Cardinals On Fire

WALLA WALLA - The WP track team had a phenomenal day last Wednesday at Borleske Stadium. It was no wonder that the skies above opened up with a downpour during the event because these Cardinals were on fire.

The lady Cards took home the second place title with 62 points losing out to Asotin. They missed out on scoring opportunities from a lack of normal races with unavailable team members due to injury and illness.

"Kristen Potter and Ronnie Hulce both had outstanding days," said head coach Jeff Bartlow. "Coming off of spring break is always tough, but these girls ran well. Ronnie had the rain beating down on her during her 300-meter hurdles, and she stuck it out and pulled out a second-place finish."

Hulce also placed second in the high jum,p with 4'8". She battled Desales freshman Allison Wujek in the 110-meter hurdles and stretched with all her might over the finish line to take the race with a 17.76 finish. She also set a new personal record competing in the triple jump for the first time in competition and taking first with 28'9".

Cardinal Krystal Harris took second in the triple jump with a 26'6" and making a respectable 4'2" high jump competing in that event for the first time.

Potter was unstoppable with three first-place finishes in the 100, 200, and 400-meter dashes. This was her debut in running the 400, and she finished with a 1:05.95, which qualified her for a 7th-place state ranking in that event after just one race. She also holds the firstplace ranking for the 100 meter dash and third in the 200 meters.

The WP boys took home the first place title, scoring a total of 121 points with the nearest competitor 40 points behind.

Seth Deal took first in the 1600 meters with a time of 4:45.8 and is currently ranked fourth in the state in this event. He also finished first in the 800 meter with a 2:07.5

"This is the first time he's ran the 800," said Bartlow. "We mainly used this race as some speed training for him, and he did a great job. Seth pushed the first lap, and his endurance held off Asotin in the second."

Nick Carpenter finished strong with a third-place finish in the 1600 meter and just ran out of gas in the 3200 meter in the last couple laps, losing his lead and finishing second with a time of 11:03.95.

Jared Morris took a firstplace finish in the 400 meters with 53.69, and James Thompkins was right on his heals for second. Antonio Thompkins got a good jump out of the gate and took first in the 100-meter dash with 11.45, and Austin Beasley finished in a three-way tie for first in the triple jump with 34.03.

Billy Brown had three second-place finishes to add to the Cards score. He started the day with the 110 meters hurdles with 20.59, jumped a 5'8" in the high jump finishing second to TOR, and with the rain coming down in full force finished the day with a new personal record in the 300 meter hurdles.

Rounding off the WP scoring was none other than powerhouse Eshom Estes. Starting off the slaughter, he chucked the shot put 45'6.5" to set a new personal record, which put him in the second place state ranking in this event. He followed up with flying the discus 134.2 feet and hurling the javelin 149.11 to shut down all other competitors, taking home three first-place finishes.

Later in the week, on Saturday in Medical Lake, the WP track team competed in an invitational meet with 24 other schools.

Hulce hurdled her way to the 300 meter crown, and Potter dashed off with the 200 and 400 meter title.

"The 400 is new to Kristin," said Bartlow. "We're going to put it to her in practice and get her in shape for that event and she'll be even tougher than she is now."

Seth Johnson from Jubilee set two new personal record's Saturday.

He finished fourth in the long jump with 17.0, and he qualified for the second round in the javelin where his third throw of the round catapulted him from ninth to a fourth-place finish.

"That is what it takes to score points," said Bartlow "Seth did really well today."

Estes also contributed once again, putting in second place finishes in the shot put, discus, and javelin.

" He's working really hard," said Bartlow. "He's just a brick house with a great work ethic."

Deal also put in an encore performance in the 1600 and 3200 meters. His first-place finishes scored 20 points for the WP boys, who now have back-to-back first-place meet finishes.

"This particular meet is in its 12th year running, and this year was its biggest turnout yet," said Bartlow. "We performed well. I'm very proud of this whole team."