Cheney’s Wilske scores four golds with socks

Maybe, as Bob Wilske insisted, it really is the socks.

Sporting new white knee-high tube socks with black stripes, the Cheney senior made a home on top of the awards stand at the District 8 track championships Friday at Spokane Falls Community College.

A day after winning the 3A discus with an area-best throw of 175 feet, 6 inches, Wilske marched to the top three more times, completing his grand slam of golds by firing the javelin a state-best 200-10.

Wilske, whose previous best was 180-7, is the first area thrower to break 200 feet with the restricted flight “new-style” international javelin adopted in 2002, and only the sixth in the state.

“It’s kind of cool to be the first one in history,” said Wilske, who won the shot put and high jump before the javelin. “I was saying it was the socks all day.”

Wilske highlighted an amazing track meet that featured 13 other double winners, not including relays. North Central girls and East Valley boys in 3A, and the Mead girls and Central Valley boys in 4A were the team champions.

3A

After winning the discus, Wilske talked about his goals, which included 60 feet in the shot put and 190, “probably next year in college,” in the javelin. He won the shot put at a disappointing 55-10 1/2 after hitting the 65-foot range in warm-ups. Then he went just 5-11 in the high jump.

“I definitely wanted to make up for my shot put and high jump,” he said. “I didn’t think I’d throw 180 again this season and all my throws were 185 or better except one. That one was 177, which would have been great.”

The other multiple winners for boys were EV’s Nick Atwood (1,600-3,200) and Anthony Laborin (200-400) and Cheney’s Tyreil Poosri (hurdles). The EV boys had 167 points, NC 138.

The 100 was a tossup event with Cheney junior Josh Black the surprise winner in 11.52.

“I expected to get in the top five, but I didn’t expect to actually get first,” he said. “I was really nervous before the race, especially racing against J.T. (Washington of NC). I never raced him before, he’s fast. It’s great, especially being from a small town in Montana.”

Black moved to Cheney from Power, Mont., to get better competition, but he was seeded fourth in a race that featured six possible winners and only five spots in next week’s regional at Richland. (The top three relays also advanced.)

Double winners for the girls were NC’s Mary Graesser (1,600-3,200), Anna Walters (200-400) and Ashlee Michelson (shot put-discus), and EV’s Eleaya Schuerch (horizontal jumps) and Lori Bourgeous (hurdles).

But the biggest winner was the last to finish. Cheney pole vaulter Amber Parker-Risk cleared a meet-record 11-3 to upset NC’s stable of vaulters.

“I thought about the people I had to compete against tonight and they’re very high-quality people,” Parker-Risk said after her 9-inch PR. “I had to come in hot and compete.”

Parker-Risk, who went 10-6 to open the season and then fluctuated up and down all season, beat NC state placers Kendall Mays and Krista Hoffman by clearing 11-3 on her last attempt.

“I think it was a mental barrier and my heart wasn’t in it,” Parker-Risk said of her frustrations. “Now that I’m over 10-6, I can get on a bigger pole and excel.”

4A

The javelin proved to be the premier event when University sophomore Wes Nolan became the fourth javelin champion in this meet to PR by at least 10 feet. His throw of 187-6 was a 15-foot improvement.

“I came here last summer and hated it,” Nolan said of the SFCC runway. “This last week I didn’t throw at all, I took it easy. All I did was work on my runway to build up speed and work on my plant.”

Nolan isn’t satisfied like he was last year when he made regionals with a throw of 163-8.

“I tried to stay up there but it’s challenging to stay at your peak,” he said. “I got a little lax and let it slip. I’m not going to relax. I’m hoping to break 190.”

The top eight individuals and top four relays in 4A advance to regional at Richland.

Cameron Elisara of Ferris increased his state best in the shot put to a meet-record 63-8. Katie Hawkins of U-Hi also set a meet record, an 11-3 in the pole vault.

The CV boys piled up 194 1/2 with Mt. Spokane 14 points back. The double winners were Sean Adebayo of Rogers (horizontal jumps), Anthony Zackery of Ferris (100-200), Shon Davis of Central Valley (hurdles) and Mike Hartanov of Mt. Spokane (800-1,600).

Mead’s girls won with 217 points, seven ahead of Ferris.

The only double winner was Mt. Spokane distance star Megan O’Reilly. Her 1,600 time of 4 minutes, 57.54 seconds was about 10 seconds off her state-leading best, although it was a meet record.

A day after erasing Jennifer Smith of Ferris from the 3,200 record by 26 seconds, she beat the 12-year old record of Rogers’ Jessica Fry by almost a second.