Wahluke athletes take first steps toward building track program

MATTAWA — Wahluke athletes took good early steps toward rebuilding the high school track program at their own Windbreaker Invitational last Friday..

They learned that size matters. Size of the team, that is.

The Warriors showed up in numbers and scored team points in nearly event. They encouraged each other and so did the coaches.

Royal, which has had a stout program for several years, won the boys and girls competitions with 129 and 195 points. Wahluke, which is accustomed to a bottom rung, took fourth and fifth in the 10-team meet.

The boys tallied 92 points, the girls 71. Those scores are much higher than Wahluke has put up in recent years.

“Our athletes were exciting, competitive and seemingly everywhere, and a lot of them were very successful, coach Joel Dugan said.”

The highlight of the night came in the final boys event, the 1600 relay. In front of an excited home crowd, the quartet of Nathan Buck, Tanu Buck, Alberto Zapien and Jose Celaya ran a time of 3:50.68 to take first place by seven full seconds.

Tony Avalos added a victory in the high jump with a leap of 5-8. Nathan Buck won the triple jump with a leap of 38-03.75. He finished third in the long jump with a leap of 18-00.50. But he had a winning leap of about 20 feet that he couldn't hold when he fell backward in the pit.

One boy who raised some excitement for the future was freshman Tanu Buck. He finished second in the 800 with a fine time of 2:13.97, a personal record. Freshman Yerik Arellano took third place in the 1600 with a 5:02.36 clocking.

Alma Velasco won the 3200 for the girls with a time of 13:14.08, a personal record. The second-place finisher finished one minute and five seconds later. Wendy Castro took fifth for Wahluke in the same event.

The girls team is made up of nearly all underclassmen, including numerous freshmen and sophomores. Freshman Sophie Nelson stood out as a leader at the Windbreaker, finishing fourth in the 300 hurdles, fifth in the 100 hurdles and 10th in the 100 dash.

Dugan was thankful for 20 volunteers from the high school and community, junior high head coach Steve Bator, athletic director Cody Marlow and several junior high student volunteers

“An event like this would never be possible without them,” he said. “Also a lot of thanks to a guy like Steve Frucci, Connell's AD, who runs our timing system and uploads our results onto athletic.net.”

Boys results:

• 100 – 9. Martin Vargas, 26.65; 10. Isaac Sanchez, 27.09.
• 400 – 3. Alberto Zapien, PR.
• 800 – 2. Tanu Buck, 2:13.97.
• 1600 – 3. Yerik Arellano, 5:02.36, PR; 13. Jose Barbosa, 6:06.80, PR.
• 300H – 5. Daniel Ayala, 51.78, PR.
• 400R – 3. Wahluke, 48.94.
• 1600R – 1. Wahluke, 3:50.68.
• Shot – 8. Juan Morales, 34-06, PR.
• Jav – 10. Emmanuel Garcia, PR; 15. Oscar Rodriguez, 96-02, PR.
• Disc – 7. Juan Morales, 95-3, PR.
• PV – 4. Juan Rodriguez, 7-06, SR; 4. Riley Allen, 7-06, PR.
• LJ – 3. Nathan Buck, 18-00.50, PR; 9. Juan Rodriguez, 16:02.
• TJ – 1. Nathan Buck 38-03.75, PR; 5. Juan Rodriguez, 33-08.25.

Girls results:

• 100 – 10. Sophie Nelson, 15.07, PR; 12. Guadalupe Rincon, 15.38.
• 200 – 11. Julianna Barajas, 31.6.
• 400 – 7. Tanya Valdenea, 1:14.57, PR; 11. Lizbeth Portillo, 1:30.10, PR.
• 800 – 7. Jennifer Navarrete, 3:07.15, SR.
• 1600 – 6. Claudia Olivares, 6:21.39, PR; 11. Jessica Macias, 7:38.82, PR.
• 3200 – 1. Alma Velasco, 13:14.08; PR; 5. Wendy Castro, 15:33.84, PR.
• 100H – 5. Sophie Nelson, 19.64, SR; 11. Zayra Hernandez, 20.96, PR.
• 300H – 4. Sophie Nelson, 57.03, PR.
• 400R – 3. Wahluke.
• 1600R – 4. Wahluke.
• Shot – 8. Yadira Gutierrez, 23-05, PR; 15. Jessica Macias, 17-05, PR.
• Disc – 14. Yadira Gutierrez, 49-02; 16. Monzerrath Gonzalez, 43-03, PR.
• Jav – 6. Monzerrath Gonzalez, 71-05, PR.
• HJ – 4. Mirna Gallaga, 4-04, PR; 5. Robin Greenbaugh 4-00, PR.
• PV – 2. Zayra Hernandez, 7-06, SR.
• LJ – 7. Mirna Gallaga, 12-11.50, PR; 12. Julianna Barajas, 11-04.00.