Mauro soars to record

TACOMA – Melissa Mauro had zero success at 5-foot-7 this year, failing to clear the height in a trio of high jump attempts.

So when the West Valley senior elected to try 5-71/4 she wasn’t thinking about the fact that she had never jumped that high before – or that the height she went with was 21/4 inches higher than the jump that won her the State 2A high jump title last year.

No, instead Mauro became a touch nostalgic.

“All I could think about was how this was going to be my last jump in high school ever,” Mauro said. “I was trying to stay focused on what I needed to do, but that’s all I could think of. So I decided that if this was going to be it, I was going to make it or break it.”

As it turned out, Mauro did both as she made the jump and, in the process, broke the meet record en route at the State 2A/1A meet Friday at Mount Tahoma HS.

Mauro betters the previous meet record established in 2004 by McKinnon Hanson (5-7) of Forks and becomes the first Eagle to win a state high jump championship since Kayla Mainer in 2003.

Mauro wasn’t the only defending champion to go out with a bang as Pullman’s Anna Albrecht won her third straight state title with a meet-record throw of 45-1/2, besting her record of 43-111/4 set last year.

Both Mauro and Albrecht will look to add to their already impressive resumes today. Mauro will compete in the 110 hurdles and Albrecht in the discus – an event she won last season.

2A boys

Cheney senior Griffon Jones became the first Blackhawk to win the state discus championship since Steve Emtman won the second of two straight titles in 1988.

Jones overcame a windy environment to throw 157-04 – a foot better than Sehome’s Nick Lohse.

“Just being here last year and participating helped more than anything else,” said Jones, who finished eighth in the event in 2007. “The mental aspect is such a huge part of state. You don’t have any other meet that’s like it during the year. I thought last year it got to me. This time I just focused on what I needed to do and got a good throw.”

Jones turns his attention to today’s shot put finals. He also took home an eighth-place finish last year as a junior.

Despite being slowed all season by injuries, Colville’s David Musson successfully defended his javelin state title with a throw of 194-04. His final distance was significantly shorter than his personal best of 212-7, which he set in 2007 and is an all-time state best.

1A girls

Lakeside (Nine Mile Falls) placed itself in outstanding position to successfully defend its state championship and Kelli Tikker was a large reason why.

Tikker, a senior, cleared 5-2 to capture the 1A girls high jump state title.

“We lost a lot of good seniors from last year’s team so we knew it was going to be tough to repeat,” Tikker said.

Tikker matched her personal best with the jump.

Tikker edged Kiona-Benton’s Whitney Leavitt and Freeman’s Leah Willard by an inch. Freeman also grabbed fourth in the event with freshman Talia Neiman (5-0).

Lakeside also got second-place finishes from seniors Loreah Winlow and Kayloni Jones.

Winlow finished second in the pole vault at 9-6. Alice Meroni of Kiona-Benton won the event with 10-0. Jones (11:28.36) was the runner-up in the 3,200 meters.

Chewelah claimed second and third in the triple jump with senior Rebecca Johnstone (34-3) and junior Liz Cobb (33-61/2).

1A boys

Chewelah sophomore Will Lohman won the discus title with a throw of 153-7. Freeman’s Andrew Godderz took second (140-1).