Another Sasquatch domination

As a champion’s cry of joy, it needs some work.

Adam Walden’s victory in the 400-meter hurdles Friday was a major momentum surge in Community Colleges of Spokane’s bid to extend its NWAACC track and field dominance, and the Newport freshman was suitably happy. But honest.

“This hurts so much!” he screamed while crossing the finish line.

Sometimes it takes some pain just to achieve the expected.

The Sasquatch men claimed a fourth straight title and the women a fifth at Spokane Falls, winning 20 events and backing them up with relentless depth.

The women swamped runner-up Mt. Hood by 121 points – a third of those coming from freshman sensation Chanel James. Not satisfied with her usual duties, the freshman from Tacoma tried the triple jump for only the second time and won. She also claimed the long jump, 100 and especially “loved setting it off” with an anchor leg on the winning 4x100 relay.

James endured one hiccup – an upset in the 200, Morgan Cribbs of Clackamas inching past to win in 24.61.

“I feel like I could have done better,” James said. “But she’s a good athlete and it was a good race.”

Mead graduate Corissa Hutchinson shared field athlete of the meet honors for a shot-discus double, as the CCS women took all four throwing events.

Indeed, the weights were even more of a bonanza than usual – the men and women throwers combining for 183 points. Even when Lane’s Cyrus Hostetler blasted a meet-record 241-7 in the javelin, the Sasquatch greedily grabbed five of the next six places.

Still, the men had a brief tussle with Lane – trailing after a disqualification in the 4x100 relay and Lane’s 22-point harvest in the 1,500. Then Walden won the high hurdles, and when he came out of lane 8 to take the intermediates – he had the slowest qualifying time Thursday – the Sasquatch were on their way to a 48-point romp.

“Instead of thinking of it as a race, I thought of it as practice,” said Walden, who dropped his best more than a second to 54.55.

Two other Sasquatch doubled: Mark Moeller in the 5,000 and 10,000 and Deonta Edwards in the high and long jumps. All 25 men’s entrants scored.