Moses Lake posts high marks at Davis track meet

YAKIMA — The Moses Lake Chiefs track and field team, led by a group of experienced throwers and several outstanding underclassmen, represented themselves well at the 81st Davis Invitational Track and Field Meet on Saturday.

Once again, it was the throwers leading the charge for the Chiefs, with Billy Matthews and Tad Harman each reaching the podium in multiple events.

Harman was tops in a highly competitive shot put event, coming up just short of 50 feet with his winning 49-11 3/4 throw.

Matthews finished third in the event, throwing the shot 49-5 1/2. Both marks are personal bests for the Moses Lake throwers, and it is of little surprise that the two did it at the same event.

"Those two are really big competitors," said Moses Lake coach Nicki Weiland. "They really push each other."

Grant Fish was the Chiefs' third finalist in the event, placing fifth with a throw of 40-08.

"He's also coming on in the shot," said Weiland of Fish.

In the discus, it was Matthews who took top honors, winning with a toss of 144-04 to edge runner-up Harman by a mere nine inches.

"Billy did really well in the discus," remarked the Moses Lake coach.

Fish, in addition to his fifth place in the shot, finished third in the javelin with a throw of 158-0.

Spencer Fackrell, just a sophomore, competed in the varsity 200 dash, finishing fifth with a run of 24.24.

The Moses Lake team of Daniel Jenkins, Brad Reeder, Nick McAlvay and Tony Timm finished second in the foster medley with a time of 5:15.31. The foster relay is a distance event with runs of 200, 400, 600 and 800 meters.

Reeder also placed individually, earning sixth place in the 110 high hurdles with a time of 19.5 seconds.

In addition to the varsity events, Moses Lake did quite well in a group of events set up just for freshman and sophomore athletes.

David Gilman ran an 11.54 in the freshman/sophomore 100-meter dash to finish in second place. Gilman also ran the freshman/sophomore 200 dash, grabbing a fifth-place finish with a 23.91 time.

Additionally, Gilman anchored the 4x100 freshman/sophomore relay team featuring Chris Richardson, Tyler Harman and Randy Koon that finished second with a time of 46.16.

Koon was third in the freshman/sophomore long jump, hitting a mark of 17-11, while Richardson was sixth in the same event with a jump of 17-0.

Tyler Harman threw in the freshman/sophomore shot put, finishing fifth with a throw of 34-04.

The Chiefs return to Moses Lake to host their only home meet of the season Thursday, hosting Davis and Walla Walla in a Columbia Basin League meet that begins at 4 p.m.

Weiland expects defending 200 meter champion Aaron Wafer, who has been out with an injury for the past few weeks, to return to action at Thursday's meet.