Badgers sophomore Poston wins twice

PASCO – No man is an island, but Katie Poston was Saturday.

The Bonners Ferry sophomore, all but unknown outside of the Panhandle, debuted on the biggest stage for track and field in the Northwest and turned in a virtuoso performance.

The Badgers’ star easily won the discus and shot put, topping most of the best throwers in Washington.

“I’m excited, real excited,” Poston said. “It was scary. I was really nervous. It’s hard not having your team here to cheer you on.”

Poston was part of a big day that started with Bellarmine Prep setting a state record of 11 minutes, 54.37 seconds in the distance medley relay and Moreno Zapata of Curtis (Tacoma) jumping past West Valley star Rashad Toussaint in the triple jump.

Zapata broke the meet record with a jump of 50 feet, 3 1/4 inches and followed that up by going 50-11 1/2 , which was wind-aided. Toussaint responded with a wind-aided 50-9 on his final jump, a quarter-inch past his nation-leading legal jump.

In between, some local standouts had big days, topped by the second-straight Athlete of the Meet Award for Becca Noble. The Rogers standout won the girls 200- and 400-meter runs easily, lowering her meet record in the quarter to 54.40.

Tom Ballinger of Wenatchee was the outstanding male, winning the 300 hurdles and placing second in the 110 hurdles, third the 400 and seventh in the 200.

The only male close to Ballinger was Shadle Park’s Bryan Braman, who won the high jump, was second in the javelin and placed third in the long jump.

The Bothell boys, with 40 points, and the Benson Tech (Portland) girls, with 50, won team titles. Shadle Park’s boys tied for sixth with 24 points. The Bonners Ferry and Rogers girls tied for eighth with 20 points.

Girls

Poston had the top marks coming in and won Idaho state titles in the throws as a freshman, but that didn’t mean she came to Pasco overflowing with confidence.

“I just wanted to come and place and at least throw like I usually do,” she said. “In (discus) warm-ups I was doing pretty bad. … Sitting there, I heard some girls talking about ‘that Bonners girl.’ But I went to (throwers) camp with a couple of them.”

Poston started off with a 144-2 in the discus, just shy of the personal-record 145-10 she threw Tuesday. Up to that point, she hadn’t been throwing well.

“My family was there and told me to calm down,” she said.

Second place was 5 feet behind her. Then she trotted over to the shot put and added a throw of 42-6, winning by more than 2 1/2 inches.

“Hopefully, I’ll go to college for (track),” she said. “My mom threw in high school and we have a good coach.”

Noble’s day was typical, as she dominated.

“The 200 (a state-best 24.62 in the prelims) was a little challenging, but I was up for a challenge,” Noble said. “In the 400, I had a good start and finished strong. There was a little headwind but it was strong. I have very good memories of Pasco. It’s where I’ve done everything. It’s where I won state (400) for the first time.”

Despite the big day, the Oregon-bound senior said the best part of the week was reaching 170 pounds in the bench press.

Also picking up wins were Lewis and Clark’s 800 relay team and Mead pole vaulter Dana Giffen, both with big-time improvements.

Giffen was particularly happy clearing 11-3, a 3-inch PR from last year and a 15-inch gain for the season.

“I only went 10 feet the first four meets this year. It was sad,” Giffen said. “I’m really excited. I’m starting to pick it up and do what I need to do.”

LC’s relay of win of 1:44.93 was particularly surprising since the group had only been together a week.

Boys

It just wasn’t Toussaint’s day, starting when his alarm clock didn’t go off and he missed the team bus. The frustration increased when he had just four of 12 jumps combined in the long and triple jump that weren’t scratches.

“I feel way faster than I usually feel,” he said. “I kept moving back. It was frustrating trying to get on the board. I felt good.”

Toussaint went 22-9 3/4 , but lost when Kyle Williams of Bellarmine went 23-2. Then he had to watch as Zapata improved on almost every triple jump after coming in with a best of 48-8.