Columbia Basin athletes score well at Invitational

PASCO - It may have not been a memorable day at the Pasco Invitational for the whole teams of Moses Lake, Ephrata, Quincy, and Othello high schools on Saturday.

But, that didn't mean there weren't some strong performances from Columbia Basin athletes that made the field of athletes take notice.

"The Pasco Invite was great this year and since it was the 50th year it was a big deal," Moses Lake Chiefs head coach Kevin Whittall said. "The few athletes we took down had great performances against the best athletes in the state. I was amazed to see these kids I been reading about it is a great honor just to be invited to this elite event."

Chiefs athletes that finished in the upper tier of their events came from the girls side.

Magie Munoz ended up 11th in the 400-meter run with a time of 61.64, while Jordan Loera ended up 13th in the javelin (108'3") and 15th in the triple jump (33').

Selina Koon recorded a 4'10" high jump, good enough for 19th place.

The 4x100-meter relay team of London Cleverly, Keiley Grace, Kayla Grigg, and Caylah Lunning ended up 21st with a 51.73.

"It's exciting to see how the girls are starting to come into their own in their events, getting PR's," Moses Lake girls coach Nicki Weiland said. 

The Moses Lake track teams host their first home meet of the season on Thursday, April 28 beginning at 4 p.m.

Ephrata's only representative at the meet by Micah Ohl who ended up 12th in the 200-meter run (23.17) and 18th in the 100-meter run (11.26).

The Othello girls team ended up tied for 20th place behind the performance of Christine Kirkwood.

The senior won the javelin with a throw of 166'9" and ended up seventh in the discus with a final tally of 117'4".

Othello's boys distance medley team of Antonio Estrada, Aaron Suarez, Jr. Valenzuela, and Alan Garza, ended up in 20th place with a time of 11:20.94.

Ending up in a tie for 39th place was the Quincy boys squad as Luke Grigg paced their efforts with a 14' pole vault result to earn fourth place.

Grigg also finished 16th in the 110-meter hurdles (16.01) and 22nd in the 300-meter hurdles (42.69).

Ian Huxtable took 18th in the long jump (20'7.25") and Armando Tafoya ended up 19th with a hurl of 127'10".

Jazmine Perez (25th, 100-meter run) and Janna Hodges (25th, discus) participated for the Quincy girls.