On the right track
Mallorie Frieske and Maneshaia Bruton sucked the suspense right out of Thursday afternoon’s girls track showdown at North Central.
With a spot in Wednesday’s Greater Spokane League championship meet at stake, Frieske and Bruton came up big in two pivotal events to spark the host Indians to an 89-61 win over Ferris.
First, Bruton scorched the corner on the third leg of the 400-meter relay, assuring NC of the victory once she got the baton safely to Anna Walters.
“They’re a good team – their relays are good,” Bruton said. “We performed well as a team whether we won (individual events) or not.”
Moments later, Frieske took the first attempt in the long jump and soared to a personal-record 16 feet, 5 inches that easily held up for first.
“Some of us were feeling the pressure,” Frieske said. “But it turned out everyone performed the way they can.”
NC (5-1) will join National Division winner Mead (6-0) and American Division runner-up Mt. Spokane (5-1) at Shadle Park (6-0) at the GSL championship meet.
Mead (6-0) earned the home field for Thursday’s boys championship by edging East Valley (5-1), 74-68 at Clarkson. National winner Lewis and Clark (6-0) and runner-up Central Valley (5-1) will round out the field.
Girls meets at LC and CV on Wednesday, and boys meets at Ferris and University on Thursday determine the rest of the final league standings. All meets begin at 4:30.
Only the girls meet at NC had championship implications and the Indians were fortunate to be at home, where they had not lost a regular-season dual meet in seven years. For Frieske it was a great way to finish her final home meet.
Her previous PR in the long jump was 16-3 – from her freshman year.
“I got hurt just about every year,” she said. “I never said I wasn’t going to do track, but I shied away from long jump. Now it’s my favorite.”
Frieske finally broke loose Saturday at the Mooberry Relays, jumping 15-11 1/2.
“I’ve been working real hard and I tend to do better when it’s warmer,” she said. “I think it takes a lot of positive mental attitude. We’ve been talking about that a lot.”
Frieske and Bruton were on the 800 relay, the first event of the day won by Ferris. The Saxons continued to lead the team race through the first half of the meet.
Then came the 400 relay.
“I was listening to the scores and we were down a couple of points,” Bruton said. “I thought maybe we can gain some points. I felt some pressure, but I thought, ‘Why not run my heart out even though I’m hurt (shin splints)? Why not give it all I can?’ “
Leadoff runner Kara Egland, battling shin splits, didn’t make up the stagger, but second leg Katelyn Frillo kept it close. Once Bruton received a good handoff, the race was on.
“Last year I started and I really didn’t like it,” Bruton said. “This year they switched me to third and I like it. I feel better about myself.”
The junior blasted around the corner and let Walters, who won the 100, 200 and 400, bring it home in 50.2 seconds, one-hundredth of a second off the school record the girls hope to get when Egland is healthy.
“I felt (we were fast),” Burton said. “We’ve had problems with handoffs, but we worked hard on them.”
The Indians also got a distance triple from Mary Graesser, and Ashlee Michelson won the shot put and discus.
Kelly McNamee was a double winner for the Saxons in the 100 hurdles and high jump.
The Ferris boys won 77-64, buoyed by the return of Anthony Zachery, who won the 100 in 10.9.
Jared Karstetter won both hurdles and the triple jump, Steve Olson won both long races and Cameron Elisara won the shot put and discus for Ferris.
In other meets, Katie Hawkins set a Spokane record by clearing 11-7 in the pole vault as University swept at Rogers. The Titans senior was tied with two other vaulters at 11-6. Dana McClendon won the three throws for U-Hi, and hurdler Madeline Fuchs and sprinter Renee Messling were double winners. For the boys, Kevin Martin won both hurdles and the 200 for the Titans, and Dan Turner won the pole vault and long jump. Sean Adebayo won the 100 and 400 for the Pirates. … The Gonzaga Prep girls beat CV 89-61 to pull into a three-way tie with the Bears and LC for third. (CV beat Cheney last week after a scoring error was discovered.) A tiebreaker in the meets between the three teams determines third, which holds the meet for fifth through eighth place, fourth, and fifth, which holds the meet for ninth through 14th place. Corrina O’Brien won three sprints and Erica Chaney won three throws for G-Prep. The CV boys swept seven individual events with a double winner and both relays. … The LC boys won two of three placings in 13 out of 15 individual events and swept the relays to win at Shadle Park. Brynn Delong swept the hurdles and Cami Nelson won the two long distances as the Highlanders won the girls meet. … At West Valley, Mt. Spokane swept the Eagles and Cheney. Cheney’s Bob Wilske had an outstanding day, winning the shot put (58-10 1/2), discus (159-2), javelin (171-5) and high jump (6-3 1/2). Teammate Tyreil Poosri swept the hurdles. Mt. Spokane’s Mike Hartanov won the 800 and 1,600. Samantha Damiano took the shot and discus for the Wildcats girls. WV’s Bri Almy won the 100, 200 and long jump. … A pole vault sweep and 1-2 finish in the shot led Mead’s boys, who also captured the 1,600 relay. Paul Senescall increased his PR to 53-3 to win the shot. The Mead girls swept the relays to win.
Great Northern League
Lakeside and Pullman are primed for a championship showdown in Pullman on Thursday. The Eagles swept Medical Lake and Pullman beat visiting Colville and Chewelah. Kayloni Jones won the 800 and 1,600 for the Lakeside girls and Kelli Tikker set a school record by clearing 5-2 1/4 in the high jump. Max Reeder lowered his league-best 800 to 2:02 and Steven Adams added 7 inches to his PR in the pole vault, going 13-7 for the Eagles. … Lindsay Myron won both hurdles and both horizontal jumps for the Pullman girls, and Anna Albrecht won the shot and disc. Caitlin McGrane won the 100 and 200 for Colville. Rachid Badini won the 100 and 200, and Jaron Hodge took the 400 and 800 for the Greyhound boys. Devin Almos of Colville won the high and long jumps.