Ephrata boys state champions

TACOMA - The Ephrata Tigers boys reigned supreme in 2A track as the team finished first at the WIAA State Championship meet at Mt. Tahoma High School Saturday.

Ephrata finished with a team score of 66. White River was second with 58. The Quincy Jacks finished 22nd out of 46 teams with 10.5 points.

"We had a phenomenal weekend," coach Dan Martin said. "We thought we might place as high as fourth, but we exceeded our expectations and won it all."

The Tigers have had one of those dream seasons that comes along once in a lifetime as they took the 2A CWAC  championship, the district and regional championships, won the Ray Cross Invite, the Quincy Invite and the Reike Invite in Leavenworth. And then topped it all off by taking first at the state meet.

"We basically won every meet we participated in this year," Martin said. "And that's unheard of. The kids and all my coaches have worked very hard this year and I couldn't be more proud of them."

Martin has been at the helm of the Ephrata track program since 1999. This is his first team championship.

The highest the Tigers have placed collectively under his tenure was third place  at state.

"We've had individual state champions, but never a team championship," Martin said. "Finishing first as a team is a lot more rewarding as it took an outstanding effort from all the guys and not just one individual."

Martin said the championship all came down to one race.

"We were tailing White River until the last race of the day ... the 4X400 relay," he said. "They had one of the fastest kids in the state running anchor, but we really smoked them. It was pretty rewarding."

Several Tigers turned in outstanding performances at the meet. Leading the field for Ephrata was Jonnie Green who finished in the top three in two events, and was a member of the 4x relay teams that finished at the top of the heap.

Green took third in the 100 meter dash (10.95), and finished first in the 200 with a time of 22.25. Micha Ohl (11.12) was third in the 100, and took sixth (22.89) in the 200.

In the 400 it was Jacob Green who brought home third place hardware finishing with a time of 49.83.

The 4x100 relay team of Skyler Mann, Christian Nuckolls, Jonnie Green and Ohl took top honors with a time of 42.41. The Tigers Kyle Charles, Jonnie and Jacob Green and Ohl (3:20.25) finished with the best time in the 4x400 as well.

Jacob Laird placed fourth in the discus with a toss of 157-01. Jacob Crowder (5-10) finished 10th and Colton Bennett took 14th in the high jump, Christian Nuckolls placed second in the long jump with a leap of 22-03.75 feet, and Layton Lange (42-04.00 feet) had a 10th place finish in the triple jump.

Girls

The Tiger girls placed 33rd out of 41 teams at state. Kristen McDonnell was the highest placer for Ephrata finishing fifth in the Javelin event with a throw of 116-00 feet. Nikki Pope (32-11.50) finished 15th in the triple jump.

Jacks

Darren Hodges (14-00.00) placed fourth, and Michael Veenendaal (13-06.00) was 10th in the pole vault, and Armando Tafoya placed third in the discus (162-01) and 10th in the shot put with a toss of 47-10.25 feet.