Cold start for Raider track

On a day that was cold, windy, and had some moments of freezing rain, Raider track opened the 2012 season at West Valley High School last Saturday.

The West Valley Invite featured most of the 4A/3A Greater Spokane League, half of the 2A Great Northern League, three from the Northeast “A” League, with Colfax of the Bi-County being the only other 2B school. The Raiders where allowed to enter every trackster in all of their events to get quality meet time.

“The meet allowed unlimited entries per event so all of our athletes were able to compete, record marks and see where they are at this early in the season,” Raider Head Coach Lori Adkins said. “This information, along with the level of competition, tends to fuel motivation to work hard.”

State Champion Kim Barry liked the incredible competion in the 3200-meter run, where Barry’s nemesis from Colfax, Morgan Wilson, finished second with a time of 11 minutes 4 seconds. Barry finished 14th in 12:31.

In the 1600, Barry started out well, staying with the leaders, then in the last two laps seemed to run out of gas and finished 10th with a time of 5:58.

She placed seventh in the 800 with a time of 2:32 seconds and cleared the 7-foot standard in the pole vault to round out her day.

Jesse Adkins was in top form in the triple jump, hop, skipping, and jumping to 40 feet 7 inches. In the long jump, Adkins had a personal-record day with a leap of 18 feet, 10.25 inches.

Matthew Timentwa placed eighth in pole vault with a vault of 10 feet. Sean Waters placed ninth in the discus with a throw of 120 feet, 4 inches.

Rahnee Jane launched a throw in the javelin of 109 feet, 6 inches, which was the best for the Raiders on the day. For most, Saturday was to get the butterflies out and have the introduction to high school track.

This Saturday, the Raiders will travel to Ephrata for the Ray Cross Invitational, which starts at 11 a.m.

The meet is a big measure of the progress made by the individual athletes thus far, and how much more needs to be done before the end of the season. Schools from Alaska and Oregon will join LR and most of the Central Washington 2B League, Caribou Trail League, South Central Athetic Conference, and Central Washington 2A Athetic Conference schools at the meet where only the top two in each event will be allowed to compete from each school.

Complete results from the West Valley meet are available online at http://ow.ly/9Mm2C.