Whitney Leavitt didn't remember being nervous before the final two races of her high school career.

TACOMA -- Josh Bland had himself a good start and better finish to Saturday's action at Star Track XXVII at Mount Tahoma High.

CHENEY -- Whitney Leavitt is a young woman with a strong sense of responsibility.

Area records in parentheses

TACOMA -- A year ago, Kyle Wagar bombed out in the 3A state javelin, while Haley Tank didn't even qualify.

TACOMA -- Scott Christensen had high hopes for his final high school discus competition.

CHENEY -- The stage is set.

TACOMA -- Christine Kirkwood was adamant about it.

Here is a preview of the Washington state high school track championships, staged today and Friday at sites throughout Washington:

TACOMA -- Marques Avery readily admits it.

EUGENE -- Hermiston's Mary Barnett won the 5A girls discus title at the Oregon State High School Championships at the University of Oregon, winning with a toss of 122 feet, 9 inches as Hermiston placed second as a team.

SPOKANE -- Steven Piippo leaned against the fence surrounding the Spokane Falls CC track, barely able to stand.

SPOKANE -- Sheila Smith was getting antsy standing by the scorer's tent.

SPOKANE -- Chelsea Bourque could have contended for a state berth in the 300-meter hurdles.

WALLA WALLA -- Waitsburg-Prescott's track team will send seven boys -- led by thrower Ben Kiefel -- and one girl to the state meet after qualifying via the Southeast 2B district meet at Martin Field.

CHENEY -- Whitney Leavitt is a young woman with a strong sense of responsibility. So when she won the 100- and 200-meter championships at the state 2A meet as an aggressively precocious ninth grader back in 2006, she did not necessarily set her sights on winning the same two events at every state meet during her high school career.

Every morning before Katharine Lotze gathers up her books and heads to Columbia Basin College for her Running Start classes, the Kiona-Benton senior heads to the computer.

HERMISTON -- Angelica Rodriguez qualified for the Oregon 5A state meet in the 100, 200 and 400 meters, and Makenzie Cody won the triple jump to help the Hermiston girls finish just a half-point behind Summit for the Intermountain district title at Kennison Field.

RICHLAND -- Hanford swept the boys and girls district titles at Fran Rish Stadium.

Robert Jessop felt his heart pounding as he stood on the pole vault runway.

KENNEWICK -- The Southridge girls dominated CBL 3A dual meets the past two years, but always kept an eye on what their 4A sisters were up to.

NYSSA -- Umatilla's Peter Stice won the 400 and 800 at the Eastern Oregon League district meet in Nyssa.

RICHLAND -- Richland sprinter Sam Alderman won both the girls 100 and 200 at the Richland Twilight nonscoring meet Friday at Fran Rish Stadium.

Thursday's prep action

KENNEWICK -- The Walla Walla boys won 13 of 17 events in their head-to-head dual with Southridge to beat the Suns 92-53 as part of a sweep of a four-team Columbia Basin Big Nine meet in Kennewick that gave the Blue Devils the league title.

It was about this time last year that Robert Jessop first tried triple jumping in an actual meet.

BURBANK -- James Coulson edged teammate Jake Taylor in both the 100 and 200 as the Connell boys dominated their meet in Burbank.

ELLENSBURG -- Prosser's Kelli Wilson covered 32 feet, 3 inches to win the girls triple jump at the 16-team Keith Jewett Invitational meet in Ellensburg.

KENNEWICK -- Southridge's boys and girls defeated Davis, Wenatchee and host Kamiakin in the Ron Redden Track meet.

A year ago was about Yesenia Ortiz gaining confidence in her running ability.

BENTON CITY -- Whitney Leavitt cruised to wins in the 100 and 200 as the Kiona-Benton girls outdistanced the field at a home meet.

PROSSER -- Hanford senior Josh Bland broke a 25-year-old school record in winning the 400 meters Saturday at the 49th annual Prosser Rotary Invite at Art Fiker Stadium, leading the Falcons to the boys team title.

UMATILLA -- Janis McDonald won both the 1500 and 3000 for Umatilla during the River's Edge Invitational at Milt Durand Field.

RICHLAND -- Pasco's boys improved to 8-1 and Hanford's Josh Bland swept the 200 and 400 during a four-way Columbia Basin Big Nine track meet at Fran Rish Stadium.

RICHLAND -- Pasco's boys improved to 8-1 and Hanford's Josh Bland swept the 200 and 400 during a four-way Columbia Basin Big Nine track meet at Fran Rish Stadium.

Here are the 2009 Columbia Basin Big Nine Conference track standings for boys and girls as of Friday, April 24:

WALLA WALLA -- Tory Knebel and Tyler Reisdorph won 100 and 200 respectively to lead Pomeroy in a five-team boys meet staged by DeSales at Martin Field

KENNEWICK -- Two months ago, Southridge's Andrew Gonzales figured to be having a stellar senior season.

BURBANK -- Sean Didier won the shot put and the discus to help Connell win a four-team South Central Athletic Conference track meet in Burbank.

The sun finally shined upon the track world Saturday just in time for the 48th annual Pasco Invitational at Edgar Brown Stadium.

PASCO -- Katharine Lotze joked after winning the triple jump at Saturday's 48th annual Pasco Invitational about how two girls from little ol' 1A Kiona-Benton won titles against the big-school girls.

BEAVERTON, Ore. -- The Hermiston girls took second, just a point behind McNary and 11 points ahead of California power Mater Dei, in the 16-team Aloha Relays at Aloha High School.

Most of the track and field athletes competing in today's Pasco Invite have dreams of being the best in one of the state's most prestigious meets.

LEAVENWORTH -- Connell's Colton Riner did it on the track and on the sand as he won the 110 hurdles and the long jump at the Jon Rieke Invite at Cascade High School

RICHLAND -- Steven Piippo's first experience with track and field came as an eighth-grader at Chief Joseph Middle School.

Waitsburg-Prescott's Morgan Baker and Stacy Potter swept their 100 and 200 races to lead the W-P boys and girls to team victories in four-team meets at Martin Field.

One of the aspects of the Pasco Invitational track meet on which director John Crawford prides himself is having some of the best small-school talent included in the field, getting perhaps their only chance to test themselves against top-flight competition.

YAKIMA -- Southridge junior Chelsea Bourque was named Female Runner of the Meet at the 83rd annual Davis Invitational in Yakima, winning the 100-meter hurdles in an area-best 15.32 seconds and leading off the victorious 4x100 relay.

YAKIMA -- Kasey McNeill and Chelsea Bourque won two events apiece and also ran on the victorious 400- and 800-meter relay teams to lead the Southridge girls past Pasco, Kennewick and Eisenhower at a four-team CBBN meet in Yakima.

YAKIMA -- Kasey McNeill and Chelsea Bourque won two events apiece and also ran on the victorious 400- and 800-meter relay teams to lead the Southridge girls past Pasco, Kennewick and Eisenhower at a four-team CBBN meet in Yakima.

Kiona-Benton senior Whitney Leavitt knew her college decision might disappoint her older brother Barry.

DAYTON -- Chazz Ludwig posted victories in the triple jump and the javelin to lead River View's boys in a six-team meet in Dayton.

KENNEWICK -- Pasco senior Peter Gilbert and Southridge senior Kasey McNeill were named athletes of the meet at the 10th annual Fast Times at Southridge High (formerly the Southridge Relays).

The biggest change in the Mid-Columbia track world this spring is the loss of the 4A/3A state championships back to the westside.

Successful athletes often walk a fine line between being confident and cocky.

Clay Lewis, the former boys and girls coach at Hanford, will be inducted into the Washington State Track and Field Coaches Hall of Fame on Saturday in Everett.

The Columbia River Track Camp for high schoolers will be held June 20-21 at Riverside High in Boardman, Ore.

This year's Herald All-Area track and field MVPs literally sprinted away with the awards.

Ten days after running the 3,200-meter race at the Class 4A girls state track meet, Bellarmine Prep's Nicole Cochran finally was awarded first place.

You know the old expression, "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts"?

The statement startled Union sophomore Kinsley Ojukwu for a second.

A tired old joke maintains that the only thing worse than track is field.

TACOMA -- Mid-Columbia athletes won seven individual titles and the Kiona-Benton girls won the school's first state meet trophy in 30 years at the state 1A-2A track and field meet Saturday at Mount Tahoma High.

Pole vaulters tend to be a very congenial group.

For the second year in a row, the 3A girls high jump state title is staying in the Tri-Cities.

TACOMA -- The Kiona-Benton girls track team hasn't taken home a trophy from the state meet since 1978.

Nicole Cochran stood by herself in the middle of the Edgar Brown Stadium infield, cheering as loud as she could.

Taymussa Miller woke up Friday morning with a good feeling about her chances in the 3A girls high jump competition.

Andrea Geubelle is a difficult one to spot at first.

Peter Gilbert of Pasco and Galia Deitz of Richland were voted the outstanding boys and girls track athletes for the Columbia Basin League 4A classification.

Peter Gilbert likes to surf the Internet and check out the rankings in his track event of choice -- the 800 meters.

Call Blair Collins the accidental champion, if you will.

BEND, Ore. -- Hermiston took second in both the boys and girls team standings at the Intermountain district meet.

Richland senior Galia Deitz wouldn't have minded spring waiting one more week to arrive.

QUINCY -- Othello's Courtney Kirkwood qualified for state in four events, winning the javelin (142-3), the long jump (16-7 1/2) and the 200 (25.99), while just missing a fourth win in the 100 hurdles at the CWAC district meet.

A year ago, Day 1 of the 4A/3A Eastern Regional track and field championships proved the worst day of Allyssa Thompson's career.

Through May 16

Kamiakin girls track coach Cheryl Schauble summed up what it takes to be a successful hurdler.

Through May 9

The last time the Pasco girls qualified a runner to the 4A state meet was 2003, the first year Star Track was held at Edgar Brown Stadium, when Nicole Elliott placed fourth in the 100-meter hurdles and third in the 300 hurdles.

Prosser senior Cade Wandling was named Male Athlete of the Meet at Saturday's Prosser Rotary Invitational, winning the 400 meters and anchoring a pair of winning relays to lead the Mustangs to the team title.

Through May 3

Through May 1

It's the calm before the postseason storm this week as athletes put the finishing touches on their training before the start of the three-week push to a hoped-for state title.

Through April 30

Through meets of April 26

Richland senior Jessica Clements cleared a school-record 5 feet, 7 inches in the girls high jump, tying for eighth place on the all-time Mid-Columbia list, and the Bombers won a pair of CBL 4A duals at Fran Rish Stadium.

Through meets of April 24

The 23rd annual Kiwanis Invitational takes place Saturday at Kennison Field in Hermiston, with 14 schools from Oregon and Washington scheduled to attend.

WALLA WALLA -- Justin Piek of Walla Walla won the 100, the long jump and triple jump during a meet with Moses Lake and Davis on Thursday.

ROYAL CITY -- Blair Collins ran the 100 in 11.4 seconds to highlight a home meet.

How many athletes sized up their day at the 47th annual Pasco Invitational on Saturday came down to the expectations game.

Cade Wandling exited the Edgar Brown Stadium track Saturday afternoon following his final race, a disgusted look on his face.

All-time area bests in parentheses

BEAVERTON -- Michelle Coombs victory in the shot put led the Hermiston girls to the team title at the Aloha Relays on Saturday.

At Leavenworth

Kelly McNamee finds it a rush to jump over something as tall as she is.

Posted on the wall of the shed the Moses Lake track and field team uses to store equipment are the school records in each event.

WALLA WALLA -- The Waitsburg-Prescott boys and girls each dominated the field in a track meet Thursday at Martin Field.

The 47th running of the Pasco Invitational is Saturday, and while fewer schools than in years past will be at Edgar Brown Stadium, more athletes will compete than a year ago.

Whitney Leavitt easily won the 100 with a time of 12.3 seconds to highlight team victories by Kiona-Benton's boys and girls teams.

The area's top performances through meets of April 15:

ROYAL CITY -- Jade Patterson raced to a win in the 800 with a time of 2 minutes, 7.11 seconds to help the Kennewick boys post a seven-point victory at the Royal Invite.

Ione Invitational

Wahluke

Bryce Fritz of Echo edged teammate Mike Madison to win the 100 at the Ione Invitational.

The latest Mid-Columbia track leaders, through meets of April 5: