GSL streaks toward finales

No Greater Spokane track and field championships were won on Thursday night, which is hard to believe judging by the reactions at Hart Field.

And at Central Valley.

And East Valley.

It was at Hart that Shadle Park and Lewis and Clark split a dual meet that helped fill the field for next week’s league championship meets.

The top two teams in both the American and National divisions square off to determine the champions, the girls going Wednesday and the boys Thursday.

The LC girls defeated the Highlanders 85-65 in a winner-take-all showdown for second place in the American Division that propelled the Tigers into the quad finale with Mt. Spokane and Ferris at North Central.

NC won 80-70 at Ferris to earn the host role.

The Shadle Park boys edged LC 74-71, putting those two teams into a tie with Central Valley for second place behind Mt. Spokane, with the Bears holding the tiebreaker – the most fourth-place finishes in the duals involving the tied teams.

Meanwhile, at EV, Mead dumped the Knights 86-59, a result which could have thrown the top of the National Division into a three-way tie with North Central, which upset Mead last week. However, NC, which would have been the odd-team out in the tiebreaker, made that point moot by losing 91-54 at Ferris.

The EV, CV and Mead boys go to Mt. Spokane.

“This is an exciting Thursday,” said Ivan Corley, the Shadle Park boys and girls coach. “The quality of our league is being showcased. For us, it’s a continuation of what we’re trying to maintain. Shadle Park is always going to be in the mix. We have the kids believing they have a chance to get to the championship meet every year.”

Though neither team is going to the finale, it went down to the wire and the boys definitely made it interesting as they responded after losing to CV last week.

“Coach said we have to get it done,” Highlanders hurdler Jared Swanson said. “We knew it was a huge meet and I wanted to help my team.”

He did by winning both the 110-meter high hurdles and 300 intermediate hurdles, neither of which he was favored in.

“(Hurdles) Coach (Chad Dzellem) does a good job of telling us what we need to do without putting pressure on us,” Swanson said. “It was a big meet and we knew what we needed to do.”

In reality, the meet turned when LC sophomore Andre Jennings, the league leader in the 200, was disqualified by a false start.

On the girls side, laid-back LC coach Pat Pfeifer left it up to his upperclassmen to set the tone.

“At the beginning of the week I don’t think the underclassmen knew how big this meet is,” senior jumper Briann January said. “But further into the week the practices got more intense. It was a fun week.”

January led by example, learning to triple jump on Wednesday and picking off a second place.

“I loved it,” January of her new event that went with a second in the long jump and first in the high jump. “I had so much fun today. It was about the points. … Everybody had to stretch themselves and try new things.”

But it was the freshmen who really stepped up.

Laree Weaver was the surprise winner in the discus with a 5-foot personal record of 116 feet, 4 inches. Speedy Brittany Kennedy upset Shadle’s Catie Schuetzle in the 200. And Ellie Siler ran the fastest 400 by anyone not named Noble to win in 58.9 seconds.

“We knew when we started at the very beginning we had a chance to get into the championship meet,” Pfeifer said. “This team has a great mixture of experienced juniors and seniors and fantastically talented freshmen.”

“We did this for our coach,” Kennedy said. “He deserves it. Over the years he’s been great and as a freshman I wanted to step in and help.”

Schuetzle won the 100 (12.5), long jump (18-½) and triple jump (37-½) but a slow start in the 200 gave Kennedy an opening even though she ran a season-best 25.8 trying to catch up.

“It’s pretty exciting,” said Kennedy, who was second in the 100 and ran on two winning relays. “I could hear her behind me coming off the corner. I knew it would go all the way. I finished strong.”

Weaver added a second in the shot put, improving her PR to 32-3¼, and ran a leg on the 400 relay.

“In practice I usually throw better than in meets so it’s a little surprise,” she said of her big day. “I knew what I had to beat and I just went for it.”

While CV was sweeping visiting Gonzaga Prep, Bears boys coach Chuck Bowden called up to Hart Field several times to check the progress. Though he stressed it was unofficial as he told his team the Shadle-LC score, the roar from the Bears said it all.

The CV boys shut out Prep in the throws.

At Ferris, the NC girls outscored the Saxons 26-1 in the throws and won two of three relays to offset getting blanked in the hurdles. The Indians also won every flat race up through the 1,600 with Anna Walters winning the first three and Mary Graesser the next two.

The Saxons boys won all but one running event and took all three throws. Sprinter Robert Davis, hurdler Brian Hutchinson and thrower Cameron Elisara won twice.

Mead, which tried to get past NC last week while resting some athletes, went full speed at EV. Distrance runner Laef Barnes and jumper Jeremy Brett won events each, and Tony Moser took the discus to keep the Knights from winning every point in the throws.

The shot put highlighted the girls meet with EV’s Lyndsay Johnson winning with a throw of 39-2. Mead sisters Corissa and Ashley Hutchinson threw 39-1 and 39-0, respectively.

Great Northern League

Pullman and Lakeside remained undefeated in both the boys and girls, heading for a championship showdown.

At Lakeside the Eagles swept Medical Lake. The girls won every event but one.

Pullman won at Colville, sweeping the Indians and Chewelah.