Pullman boys sweep to State 2A crown

As Pullman’s boys and girls can attest, track relay events can be a source of concern or a cause for elation.

Three botched exchanges afflicted both at state this weekend, but a second-place finish in the meet-concluding boys 1,600 relay Saturday ultimately brought great joy.

It capped a comeback and allowed the Greyhounds to sweep the boys and girls State 2A team titles for the first time.

Pullman’s boys, trailing 47-46 entering that final race, pulled off a 54-52 win. The girls, who missed the 400 relay final and finished last in the 800 relay because of exchange problems, still won by 18 points.

“One thing we learned,” said Greyhounds coach Mike Hinz, “is that the relays, which have been so good to us all year, were not overly kind these last two days – although the last proved to be quite nice.”

In the final state track and field championship in its present 2A/1A/B configuration hosted for 11 years at Eastern Washington University, the Great Northern League made it its own.

The 2A and 1A meets will be in Bellingham next year and the site of the 1B and 2B meets is yet to be determined.

2A: The day started ominously for Pullman and that was before the heavy noon hailstorm that delayed the meet for an hour.

Approaching the final pass of the baton on the 400 relay and near the lead, Pullman couldn’t connect and didn’t finish.

But they had Ashton Gant, who was part of a late point accumulation, to bring them from well behind to within a point of Cashmere.

Gant set a meet record in the long jump and finished second in two sprints to Klahowya’s Sam Rucker to lead all 2A scorers.

After Ben Wargo finished second in the 300 hurdles, Gant ran his 200 race, then long-jumped 22 feet, 10 1/2 inches on his last attempt.

Peter Van Wie, who didn’t enter the pole vault competition until the height reached 13-6, cleared it for second place.

That set up the head-to-head relay race with Cashmere to determine the state champ. Wargo, who took Pullman from a near tie for third with Cashmere to a big lead and into first place, proved to be the difference.

“I’ve just gotten faster and faster, even dropping halves of seconds one week to the next,” he said.

Scoring big points late on the final day seems to be the way it is for Pullman, said Hinz.

“Last year was our best finish when the girls were first and the boys second,” he added. “This is about as good as it gets.”

Another meet record-setter was Lakeside discus champion Kahel Smith. He tied the mark of 166-4 and reversed last year’s loss to Cashmere’s Tyler Fischer.

“Fischer’s a good competitor and I got him this year,” said Smith. “But I wasn’t really going for the title. I was trying to hit over 170 feet, so I’m a little disappointed.”

The Eagles scored in nine events for their third-place total.

1A: What a difference a year makes. Last season Newport’s Adam Walden was coming off an injury and placed eighth at state in the 110-meter high hurdles.

This year he led all Northeast A League contestants in scoring with a state title and a second-place finish. It didn’t surprise him.

“I don’t like to be cocky and always think about what could happen,” the junior said. “But, yeah, I kind of expected it.”

His 15.32 time in the highs was off his season best, but he won by more than half a second. He finished second behind Liberty Bell’s Beau Stevie in the 300 hurdles.

Zillah’s field-events depth and sprinter Zach Sybouts beat Charles Wright 66-63.

CW’s Alex Crabill, the 1,600 champion and 3,200 state leader (8:57.42) in all classifications, seized up late in the race and finished third in 9:39.6.

B: Garfield-Palouse’s Jesse Cole discovered the right hair color and Odessa’s Matt Cronrath refused to get caught up in prerace hype.

The ultimate results were a pair of individual championships.

Cole stood out with his fluorescent red hair, which he attributed to winning the 100 meters in 11.53, an improvement over last season’s fourth-place finish.

“At the start of last year I had blue hair and everyone said if I did red hair I’d run faster, so I decided to try it,” said Cole. “It looks like it worked.”

He said his start was average, but his first 40 meters were the best he’d run all year. He won by .11 seconds.

Cronrath was facing 1,600 winner Jeffrey Schloemer in the 800 and finished in 1:59.14 with a punishing closing sprint.

“I knew I had a good shot at placing high and just went out and raced my own race,” he said. Odessa tied for fourth in the meet with 31 points.

Tacoma Baptist’s Jeff Gudaitis and Erik Hoff accounted for 40.5 points, including part of a meet record 3:24.41 1,600 relay in a 71-63 1/3 team victory over Mt. Vernon Christian.

DeSales’ Nick Lyons beat Wishkah Valley’s John Clevenger in the javelin with a meet-record 198-10. Both surpassed Clevenger’s mark of 179-6 set last year.