Cardinals Win Colfax, Excel At MF Carnival

MILTON FREEWATER - Cardinal Kayla Huxoll's unfortunate javelin accident aside, the Carnival of Speed track meet in Oregon Friday was a success for WP, bringing the Lady Cardinals to the top of the heap, head track and field coach Jeff Bartlow said.

It followed a productive meet in Colfax on Wednesday despite high cold winds with both Cardinals teams winning that event on points.

The Carnival of Speed, in its 75th running, was the more challenging of last week's two events with 19 teams with nearly 600 athletes from Washington and Oregon on the sun-drenched field.

WP's Ronnie Hulce won the 100 and 300-meter hurdles, ran in the winning 400-meter relay team, and won second for her high jump.

Cardinal Kristin Potter won the 100 and 200, and Isabel Benito took second in the 1500.

"That's fantastic in a 19- team field," said Bartlow, who pointed out the Cardinals had only a day's rest between events. "Ronnie was an animal. Her running is so focused. Her confidence is there."

The performance of the girls' relay team was impressive as well, considering Huxoll's accdident meant she had to be replaced by Prescott High's Yesenia Escalante in the 400 race with Hulce, Potter and Krystal Harris.

"The relay team really stepped up after the injury," Bartlow said.

Distance runner Seth Deal helped the Cardinals to a third-place performance with wins in the 1500 and 3000.

The boys' relay team, made up of Jared Morris, Antonio Tompkins, Justin Armstrong and Billy Brown, equaled their female counterparts by placing first in the 400.

"Our 4x1 speed is getting better," said Bartlow, who has enough good runners to create a second relay team that included Zach Brown, Alex Dill, James Thompkins and Logan Dozier on Friday. They placed seventh in the 400 .

Bartlow said wind was a big factor in the Colfax meet.

Hulce won the 100 and 300-meter hurdles, plus contributed to the winning relay team. Potter won the 100 and 200 sprints, "turning out to be the leading sprinter in our league," the head coach said. Huxoll won the shot event.

The WP men were consistently in the top of the runners' summit. Morris, James Thompkins and Antonio Thompkins were second, third and fourth in the 100 meters. Brian Done won the 400 meters. Nick Carpenter placed second in the 800 and Deal won the 1600 and 3200.

Bar t low said James Thomkins in particular is coming into his own in the running events.

"He is the wow factor for me right now," Barlow said.

Eshom Estes won the discus, shot and javelin events in Colfax, while Yusef Johnson took second in the javelin throw.

"It's not very often you can do that in an event," Bartlow said about Estes' triple throwing crown. "He's a big physical kid."