The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON - Asotin High School's powerful track and field teams won both the boys' and girls' team competitions last week at the District 9 meet held last week at the Dayton High School Track.

On the boys' side, how­ever, the WP Cardinals made a strong showing, notching 105.5 points to Asotin's 120.5. Third place Tekoa- Oakesdale-Rosalia scored only 34.

"We were missing James Thompkins' 30 points (100, 200 and 400)," said WP coach Jeff Bartlow, "as again he would have won those eventshellip;he is still nursing a sore ankle."

In individual competition, WP shot putter Ben Shafer's winning throw of 47 feet, four inches, is the top throw in the state this year among boys at 1B and 2B schools. "He is getting very excited about what he can do now that the season is winding down," said Bartlow.

WP sprinters Luke Alexenko, Alex Dill, Coby Brown and Kevin Aquino all had personal records for the 100 meter dash. Seth Deal had a personal record in the 1600 meters, finishing third behind Asotin's dominant distance runners Chandler Teigen and Alex Simpson.

Brendon Donovan won the 110 meter hurdles for WP and placed third in the shot put.

On the girls' side, Car­dinal Maddy Witt won the triple jump and Britany Lute placed third in the shot put.

Both of Dayton's young teams placed eighth at the meet, but a number of ath­letes had strong showings.

Sophomore Kaitlyn An­drews is one of the state's top javelin throwers. She won that event with a throw of 115 feet, nine inches. "She didn't throw a PR (personal record), which is fine, since she's trying to work on technique and keep herself healthy," said coach Dan Nechodom.

Andrews' top throw of the season is 122 feet, 10 inches, which ranks her fourth in the state among girls at 1B and 2B schools.

Andrews left the meet early for an FBLA trip and missed the discus and 100 meter dash competitions, in which she is usually very competitive.

Ninth-grader Carissa Price placed fourth in the 100 meters for the Bull­dogs.

Nechodom says Price keeps improving in that event, "working especially on quick starts, fast accelera­tion and smooth form."

Nechodom also praised ninth-grader Shandre' Ow­ens, who had a personal record in the long jump, by nearly a foot. He hopes she can go to districts in that event and the 100 meter hurdles.

On the boys' side for Dayton, Sophomore An­drew Mendoza had strong performances in both the 100 meters and the shot put.

For complete WP and Dayton results from the Dis­trict 9 meet Wednesday, see page 8.