JOYCE — Valley Christian of Spokane nipped Crescent by two points to win the 1B boys track and field championship at Eastern Washington University in Cheney on Saturday.
Valley Christian scored 85 points to the Loggers’ 83 in one of the most exciting Crescent performances ever.
Valley Christian was dominate in the distance races, going 1-2 in the 800 and 1600 and taking the top four places in the 3200.
“This was a two-team race from the outset,” Crescent coach Darrell Yount said.
“We counter-punched with our own version of 1-2 with Matt Waldrip and Joel Williams going 1-2 in the 300 hurdles, and 3-4 in the 110’s, all in huge personal records.”
In addition, Crescent dominated the throws with big Mike Zapien, who won the discus, was runner-up in shot put and fourth in javelin.
Also, Donovan Christie grabbed second place in high jump with a personal best 6 foot, 1 inch, and Derek Findley captured their in triple jump.
“I’m proud of our kids,” Yount said. “What a monumental effort on their parts.”
Crescent’s Big Four
Four athletes scored 77 of Crescent’s 83 points.
Zapien had a team-high 23 points, outscoring 17 teams and having the fifth-highest personal total at state.
Waldrip amassed 18.5 points with his championship in the 300 hurdles, third in 110 hurdles, second in 4×100 relay and third in the 4×400 relay.
Williams was close behind with 17.5 points, with the same relay points as Waldrip, and runner-up in 300 hurdles and third in 110 hurdles.
Christie, meanwhile, collected 11 points with the second in high jump and sixth in long jump.
2A State
PORT ANGELES — Cameron Braithwaite of Port Angeles led the Roughriders to eighth place in the boys track and field state championships with three finishes in the top five.
The Riders ended up with 19 points as Braithwaite won the long jump championship with a leap of 22 feet, 5.5 inches, claimed fourth in triple jump and fifth in javelin.
Jayson Brockelsby and the 4×100 relay team helped give the Sequim Wolves six points in the state meet.
Brockelsby was third in high jump (6-04) and helped the relay squad take eighth place with a time of 44.18 seconds.
Brockelsby, Dylan Chatters, Emanuel Herrera and Judah Breitbach ran in the relay.
1A State
CHENEY — There weren’t a lot of fireworks for area 1A teams at the state championships at Eastern Washington University over the weekend.
Shane WhiteEagle and Sydney Christenson scored points for the Forks Spartans while the Port Townsend girls 4×400 relay team also finished in the top eight.
WhiteEagle captured seventh place in the 100-meter sprint with a time of 11.29 seconds, and he also took 14th in triple jump.
Christenson, just a sophomore, heaved the shot put for an eighth-place finish.
Christenson also took 14th in discus.
The Port Townsend 4×400 relay team of Jewel Johnson, Brittany Grant, Rebecca Stewart and Marie Karlsen was eighth in 4 minutes, 16.02 seconds.
Karlsen is the only senior of the group. Johnson and Stewart are sophomores while Grant is a junior.