Medical Lake boys second at State 1A

The Medical Lake boys track team scored more points this weekend than their 2014 1A championship team. But the Cardinals couldn’t match the numbers from King’s and finished in second place.

Medical Lake finished the highest of any of the local schools at the conclusion Saturday of the 1A, 2B and 1B championships at Eastern Washington University’s Roos Field. Also in 1A, Riverside tied for third with Meridian.

“We had excellent performances all day long,” said Medical Lake coach Gene Blankenship. “I’m extremely pleased. They are great kids. Unfortunately, King’s was the team. They had the numbers.”

St. George’s finished third in the 2B standings behind the champion, Raymond, and North Beach. Northwest Christian was sixth.

“We are amazed,” St. George’s coach Rick Riley said. “I’m just really pleased.”

1B

Odessa-Harrington’s Sam Schafer nearly single-handedly carried his team, which finished tied for fifth with Lyle/Wishram. The team title went to Lummi.

Of the Titans’ 46 points, Schafer scored 38 of them with a second in the triple jump on Friday and wins on Saturday in the 100, 200 and long jump.

His win in the 100 was by a whisker. Ron Stephens of Mount Rainier Lutheran was given the same time at 11.51, but Schafer earned the victory based on the photo review.

“I couldn’t even tell from the photo,” Schafer said. “It was close. But winning is always a great feeling.”

2B

The 2B pole vault came down to a defending state champion, Sam Daily of Colfax, and Austin Zeller of Davenport, who finished second in 2014.

On Saturday, Daily matched his personal record by vaulting 13 feet, but Zeller cleared 14 feet and Daily couldn’t match.

“We’ve been competing against each other for the last three years,” Zeller said of Daily. “He beat me last year at the state meet.”

Zeller said he used a heavier pole that hadn’t been producing in practice, “but today, it worked pretty good.”

Daily knew about Zeller’s pole, but he gave no excuses for the loss.

“He beat me fair and square,” Daily said. “It really would have been great to beat him. But I’m happy for him. He earned it.”

In the 2B boys 800, Northwest Christian’s Jack Ammon beat St. George’s Nathan Vanos for the state title. Ammon won the 400 championship last year but dropped the event to focus on the 800.

“Maybe I’ll run the 1,600 next year. Who knows?” he said.

1A

After winning the 1,600 on Friday, Medical Lake’s Domenic Rehm had extra motivation on Saturday. His father, whose military posting has him stationed in Qatar, was able to make the trip home to see his son compete in the 800. Rehm didn’t disappoint.

He led from the start, but two racers caught him on the last turn.

“I was getting a little tired,” Rehm said. “Then I saw the homestretch and I heard all my friends and I just thought: Go for it.”

He won the race with a time of 1:56.03, a personal best.

In the 300 hurdles, Riverside’s Tristan Downing was hoping to improve on his third-place finish at state last year. He accomplished his goal.

Downing edged Goldendale’s Brian Golding (39.67 to 39.76) for the win.

“I’ve been waiting for this all year. I’ve been waiting for this since my freshman year,” Downing said after winning the championship. Golding “was scaring me. He was going over every hurdle at the same time. It was terrifying until that last little bit.”

Downing won the race despite pulling a hip flexor on Thursday.

“It’s the last 300 hurdle race I’ll run in high school,” he said. “There is no pain today.”