Track stars shine on the field as athletes compete at Districts Tournament

COLFAX - Over the weekend, starting Friday, May 19, all schools from the WIAA 2B District 7 and 1B District 7 & 9 came to Colfax, Washington to compete in the district tournament.

Athletes who finish in the top four in each event head to the state tournament set to start Thursday, May 25 in Yakima.

As well as individual accolades for the athletes, there were also district championships for the teams up for grabs.

On the boys side, Davenport took home the District 7 2B championship, scoring 135 points. Chewelah was close behind with 127 points and Colfax finished fifth with 62 points.

On the 1B Boys District 7 & 9 side, Mary Walker won with 88 points, followed by Pomeroy with 83 points.

For the boys 2B side, Colfax's Zachary Cooper qualified for state in the 100 meters with a time of 11.73 in the district meet, placing him fourth in the meet. Cody Gilroy won the district championship in the event with a time of 11.18, a PR for him. Gilroy also qualified for state in the 200 meter dash, running a time of 22.86 in districts, a PR again. Cooper missed out on state in the 200 as he finished fifth. For this event, only the top three runners qualified.

Chewelah sent two runners to state in the 1600 m and those same two runners qualified for the 3200 m. They also sent a third runner to state in the 3200 as Chewelah finished first, third, and fourth in the competition.

The 110m hurdles sent five runners to state, meaning Cooper heads to state to represent the Bulldogs in the competition as he finished fifth overall with a PR time of 17.03.

Alex Binks qualified for state in the shot put as he finished second overall with a throw of 41'5, his personal best. Drew Vantine of Colfax will throw discus in state after he placed second with a throw of 129'2.

Cooper was all over the leader board for Colfax in the meet. He also placed first in the pole vault with a jump of 12'6. He will compete in three events in Yakima this week.

For the 1B side, Pomeroy dominated the running events. They placed first and second in the 100 m and sent another two to state in the 200 m.

In pole vault, Pomeroy would send six athletes to state as Pomeroy completely dominated the pole vault event, where six of the eight athletes who posted a score were from Pomeroy.

For the girls 2B side, St George's won the meet with 215.5 points, followed by Davenport with 119.5 points. St. George's dominated the field, winning the district tournament by almost 100 points.

St. George's placed first and second in the 400 m, then placed first, third, and fourth in the 800 m. They would also sweep the 1600m and take first and second in the 3200m.

The first event the Colfax girls would qualify for state in would be the 4 X 100 relay, the Bulldogs placed second in the district tournament running a time of 53.99. They would also qualify in the 4 X 200 and the 4 X 400m relays.

Paige Claassen would qualify for state for the Bulldogs in the pole vault after she placed third with a jump of 7'9. Jaisha Gibb will also represent the Bulldogs at state in the long jump. Both Gibb and Claassen are the only non-relay athletes to represent the Bulldogs in the state tournament this weekend.

On the girls 1B side, Garfield-Palouse took home the district championship, winning and scoring 147 points, besting Oakesdale, who scored 109 points.

Oakesdale took first and second in the 100m, as well as second and third in the 200m. They also took second and third in the 400m.

Garfield-Palouse would take second and third in the 800m, then take first, second, and third in both the 1600m and the 3200m events.

The state championships will take place starting Thursday, May 25 in Yakima and will run through Saturday, May 27.