Mavs boys win Big 9 track title, girls finish second in league

MOSES LAKE — The 2024 regular season was a successful one for the Moses Lake boys track and field team, as the Mavericks clinched their first Columbia Basin Big 9 team title with last week’s win over Eisenhower.

Moses Lake defeated both Eisenhower and West Valley (Yakima) in the May 2 meet, winning by scores of 86-59 and 97-48, respectively. 

“It’s all the boys pushing each other to try and score points against each team at each league meet, and knowing that they’re all working together for a common cause as a group even though they’re individual events,” Moses Lake track and field Head Coach Nicki Weiland said. “A lot of kids stepped up to the plate and scored for us.”

Five Moses Lake athletes won nine events at the May 2 meet; junior Calin Dameron (100-meter dash); senior Ty Rimple (200-meter dash, 400-meter dash); senior Kyson Thomas, Rimple, senior Joel Middleton and Dameron (4x100-meter relay); junior Hunter Blackman (discus, javelin and high jump); and Middleton (long jump and triple jump).

“You could tell with their performances out there that they were giving it all they could,” Weiland said. “They said, ‘If I can just get one place against this team, if we can get one point, even one point will help us get closer to reaching that goal of being league champions.’ It took everybody.”

The Moses Lake girls track and field team finished second in the Big 9, one spot behind league champion Wenatchee. At the May 2 meet, the Maverick girls defeated West Valley 96-53 and Eisenhower 111-39.

Event winners in the girls meet were sophomore Reese Prescott (100-meter dash, 200-meter dash); freshman Rachel Nofzinger (400-meter dash); junior Madison Bond (100-meter hurdles, long jump and triple jump); junior Kaiya Char (300-meter hurdles); Char, freshman Kendal Jansen, sophomore Addy Burns and Prescott (4x100-meter relay); Char, Prescott, Bond and sophomore Amaya Perez (4x200-meter relay); junior Eowyn Hardebeck, senior Sylvie Gephart, Nofzinger and freshman Breanna Bischoff (4x400-meter relay); freshman Ciara Quilter (shot put); junior Jaedynn Dietmeyer (javelin) and Burns (high jump).

Weiland credited the upperclassmen on the girls team for guiding the younger athletes throughout the season, leading to a second-place finish in the league.

“It’s nice to see the leadership from our older athletes, encouraging the younger ones,” Weiland said. “They’re working out together, and I think their time’s dropping. It’s a good group of kids.”

Winning a league title took a team effort from multiple different events, Weiland said.

“Each area had boys that are coming on in those areas that helped score points,” Weiland said. “You’ve got to have a thrower, they have to score points for us; you have to have a jumper, they have to score points for us. The sprinters can’t do (it all), same with the hurdlers. Everybody has to score somewhere … I think we just have a good combination of boys in different areas.”

After Friday’s Columbia Basin Big 9 Inter City Championship meet, Moses Lake will compete in district meets next week Thursday and Saturday. 

Moses Lake has 33 top-10 marks in the Big 9 boys standings, including league-leading performances by Rimple in the 300-meter hurdles, the 4x400-meter relay team and Blackman in the discus and javelin. On the girls side of the league, Maverick athletes post 35 top-10 marks, and league-best marks in the 100-meter dash by freshman Lindsey Davis, the 4x100-meter relay team of Prescott, Char, Davis and freshman Kamery Char, the 4x200-meter relay team of Davis, sophomore Miciah Higley, Prescott and Kaiya Char, high jump by sophomore Addy Burns and triple jump by Bond.

“They know who’s ahead of them, and they know they’re going to have to beat those kids pretty soon,” Weiland said. “... They want to be the top two time, or mark, or jump to get to state; that’s their drive.”

Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com. 

    The Moses Lake girls track and field team finished second in the Big 9 this season, one spot behind Wenatchee.
  

    The Moses Lake boys track and field team won the regular season Columbia Basin Big 9 league title last week, clinching the league championship with a win over Eisenhower on May 2.