The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

CHENEY - Eight mem­bers of the WP boys track team traveled to the state 2B track meet here Friday and Saturday. They left with the third-place trophy, coming in a point shy of second place La Conner.

As he's done in every 2B meet in which he's been healthy, Junior James Thompkins dominated the sprints. He won the 100, 200 and 400 meter dashes and anchored the winning 4x100 relay team. Those four wins accounted for 40 of WP's 57 team points.

The relay team also in­cluded DJ Leroue, Brendon Donovan and Alex Dill. In an email to The Times, WP coach Jeff Bartlow de­scribed the dramatic relay victory:

"The 4x100 was as excit­ing as any race of the day," he said. "Alex got the baton from Brendon in about fifth place and picked up speed and got the baton to James in fourth place and James, probably seven to nine yards behind the leader, pulled up and even and then ahead to claim the title in dramatic fashion. They really wanted that 4x1 Title and it showed."

Senior distance runner Seth Deal placed sixth in the 1600 meter run and third in the 3200. "Seth has been at this meet now all four years," said Bartlow. "He has a lot of medals and a lot of points at state. We will really miss the work ethic he brings to practice and what he shows us each and every day."

Senior Ben Shafer was second in the shot put, ty­ing his personal best throw of 47 feet, 11 inches. "Ben was excited and we were all pleased with his perfor­mance this year," said Bart­low. "He had a great year." Shafer also threw the discus, placing 10th in that event.

Sophomore Owen Lan­ning competed in the triple jump, coming in 15th. Lan­ning and Donovan, a senior, also ran both the 110 and 300 meter hurdles. Donovan placed 10th in the 110 and 13th in the 300. Lanning placed 15th in both races.

"It was a great experi­ence for Owen," said Bart­low. "He will be back in all three of those events for two more years and we expect him to be on the podium in those events, too."

WP's 57 points put them just shy of La Conner's 58 and Asotin's 64. Bart­low credited those schools' strong performances 4x400 relay with the difference.

"Asotin claimed the 4x400 title and the ten points that go with it," he said, "and La Conner got second for the eight points they needed to beat us by one point." Bartlow pointed out that WP's 4x400 relay team placed third at the District meet and so barely missed qualifying for the state meet.

"We had eight kids at state and five of them were seniors," Bartlow said, refer­ring to Deal, Shafer, Dono­van, Leroue and Dill. "These seniors were great kids and a lot of fun. We will really miss them all."