GSL dominates regional meet
RICHLAND – Anthony Laborin was bent over at the waist gulping air, but when he straightened up he was all smiles.
He had just finished running a surprise 400 meters and considering it was less than an hour after the 200 meters it figures a calm breath would be a little hard to come by.
“My coach made me do it,” the East Valley senior gasped after participating in the 1,600 relay. “He told me about 3 minutes before we started. I was still breathing hard from the 200.”
No one else at the Eastern 3A regional track meet at Fran Rish Stadium on Saturday was surprised Laborin was the anchor for the Knights’ relay, considering he brought them home for a state championship last spring, but this year he planned to focus on individual events.
But duty called and Laborin’s outstanding anchor leg was a great finish to a great meet for Greater Spokane League athletes.
EV piled up 121 points to beat West Valley-Yakima by 13 for the team title with North Central third (83) and Cheney fourth (72).
And despite sending just five individuals per event to the regional, while the Mid-Valley League had seven, the GSL had 27 of the 51 top three finishes to qualify for state next weekend in Pasco, including seven champions in 17 events.
The girls were just as impressive as double winners Ashlee Michelson and Anna Walters led NC to 124 points and a 16-point win over East Valley. Individually the GSL had 10 winners in 18 events and 29 of the 54 qualifiers.
It is believed to be the first time the GSL 3A schools overcame the discrepancy in entries to take a majority of the state spots.
Boys
Laborin ran second in the 400 with a school record 49.63 seconds and then tied the school record in winning the 200 in 22 seconds.
Then came the call to duty with a teammate nursing a minor injury.
“It was hard to adjust my concentration from the 200, especially since I didn’t know I was going to run at all,” he said.
His teammates got him the baton in first but down the backstretch Jarom Smith of West Valley-Yakima, who swept the hurdle races, blew past him. Laborin stayed cool, letting Smith go into the strong headwind, but at 200 meters shifted gears and roared into first, getting the team home in a season-best 3:28.27.
The Knights had plenty of good performances but not many as gutsy as Tyler Jolley.
Jolley, battling hives that caused his hands to swell, made state in shot put with a last throw of 54 feet, 7½ inches that bumped him from fourth to second, and then won the discus.
Of course the discus really didn’t make him too proud, considering the winning toss was just 149-1, 23 feet shy of his best.
“I don’t even know what to say, honestly,” Jolley said.
One of the angry discus throwers was Cheney’s Bob Wilske, who was a precious third at 141-10, almost 35 feet short of his personal record from a week earlier.
“I think if it was the first event I wouldn’t be as angry, but I’m pretty disappointed the meet ended 35 feet short of my best.”
Wilske won the shot, interrupted by Friday’s thunderstorm, with a 57-11½. Then the 6-foot-4, 235-pounder won the high jump, clearing 6-6.
The other individual winner was West Valley triple jumper Arton Toussaint, who had a PR of 44-10¾.
Girls
The day definitely belonged to North Central, which now has a chance to improve on last year’s second-place finish at state.
Once again Michelson kick-started the day by adding the shot put title to the discus title she got on Friday. But it wasn’t the win as much as the performance.
With a career-best of 39-8, Michelson won with a throw of 41-4½.
“I wanted to break 40, I knew I could break 40, but to do it five times, that surprised me,” she said. “We never touched the 8-pound shot all week. We threw the boys. The shot felt pretty light. It’s a new shot put.”
Then Walters did her thing. After helping the Indians win the 400 relay Friday, she won the 200 (25.62) and 400 (58.79) as expected and anchored the third-place 800 relay team.