Spokane, WA - West Valley High School hosted the 13th-Annual Howard Dolphin Track and Field Invitational this Saturday, March 30, featuring 17 schools ranging from the 1B level, all the way up to the 4A level.
Colville's Alaina Stone ran an impressive double in the girl's 1,600 and 3,200 meter races as she won both of them.
In her first race, Stone won by a near minute over the second place finisher in the 3,200 running 11:28.59. She led from start to finish increasing her lead to almost 400 meters.
It's been a while since she had run a longer distance race, dating back to this last fall in cross country, as you could tell there were plenty of nerves as Stone came through the first lap in 73 seconds.
"I went in a little excited and nervous too", said Stone smiling. "My plan was to not go out fast so I needed to fix that because I was going for more of an 80 second first lap."
Stone wasn't feeling the best as she has been dealing with shin injuries and the flu recently, but was confident enough with the training she put in this offseason that she could perform well in her first race of the season.
"I am not very far from my PR so I am really happy with that," said Stone. "With how I have been feeling lately, I am very, very happy with how it went even though my first lap was so fast. I just know I need to work on pacing."
West Valley's Annika Esvelt was second with a time of 12:27.85, and Shadle Park's Kaiya Sollie ran a personal best 12:58.28 to finish in third.
Colville's Stone was on the track again just a few short hours after her 3,200 win to run the 1,600. She ran 5:21.9 winning by 13 seconds over Lakeside-Nine Mile's Makaylie Stockert, who ran 5:34.71.
Despite being fatigued from her first race, Stone's aggressive attitude didn't stop her from winning her second race of the day.
"I came into this race and I was so tired," said Stone. "I was hoping for a faster time, but I was expecting as much as I could and that's all I could ask for today."
Stone's two wins put together 20 points for the Colville girl's team, which helped them win the team title scoring 78.5 points.
"I love to be able to contribute to our team," said Stone. "I love to see our team do well and being part of it."
Lakeside's Madelyn Buckley was third in this event running a time of 5:41.5.
Colville's Emily Montgomery won the girl's 800 meter in 2:34.59 despite being placed in the second heat of the two races. Lakeside's Buckley won the first heat in a late surge the final 50 meters in time of 2:34.63.
Also in the 800 from Colville was Ella Heideman who placed third running 2:35.01.
Gonzaga Prep's Jonas Bears won the boy's 1,600 race in a time of 4:28.04 edging out the second place finisher University's Ian Barville's late surge in the end.
In the first half of the race, Bears was challenged by at least six runners making it appear to be a tightly contested finish to the end. Going into the third lap, Bears grew his lead up to 15 meters making it more difficult for the others to catch him.
"The other guys were pushing me the first 800 and then I started to go," said Bears. "I was on pace for about 4:22, which would have been a little better then I ran. Felt good and it was a good day."
Bears won the NXR Northwest Regional Open Championship race this past fall and most recently ran a personal best time in the 3,200 running 9:36.
Barville ran 4:30.58 to finish in second behind Bears. Another top finisher from University in 1,600 was Travis Hicks as he placed third with a personal best time of 4:32.19.
University's Barville did avenge himself later on in the meet in the boy's 800 as he won in a time of 1:59.33.
Having already raced earlier, Barville began his first lap slow and felt it wasn't the greatest way to start off but still was able to make some moves the final lap to pull off the win.
Barville began trailing off in the back of the pack just to see what everyone else would be doing for their race strategy.
"I was just trying to stay on the other runner's heals," said Barville.
With under 400 meters to go, Barville made a last minute decision to pass the top guys by going into lane two since lane one was too tight to get around to put himself in the lead.
"I couldn't really pass anyone on the turn," said Barville. "As soon as the turn ended, I had a chance to swing out and I just took it over from there. This race felt a lot better than expected because I thought it would hurt earlier. It was a really good season starter."
Ferris had a duo of runners place in the top three of the 800 with Badradin Mohamed taking second in 2:01.45 and Jonah Bloom in third running 2:01.83.
Mohamed also placed fifth in the 1,600 race with a personal best time of 4:36.02.
In the boy's 3,200 race, West Valley's Giovanni Raskell blew away the competition with his personal best time of 9:44.21, which he dropped 16 seconds from a previous race on Wednesday.
Raskell was in no sight of taking second place or worse as the senior led the entire race cruising to an 18 second victory over Rogers' JaKob Tantrum, who ran 10:02.84.
"I started off a little too fast," said Raskell. "But I was able to stay out front and hold the pace for the entire time."
Raskell's biggest lead was by 100 meters over the next runner.
Rounding up the top three in the 3,200 was Mt. Spokane's Lukas Brown who ran 10:04.01.
Brown also took sixth in the 1,600 with a personal best time of 4:39.07.
For more results from this meet, visit: https://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/MeetResults.aspx?Meet=352793&show=all
For more photos from this meet, visit: https://www.facebook.com/pg/therunnerwa/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1267615720055668
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