Chewelah girls keep Lakeside from repeating

TACOMA – Kayloni Jones joked to her father that girls track was on the verge of surpassing wrestling as the top sport at Lakeside (Nine Mile Falls).

Not many people would be able to judge the validity of that assessment more than Jones’ father, Scott, who transformed the Eagles into one of the premier wrestling programs in the state before retiring last year.

“I told him that this morning,” Jones said. “We’ve definitely done pretty well the last two years.”

The Eagles, however, were unable to repeat as State 1A girls track and field champions.

That honor went to Northeast A League rival Chewelah.

The Cougars (66 points) nipped runner-up Lakeside (63) to earn the school’s first state track and field title at State 2A and 1A championships at Mount Tahoma High School Stadium.

Chewelah got state crowns from senior Erin Smith (long jump), freshman Samantha Beamer (400 meters) and the 4x100 and 4x200 relay teams.

Smith captured back-to-back long jump titles with a jump of 17 feet, 8 inches. Teammate Liz Cobb finished fourth (15-51/4).

Beamer capped a stellar rookie campaign by running the 400 in a speedy 59.48. She was also joined Smith, Cobb and Rebecca Johnstone, who also finished third in the 300 hurdles, to win the 4x200 in a meet-record time of 1:45.28, edging the previous mark of 1:45.3 set by Blaine in 1981. The team of Beamer, Cobb, Johnstone and Kayla Kofmehl took the 4x100 in a time of 49.82.

Jones played a large role in helping Lakeside nearly repeat as the senior placed in three events, finishing second in the 3,200, fourth in the 1,600 (5:17.86) and sixth in the 800 (2:24.39) with the last two coming on Saturday.

Lakeside finished fifth in the 4x200 and also got state placings from Jessica Coffman (seventh, shot put), Loreah Winlow (fifth, 300 hurdles), Kelli Tikker (seventh, 300 hurdles), and Gale Nelson (third, 100 and fourth, 200).

1A boys: It was all King’s as the Knights collected a gaudy 96 team points, 50 more than runner-up Cashmere, to win the school’s second straight and third team title in the last four years.

Chewelah’s Will Lohman, who won the discus title Friday, was the only non-senior to place in the top eight in the shot put after the sophomore finished third in the event with a throw of 52-09.

“Looking around and seeing only seniors standing on the platform is very encouraging for next year,” Lohman said. “Today was just all about being relaxed. We didn’t really talk too much about technique. It was just a great two days.”

Lakeside got a third-place finish in the 300 hurdles from J.T. Pettet (41.76) and a fourth place from Kyle Johnson in the 1,600 (4:26.42).

Freeman got thirds from Marc Soelberg in the pole vault (13-6) and from its 4x400 relay team.

2A girls: Ashley Kenney (discus) and Melissa Mauro (300 hurdles) took home state titles to help West Valley finish fourth.

Kenney won the discus with a meet-record throw of 146-11 to defeat Pullman senior and defending champion Anna Albrecht (134-01).

Albrecht, who set the meet record of 145-6 last year, and Kenney will be teammates at Washington State University this fall.

“It feels good knowing I can cheer for her now that we are teammates,” said Albrecht, who won her third consecutive shot put state title Friday. “I don’t like losing, but I just thought, ‘Go on, smash that record.’ We’re going to have plenty of battles over the next four years at Pullman.”

Mauro, who also finished fourth in the 100 hurdles, followed up her victory in the high jump Friday by winning the 300 hurdles in 45.19 to defeat Archbishop Murphy’s Sarah Schireman (45.69). Pullman sophomore Nina Al-hassan (46.22) got up for third.

The Greyhounds finished fifth overall. The team title went to Burlington-Edison (52.5 points).

Cheney’s Shelby Maurer, Rainee Palmer, Kyle Miller and Crystal Simmons won the 4x400 relay title (4:01.93). Maurer, a sophomore, took home a second in the 200 (25.85) and a fourth in the 100 (12.47).

2A boys: Nigel LaFountain of West Valley joined Mauro as a state high jump champ, but unlike his classmate, he had to share the title with two other jumpers. LaFountain, Ross VanZanten of Mark Morris and River Ridge’s Miles Coats all cleared 6-6 to share the state crown.

The Eagles, however, had the 4x400 relay title all to themselves as the team of Alex Allison, Jackson Ping, Tim Ping and Parker Flynn crossed the wire in 3:25.76, becoming the first Eagles team to win a relay title since 1981 when West Valley won the 3A 4x100 championship.

Sehome (54) won the team title.

Pullman’s Nick Cassleman finished third in the 300 hurdles (39.34), while Cheney freshman Diondre Moore-Young took sixth in the 110 hurdles (15.40)