GSL girls flex muscles at Eastern regional

RICHLAND – It’s the Year of the Ladies in Greater Spokane League track.

When the Eastern 4A regional ended Saturday at Fran Rish Stadium, GSL girls had split the 54 state berths evenly with the Big Nine Conference – just the third time in the 13-year history the Big Nine didn’t have a majority – and won 8 of 18 events.

That was brought into focus when the boys got beat 27-24 and won just 7 of 17 events. It’s only the third time GSL boys didn’t have the edge.

Though the numbers are close, maybe the real difference was in competition, where the girls came up with some top performances and the boys had some struggles.

The 4A girls team title is the only one the GSL didn’t capture, with Richland piling up 91 points to 62 for Shadle Park and 59 for Mt. Spokane. Meanwhile, the Mead boys, with a dominating distance performance, had 83 points to edge Kamiakin.

Girls

It’s hard not to give the nod to the girls when Mead sophomore Katie Green won the triple jump with a 1-foot improvement over her previous best and University sophomore Dana McClendon captured the shot put with a dramatic toss.

Those go with wins from their teammates, Mead’s Nikki Codd in a fast 800 despite a strong breeze on the backstretch, and U-Hi’s Katie Hawkins in the pole vault.

Mt. Spokane’s Megan O’Reilly was the other winner, completing her distance double in the 1,600.

Green far and away had the best qualifying mark coming out of district. Three girls went farther than Green’s previous personal record of 35 feet, 2 1/2 inches and another was an inch away.

But that didn’t include Green, who went 36-0 and 35-11 on her first two jumps before soaring 36-4.

“I was pretty confident, but everybody put pressure on me about being first and coming in and living up to it,” Green said. “I was nervous at first. After that first jump I was ready to go. I think I just warmed up better than I normally do.”

McClendon also got off to a good start with a throw of 42-2, just 4 1/2 inches short of the school record she set in early April. But on the second throw in finals, Gonzaga Prep’s Erica Chaney, who won the discus Friday, jumped into the lead by extending her school record to 42-10. But on her final throw, McClendon went 43-6 1/2.

“I wanted to beat her because she beat me yesterday,” McClendon said. “I’ve been doing bad the last couple of weeks and I wanted to show people I can compete, don’t freak out when people pass me. I’ve been doing that lately.

“I knew I could do it. I’ve been doing it in practice, but I wasn’t able to show it in meets.”

Codd also wanted to prove she wasn’t a one-race wonder. Codd established herself as a state contender by running 2 minutes, 12.92 seconds at the Pasco Invite, but she hadn’t concentrated on the 800 since.

This time she won handily in 2:12.99

“After Pasco I hadn’t done 2:12 in a while,” she said. “I was happy I could do it. I felt really good. I was kind of nervous but really excited. Coach told me to relax.”

O’Reilly just ran to advance, finishing in 5:03.53, more than 15 seconds off her state-leading time.

Only two competitors in the two days managed to advance without being in the top three and it happened in the same race. In a fast, wind-aided 100 hurdles, Caroline Hedel of Richland and Brynn DeLong of Shadle beat the automatic state-qualifying time of 15.2

Boys

Maybe there was a message in the discus competition.

The GSL swept the three spots to next week’s state meet at Pasco, but the numbers were down.

Nate Thompson, the surprise winner as the sixth seed, summed it up best:

“It doesn’t really feel like it’s a win,” the U-Hi senior said. “I’m still smiling. I’m going to get three more throws next week, but it’s still a little bittersweet.”

Thompson threw 146-11 on his first throw, more than 7 feet short of his PR, which wasn’t enough to get him into the league’s top four. But no one came within 3 feet of that.

“I’m very surprised,” he said. “I was surprised when 146 was the lead and I managed to hold onto it. I thought it was a good opener and it would carry me to the finals. It’s too bad a lot of guys had bad days.”

The 1,600 was totally different, yet almost a duplicate of Friday’s 3,200 when the GSL took the top eight places. This time it was seven of eight, but the top three were completely different.

Mt. Spokane’s Mike Hartanov was the winner (4:21.55), and Mead’s Taylor Nepon was runner-up.

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“When I caught up with (Hartanov) at 300 meters, I knew I would make it because I was going to take off with 200 to go,” Nepon said.

Nepon finished in 4:21.62, with teammate Steve Olson getting the last spot.

With two other Mead runners placing, the Panthers scored 49 of their 83 points in the two distance races.

The other GSL winner was Ferris’ Anthony Zachery in the 100 (10.99). He also finished second in the 200 (22.24).