 points.
Lakeside, which got a second-place finish from Erika Cummings (127-04) in the discus, is fifth.