Small Town News

More numbers, experience should spell success for CHS boys track

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The wins may not come as easily for the Cheney boys' track team this year, but Blackhawks head coach Todd Hering believes they will come nonetheless.

Helping that projection are some increased numbers. Last year in their run to a second consecutive Great Northern League and District 7 title the Blackhawks fielded 48 athletes, including seven seniors, whereas this year they're at 58.

"We usually hold around 55 so we're looking pretty good," Hering added.

Cheney will also have some good returning talent to add to those numbers. They're led by senior Diondre Moore-Young, who is already ahead of where he was last year at this time in both hurdle events and the 100-meter sprint.

Three cross-country veterans return in the three distance events: seniors Nash Springberry (800, 1,600), Aaron Brenton (1,600, 3,200) and junior Devon Poulsen (1,600, 3,200). The trio leads a group of eight runners that, while young with freshmen and sophomores, Hering thinks could be very good.

In the field, Michael Payne and Dakota Condos return in the throws. Condos placed eighth in the javelin at state last year while Payne just missed the finals in the discus, and both are throwing well, setting new lifetime personal records already. Hering attributes some of this to the work of new throws coach Nate Lawton, a CHS and Eastern Washington University graduate currently teaching in the Physical Education, Health and Recreation Department at EWU.

Senior Brenen Wynd is doing well in the pole vault and shows promise in the triple jump while senior Devon Johns is showing potential in the long jump.

The Blackhawks will also get a boost from several newcomers.

Sophomore Eric Igbinoba will be a contributor in the jumps and sprints with juniors Ben Bis-sell and Zac Mitchell providing scoring in the sprints, the latter's abilities having surfaced last fall on the gridiron.

"He's (Mitchell) still kind of learning how to run right now without a football," Hering said.

Chris Spring will compete with Payne and Condos in the throws, having made great strides since last season.

Also showing promise is Austin Kautzman in the sprints and long jump and Jason Stehr on the track. After that, Hering said there is a good group of freshmen and sophomores that will be impact athletes as they develop over the season.

"We're solid," Hering said. "We're not going to dominate like some people think we will. We'll be competitive, but it will be closer this year."

Cheney is off to a good start already, placing third at the West Valley Invitational in Millwood and third at last Saturday's Ram Relays at Millard Track in Yakima under less than ideal conditions. Payne came up big in the field, winning the shot put with a toss of 47 feet, 1/2 inch and finishing second in the discus with a toss of 123-6, a sizeable accomplishment Hering said since the ring they were using was new and made slippery by rain.

Condos finished third in the javelin at 141-8 and 10th in the shot at 39-31/2. Seniors Colt Sutter and Justin Ward went 5-6 in the javelin at 130-11 and 128 even while Chris Spring was 15th in the shot.

Wynn had a jump of 38-4 to tie Kennewick's Anthony Powell for fourth in the triple jump, with Jeff Pool 11th and Krieg McEuin 20th. Senior Robert Meyer went 10-6 for seventh in the pole vault and Johns leapt 18-9 for 10th in the long jump.

On the track Moore-Young went sub-40 seconds in the 300-meter hurdles for the first time this season, taking first with a time of 39.68 seconds with Jeff Pool 10th in 45-81. It was a solid performance, but one Hering felt left room for improvement.

"I'd be a little nervous if he (Moore-Young) was perfect right now," he added.

Springberry ran a determined race to finish second in the 1,600 with a time of 4:36.72, with Mark Vincent 14th. Poulsen finished third in the 3,200 in 10:20.32 with Brenton fifth in 10:25.40.

The 4x400 team of Collin Beeler, Dillon Phelps, Springberry and Moore-Young finished third with a time of 3:43.15 while the 4x100 team of Bissel, Dietrich Smith, Igbinoba and Mitchell was fifth in 46.12.

For Hering it was a good meet against some good teams. Cheney and East Valley-Yakima were the only 2A schools in the 12-team field that included regional 3A and 4A track and field programs.

John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.



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© 2011 Cheney Free Press Cheney, Washington. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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