Dragons by a nose
In the end, less than four-tenths of a second separated first and second places at the District 7 2B boys track and field meet Thursday at Spokane Falls Community College.
St. George’s won the sprint relay in 44.41 seconds midway through the state-qualifying meet, edging second-place Lind-Ritzville by 38-hundredths of a second
It was slightly more than the blink of an eye, but it was enough to lift the Dragons past the Broncos for the team title, 128-126.
The top three finishers in each event qualified for next weekend’s State 2B championship meet at Eastern Washington University.
The St. George’s relay win and junior Brian Angove’s double in the 1,600 and 3,200 meters were the only first-place finishes for the Dragons.
Lind-Ritzville’s Alex Pfeifer matched that total by himself.
The junior won the 200 and 400 meters, anchored the victorious 4x400 relay in addition to anchoring the second-place sprint relay.
Pfeifer was the favored to win the 400 and he edged Northwest Christian’s Jared Friedly at the finish to win in 50.82. In the 200, the junior had a slower qualifying time than three St. George’s runners and won the race from an outside lane in 23.64.
“I just wanted to be close coming off the turn,” Pfeifer said. “In my opinion, no one can catch me if I’m leading at the end of a race. I have too much left.”
In the 4x400 final, sophomore Cory Whitmore, who won the high jump by clearing 5 feet, 10 inches, took the lead with his first leg and teammates Jordan Bilodeaux and Nolan Miller added to it before handing off to Pfeifer.
“We got a PR (personal record), but that’s just a bonus,” Whitmore said. “Our goal this week is to just make sure we all qualify for next weekend. If we win, it’s a bonus. We’re all healthy and ready to go for next week. That’s when everything really counts.”
Junior Erik Hille was a double winner for L-R in the shot put and discus, with teammate Casey Rios finishing second in the discus. The Broncos also got a first-place finish from freshman Marshall Fryberger in the pole vault, clearing 11-0 to edge Valley Christian’s Alex Solodyankin by 6 inches.
The key to victory for the Dragons was depth. St. George’s scored in a dozen events. But more than that, the team had two athletes score team points in four events (both the 110 and 300 hurdles, the 800 and the long jump) and three scorers in four more (the 100, 200, 1,600, 3,200).
Liberty won the girls meet, amassing 138 team points to outdistance Lind-Ritzville by 33 points.
The Lancers from Spangle scored 29 team points in the triple jump alone. Seniors Cami Bullock and Shawn Hennessey, freshman Taz Brooks and junior Chelsea Crosby went 1-2-3-4 in the event, with Bullock jumping 33-1 1/2 inches to get the win.
Crosby added a win in the javelin with a throw of 118-1 1/2 and freshman Teara Cornmesser won the shot put with a throw of 34-4 1/4 for the Lancers.
Senior Christina Dahm put the exclamation point on the team victory by collecting a pair of first-place finishes – jumping 5-3 to win the high jump and winning the 200.
Dahm took the lead on the turn and raced home for the sprint win, pumping her fist in the air as she crossed the finish line.
“I saw there were a couple of girls ahead of me and I just concentrated on maintaining good form down the stretch,” she said. “For the most part, I just wanted to make sure I qualified for next week. That was the most important thing today.”
District 7 1B
Odessa dominated the boys meet on the track, winning every race but the 100 meters and the 4x100 relay.
Odessa scored 222 team points. St. John-Endicott was a distant second with 117.
The Tigers got a double win from Matt Conrath, who won both the 800 and 1,600. Logan Luiten won the 200, Jason Jasman the 400, and Scott Stang the 3,200.
Aaron Wilson led a 1-2-3 Odessa finish in the 110 hurdles and Matthew Zeiler added a win in the 300 hurdles.
The Odessa girls made it a clean sweep for the Tigers, winning the title with 130 1/2 team points, well ahead of second-place Inchelium, which finished with 100.
Jaylene Jasman won the 400 and 800 to lead the Tigers.
Kaprina Goodwin single-handedly scored 40 of Northport’s 42 team points, winning the 100 hurdles in 16.44 seconds and the 300 hurdles in 47.51, then adding wins in the long jump and triple jump.