WAITSBURG - Ten minutes before the women's relay race at the Carnival of Speed in Milton Freewater began that fateful weekend, head track coach Jeff Bartlow knew the team was in a pickle.

One of the four runners, Kayla Huxoll, had just been struck in the foot by another competitor's javelin in a freak accident and Yesenia Escalante, a hurdler, was the only alternate.

While the relay runners from the other 19 teams were already warming up, Bartlow, who was at the scene of Huxoll's accident, told members of the Cardinals' team to find Escalante and get everyone ready for the event.

"We were in the middle of a major injury, but I wanted us to run the race," Bartlow said .

No t only di d the team get to the starting line in time, they won the event, helping the girls win the entire "festival" with the 10 points from the race pushing them over the top.

"That was our biggest win of the year," Bartlow said, looking back at the spring sports season. "It turned out to be a good decision."

The anecdote sums up the fighting spirit of the Cardinals and Tigers in 2011, a spring season in sports that will remembered for state competitions among some athletes and team growth for others.

" We improved on our wins this year," Tigers baseball head coach Dustin Snedigar said. "We're building a program and that takes patience. I'm here for the long haul."

WP celebrated its spring successes at two separate occasions, with the track and golf awards following on the heels of the state meet in Cheney. The Tigers' ball season wrapped up sooner with both teams edged out of a trip to state by a much more competitive league this year.

In track, the Most Valuable Player award went to Eshom Estes and Ronnie Hulce, while Most Inspirational went to Seth Deal and Most Improved was handed to sophomore Ben Shafer, who added 9 feet to his shot put performance over the season to 39 feet from 30.

In baseball, Tre Brannock won for Most Improved; TJ Hofer for Most Inspirational and Dalton Estes won Most Valuable Player.

In softball, Alyssa Hafen and Rochelle Oseth were MVPs, while Taylor Doepker won for Most Improved and Alyssa Hafen won Most Inspirational. The women made it to the playoffs, but lost their first game against the Dayton Bulldogs and their second against De- Sales.

The Tigers didn't get as far as they had hoped, but it was strong season nonetheless, head softball coach Angie Potts said.

"Our seniors have set a really standard for future teams," she said. "Our younger girls are ready to assume the leadership roles. They (younger players) also have the ability to fill some very large holes that will open next season."

Potts said Hafen, Oseth, Taylor Moon, Ashley Wilson, Marihela Iglesias, Sarah Wilson and Kazmira Grende will be greatly missed next year.

The baseball team finished the season 12-9 with a 5-7 league record and a 7-1 non-league record.

"We played well against teams outside our division," Snedigar said. "We struggled against the top three teams in our league. In the three years since I started here, this was the most competitive I've seen it."

The team's batting aver- age was up, with MVP Estes reaching .479, leading the team with 35 hits and 16 stolen bases.

The team's batting average was .287 for the season with Tre Brannock, Matt Hamilton and Zach Bartlow following Estes with .429, .366 and .313 respectively. Bartlow had also had 16 stolen bases. TJ Hofer had 10. Hamilton led the team with 24 RBIs, followed by Brannock and Bartlow with 20 each and Joe Purdin with 16.

" Statistically, we had some good numbers," Snedigar said.

The 2011 Tigers were also the most versatile team in the coach's first three years at Prescott. After two injuries took out key fielders, other members of the team were happy and able to fill their positions, leading to switches that aren't always easy to adjust to.

Above: track athletes Nick Carpenter, John Montgomery, Isabel Benito and Seth Deal with assistant coach Joanna Lanning. Below: Dakota Baker with Waitsburg athletics director Stephanie Wooderchak.

For Snedigar, the season's highlights include his team's sweep over St. John-Endicott, its split against Liberty Christian and the spectacular pre-playoff, come-frombehind win over the Touchet Indians.

At the track awards at the high school auditorium in Waitsburg, lone WP golfer Dakota Baker was recognized for placing 13th at the state tournament in Lakewood near Tacoma.