Rafa Mendoza records best South County finish at state
Renee Collins, above, second from the left, of Royal High School takes the baton from teammate Cynthia Cid for the final leg of the girls 400-meter relay at the state 1A track and field meet at Eastern Washington University. Their team finished 15th with a season-best time of 54.25.
Royal High School senior distance runner Ethan Tonnemaker (black sock, gold sock), left, prepares for the 1600-meter run at the state 1A track and field meet at Eastern Washington University last Friday. He finished 10th with a time of 4:37. On Saturday he took 7th in the 3200 with a new school record of 9:52.
CHENEY - Rafa Mendoza of Wahluke recorded the best finish for a South County athlete at the state 1A high school track and field meet last weekend with fourth place in the boys triple jump.
"It was the final event of the meet, and it was entertaining, and Rafa was really into it," Wahluke coach Brock Anderson said. "The leader changed several times."
Mendoza posted a leap of 43-4, which was eight inches beyond his previous personal best. He won a second medal in the 110-meter hurdles when he took seventh place in a time of 16.27.
The only other medal winner for South County at this meet at Eastern Washington University was Royal's Ethan Tonnemaker. He overcame a month of injury and illness to finish seventh in the 3200 with a time of 9:52, which is a new school record.
Tonnemaker also took 10th place in the 1600 with a time of 4:37. He had come into the meet ranked beyond 10th in both events.
"He gave it all he had. It's just too bad he had those health problems," Royal coach Scott Sandberg said.
This meet was mostly a story of youth for South County. Tonnemaker and Royal sprinter Aubrey Delay were the only seniors among the Royal and Wahluke tracksters.
Mendoza is a junior and Wahluke's Katelyn Peterson, a four-event entrant, is only a sophomore. The rest of the South County participants were sophomores or freshmen.
Peterson set the stage for medals next year. She finished ninth in the long jump (16-2), in the 400 (62.1) and triple jump (32-11) and 12th in the 200 (27.75). The long jump mark was a personal best. The 400 clocking was a season best.
Tonya Iverson of Royal also had a personal best in the long jump with a leap of 15-11. It beat her previous best by five inches and gave her 11th place.
Freshman Michael Valentine of Royal failed to make the opening mark in the pole vault, but Sandberg had nothing but praise for him, saying: "It's fantastic when a freshman makes it to state. He'll be back."
Another Royal freshman who should return to state next year is Cynthia Cid. She finished 16th in the 800 with a time of 2:40.
Also expected back next year is Royal sophomore sprinter Renee Collins. She clocked 16.3 for 16th place in the 100-meter dash.
The Royal 400 and 800 relays should return next year. All they need is to do discover or develop a fourth member. Only Delay graduates. Iverson, Collins and Cid all return.
The quartet clocked a season-best 54.25 in the 400 and 2:00 in the 800 for 15th place in both races.