Dogs And Cards Battle At Martin Field

WALLA WALLA - Last week was a good one for the WP track team and for two of the members of Dayton's crew.

The WP men placed first in the River's Edge meet at Milt Durant Field in Umatilla last Friday and first in the District 9 meet at Martin Field in Walla Walla last Wednesday. The Lady Cardinals placed second on Wednesday and fifth on Friday.

Waitsburg-Prescott competed with 14 teams in the River's Edge meet and four teams at Martin Field.

"We really had some good performances," WP head coach Jeff Bartlow said. "I was proud of them in both meets."

Runners from Dayton, whose track team did not participate in Friday's meet, did well in short-distance events at Martin Field. Lady Bulldog Courtney Fuller and Lady Cardinal Kristin Potter competed neck and neck, with Fuller placing first in the 100-meter event and Potter winning the 200-meter run (in which Fuller placed third after DeSales' Allison Wujek).

WP's James Thompkins and Alex Dill came in first and second in the men's 100-meter dash with Dayton's Adam Strohbehn placing third. Strohbehn placed second in the 200-meter run, after Dill in first and ahead of WP's Logan Wanous in third.

Strohbehn took first in the high and long jumps at Martin Field. Fuller took second in the long jump.

Dayton's Samura Miller and Elise Button placed first and second in the 1,600-meter run, while Seth Deal came in first in the 800-meter run and EJ Meserve placed second in the 3,200-meter event. Cardinal Billy Brown took the 110-meter hurdles for the WP men while Lady Cardinal Ronnie Hulce took first in the 300-meter hurdles and first in the triple jump.

WP women took the 2x400- meter relay and the WP men grabbed the top spot in the 4x100. Eshom Estes was the undisputed leader in the shot put event with 4 feet ahead of his closest competitor, Ben Shafer, also from WP. Estes also took first in the javelin meet .

WP athletes performed well in Friday's River's Edge meet, scoring multiple firsts and personal records in a much bigger field of competitors.

"It was a day filled with (personal records) as almost every one of the middle and longdistance athletes broke their personal records for the year," WP's middle and distance coach Joanna Lanning said. "Seth Deal blew the field away in both the 1,500 and 3,000."

Oregon uses different distances in its competition.

"In his true competitive style, he didn't coast to the wins," she said about Deal. "He ran hard to achieve PRs, which he did with times of 4:19 in the 1,500 and 9:29 in the 3,000. Seth's drive and dedication are paying huge dividends as he prepares for the state meet."

On the women's side, Potter placed first in the 400-meter run, second in the 100-meter and third in the 200. Hulce placed second in the 100 and 300-meter hurdles. The WP relay with Stacia Deal, Emily Skay, Blanca Quiroz and Hulce placed fourth in the 4x100. On the men's side, Thompkins placed first in the 200 meters, and second in the 100 and 400 meters. Brown took first in the 110 and 300-meter hurdles, while Estes took first in shot put and third in discus. Owen Lanning grabbed first in the long jump and the relay team, which includes Brown, Dill, Roy Ebong and DJ Leroue, placed second in the 4x100 and third in the 4x400.

"Billy is looking good on the hurdles right now," Bartlow said. "He has the natural speed and talent to do it. He is going to be tough."

Bartlow said he is also encouraged by the relay team, but will need to shore it up when he takes off Thompkins and Deal to run sprints and distance events at state. Logan Dozier and Roy Ebong are among the contenders to fill their spots.