Northport’s Goodwin, Odessa boys shine

On paper, the Northport Mustangs managed a seventh-place team finish in the inaugural girls State 1B track and field meet that finished Saturday at Eastern Washington University.

And then you realize, Northport, which finished with 40 team points, sent just one athlete to the state meet.

Kaprina Goodwin tied a state record by winning all four of her events, capturing both the long jump and triple jump and sweeping both the 100 and 300 hurdles.

“It was an OK weekend,” the lanky, soft-spoken junior said. “I did P.R. (set a personal record) in the long jump and in the triple jump. It was a good jump weekend.”

Friday Goodwin leaped 35-3 3/4 to win the triple jump.

Her Saturday started just as well, flying 17-0 to win the long jump by more than a foot.

She raced through the 100 hurdles in 15.94 seconds, winning by more than a second, and capped her final day by winning the 300 hurdles in 46.7, almost three seconds ahead of her nearest competitor.

Running faster and jumping farther than her competition is a fact of life for Goodwin.

“I try to do things like focus on my technique a lot,” she said. “I try to just concentrate on running against the clock. I can always improve that way.”

Trout Lake/Glenwood won the girls 1B title with 94 team points, 10 more than runner-up Pateros. The Nannies were led by Diana Batson, who scored a double win in the 200 and 400 and helped her team to relay wins in the 4x200 and 4x400.

Odessa roared to the win in the boys 1B meet, amassing 141 1/2 team points, leaving second-place North Sound Christian, with 48 points, in the dust.

The Tigers’ Matt Cronrath won the 800 and 1600 and teammate Aaron Wilson won the pole vault to lead the way.

“We really don’t try to get cocky about it all,” Cronrath said. “The only thing we can control is how we do individually. Anything can happen in a meet like this.”

The Lancers from Liberty were eyeing the girls 2B championship trophy for most of the day Saturday, but watched it slip away in the final event of the meet.

Lacey’s Northwest Christian leapfrogged the Lancers on the strength of a fifth-place finish in the 4x400 relay to claim the team trophy with 52 points, two more than Liberty.

LaConner won the final relay, but not without a valiant fight from Colbert’s Northwest Christian.

The Braves’ Sabrina Schwindler and the Crusader’s Liz Hauck took the baton for the anchor leg at the same time, with Schwindler on the inside rail. Hauck stayed glued to her outside shoulder for 350 of the 400 meters, but could not match Schwindler’s final kick.

Willapa Valley’s Chelsi Friese added a third-place finish in the 100 meters and a first-place finish in the 100 hurdles to her record-breaking win in the pole vault.

Tekoa-Oakesdale-Rosalia’s Ashley Stabl had Saturday’s best recovery. Stabl dueled Tacoma Baptist’s Amber Finley in the 400, finishing second but staggering noticeably.

U.S. men’s track team coach Linda Lanker caught the junior around the waist, recognizing the problem immediately. “You’re dehydrated,” she said, getting her several cups of water and helping her to some shade.

A scant 15 minutes later Stabl won the 300 hurdles by three-tenths of a second over Reardan’s Kylie Casselberry.

Riverside Christian (48) won the boys 2B title, with Lind-Ritzville, LaSalle, Tacoma Baptist and Reardan all tying for second with 39 points.

Northwest Christian’s Jared Friedly won the 800 (2:01.4) and Reardan’s Brad Serdar the 1,600 (4:30.0). Tekoa-Oakesdale-Rosalia’s Kris Widman cleared 6-6 to win the high jump.