The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

PASCO - Three WP ath­letes qualified for the Pasco Invite on Saturday and each did well in competition, set­ting new personal records and earning a place on the podium.

The meet included only the top athletes from 4A schools on down. Out of more than 60 teams com­peting from throughout the northwest, only nine were from "B" schools.

"I was really happy with our results and the kids should be proud of them­selves," WP track and field coach Jeff Bartlow said.

Sprinter James Thomp­kins competed in the 100 meter dash and ran it in 11.49 seconds, placing 16th among 32 competitors. He finished the 200-meter dash in 23.01 seconds and placed 18th out of 40. His best race was the 400 meters, which he completed in 50.77 sec­onds, putting him in 8th place out of 42.

"He was excited about this meet and was happy about the results," Bartlow said. "I was pleased to see him compete at this level and be successful."

Seth Deal ran the 3200 meters and placed 23rd out of 45. He made it in a personal record time of 9:51.77 in a big meet with 45 runners. They were "all bunched up together early on, just a great experience and important for him at this time of the year," according to Bartlow. "I was really happy for him."

Ben Shafer competed in the shot put and also had a personal best for 2013 with a throw of 45'9," good enough for 18th among 39 throwers.

Regarding last Tuesday's league meet in Kiona Ben­ton, Bartlow said Brandon Donovan had a strong per­formance in hurdles after getting help from former WP track coach Ron Huntington. Brandon is expected to go to state as well as Maddie Witt, who jumped 31 feet in the triple jump, placing her first in the league meet of five teams and second in district. Her long jump of 14.5 feet was a personal record, plac­ing her third in district.

Bartlow had praise for E.J. Meserve's performance in the 1,600 and 3,200-meter long-distance runs, earn­ing him WP Athlete of the Week.