WP Places Seventh At State

CHENEY - Concluding the 2010 track season for Waitsburg-Prescott was an amazing two days spent at Eastern Washington University for the State meet. The season reached its crescendo with valiant performances, a plethora of podium appearances and triumphs at numerous events. WP placed seventh compared to last year's third place finish overall. Here some of the highlights of the two days.

Genesis Pearson, a junior from Waitsburg, has specialized in her throwing events since her freshman year. She had gone to state in both the shot put and the discus in previous years, but at districts this year, she had a bit of a disappointment. She was able to pull off a state appearance in the shot put, but despite her efforts, was unable to make it to state in the discus. Luckily for her, one of the girls who made it to state in the discus was disqualified, and Genesis got to make a third state appearance in the discus. She ended up placing 5th in state in that event.

Reigning state champion James Lehr was out for success again this year in the throwing events. Lehr, who won firsts in both the shot put and the discus last year at state, suffered an injury that hampered his abiltites this year and was unable to be as successful in some of the league meets. However, he managed to overcome these obstacles by the time state rolled around, and won third place in the shot put, and 2nd in the discus. Lehr was followed by his teammates Ben Kiefel and Chance McDaniel, who won 5th and 6th in the shot put, respectively.

Another impressive performance on the boys' side was freshman Seth Deal in the 3200. Although Deal also competed in the mile at state, it was his 3200 race that allowed him to shine. He had planned out lap splits written on his hand, and used that to his advantage to pull off a 7th place in the race as a freshman. The coaches are expecting great things from him in the future.

Ronnie Hulce, who has been succeeding in her events all year, pulled off a third place win in the high jump, by jumping 5 feet. Other medalists at state were Eshom Estes in the javelin (5th place) and Michael Montgomery in the Pole Vault (6th).

Overall, the boy's team won 7th place out of every 2B school in the state of Washington, a superb way to end a great season for the WP track team. Next year, both Coach Ron Huntington and Greg Fry are retiring from their positions as track coaches for WP. Congratulations to both of them for many amazing accomplishments and for being involved in the lives of so many high school athletes from Waitsburg and Prescott.