Bears stand on top
Sean Coyle ran for the cycle and Willie Davis hit his target – sort of.
Toss in a meet-closing state best in the 1,600-meter relay and Central Valley all but wrapped up the Greater Spokane League boys track championship Thursday evening at Hart Field.
“When we were facing some harsh realities in terms of injuries and some other things, there was a point this week the kids just realized it really doesn’t matter, you’re going to have to show up and compete,” Bears coach Chuck Bowden said. “They did. It was an incredible meet.
“I told the kids I was humbled by their effort.”
It started with Coyle, a senior, running the 1,600 meters in 4 minutes, 16.5 seconds, a personal record by 2 seconds and a league best this year. It gave him CV’s 1,600 record at each grade level.
Davis bounced back from losing to a Lewis and Clark triple jumper at Pasco two weeks ago to pull out a big win with three Tigers hot on his heels.
The Bears ended it by going 3:23.6 in the final relay, clipping 2 seconds off their winning time at Pasco to slip back into the state lead.
That added up to a 74 1/2-70 1/2 win over the host Tigers and an 80-65 win over Mead. The Panthers edged LC 74-71. All three teams were undefeated.
The Bears, who were without 4A league-leading hurdler Shon Davis because he tweaked a knee playing basketball Sunday, will close the season at home against Ferris, which has lost twice, Shadle Park and University.
Coyle had a formidable challenge from Panthers Dylan Hatcher and Taylor Nepon. He tucked in behind them for three laps before Nepon slipped back, and then went by Hatcher at 200 meters.
“The race went off pretty good, I fell right into plan,” Coyle said. “I’ve had a good kick all through my high school career, I’ve outkicked them.
“What helped was our time was fast, but I felt great with 400, 300 left. I felt better than I expected. When you’re planning a race, you know you’re going to be tired but you have to overcome that, but I felt great. And we really needed the points.”
Coyle came back to finish second in the 3,200, 3 seconds behind the GSL-leading 9:27.1 by Mead’s Kelly Lynch.
Davis is the GSL triple jump leader, but he hasn’t come close to his 44-foot, 8 1/2-inch PR. He was 43-2 and sixth at Pasco, behind LC freshman Levi Taylor.
“I had my target, (Taylor) was my target,” Davis said. “I did what I had to do.”
It was anything but easy. First he changed his technique, then he scratched on his first two jumps before getting a 44-1, despite taking off well short of the board.
“I switched legs today,” the junior said. “Usually, I’m a right-right-left jumper, but I went with left-left-right today because it felt better in practice.”
The other league-leading mark was a 53-10 throw in the shot put by LC’s Alex Shaw, who outdueled former league leader Mike McGee of Mead.
“I’m very pleased … it all finally came together,” Shaw said of the 14-inch PR. “I had a target a target on him. I was looking to knock him off.”
Shaw hit on his third throw then went to run the second leg of the 400 relay. The Tigers had a quick lead, but Shaw got out early and in slowing down for the exchange got out of his lane. Still, the Tigers came back to win only to be disqualified.
“You can’t really blame it on anything,” Shaw said. “Sometimes chips don’t just fall the right way. That’s just the way it goes. You just have to keep on chugging.”
“It was a great meet,” said coach Andre Wicks, who is building LC into a power. “That’s the thing that makes it hard to be too disappointed, because so many positive things happened.”
Other boys meets
At East Valley, Ferris swept the host Knights and Mt. Spokane as Andre Jennings tied for the state best in the 100 with a 10.5. EV got double wins from league-best hurdler (3A) Tim Armstrong and Case Parker in the 200-400. … At Gonzaga Prep, North Central won a tight three-way battle with the host Bullpups and University, getting a distance double from Adam Tyler and a high jump/triple jump double from Justin Brayton. U-Hi’s Josh Hopkins won the discus and shot put. … Shadle Park cruised past visiting Rogers with Dan Renz winning the 800-1,600, Bo Schuetzle taking the horizontal jumps and Trevor Hall getting a 300-hurdle, high jump double. D.J. Gaines of Rogers won the 100-200.
Girls meets
Ashley Hutchinson won all three throws to lead once-beaten Mead past host LC and CV at Hart. Andrea Silver won both hurdles races for the Panthers. … Ferris swept host EV and Mt. Spokane, giving the once-beaten Saxons a chance to throw the GSL into a three-way tie next week when they face Shadle Park. Kelsey Lin won the 100-200 and Kelly McNamee took the 100 hurdles and high jump for Ferris. Mt. Spokane got a double win from Courtney Zalud in the 800-1,600 and Eleaya Schuerch won the horizontal jumps for the Knights. … NC swept U-Hi and host G-Prep with Mary Graesser winning the 800-1,600 and Chelsea Wordell taking the shot and disc. Madeline Fuchs won the hurdles for the Titans. … Brianne Brown won the 200 and high jump as Shadle won every event against visiting Rogers except for Becca McCord’s shot-disc double for the Pirates.
Great Northern League
West Valley took control of both league races by sweeping visiting Pullman and Colville. The big mark was David Musson of Colville going 211-2 in the javelin, 1 inch short of the best in Washington with the new implement introduced in 2002. Double winners for WV were Tim Pring in the 100-400 and Richard Keroack in the 800-1,600. Bri Almy won the 100-200-long jump for the WV girls. … Cheney, which faces Pullman next week and WV in two weeks, also remained unbeaten by sweeping visiting Riverside and Medical Lake. Giffon Jones won the shot and disc for the Blackhawks. Riverside’s Nathan Lester swept the hurdles. The Cheney girls won every event except the two long distances and shot put. Mackenzie Lauber was the only double winner in the 100 hurdles and long jump.