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TACOMA -- The Kiona-Benton girls track team hasn't taken home a trophy from the state meet since 1978.
But, thanks to a surprise state championship from Ali Meroni in the pole vault, and an equally surprising second place finish by Whitney Leavitt in the high jump, the Bears are poised to end that 30-year drought.
Meroni joined two other mid-Columbia athletes at the top of the awards stand Friday.
Connell's Spencer Hadley added a javelin title to the discus championship he won last year, and Royal junior Blair Collins capped off his first track season with a state title in the long jump.
Meroni won the pole vault at 10 feet by handling the swirling, gusting winds that plagued the event much better than the rest of the field. Her victory provided the Bears with 10 points and a leg up toward a realistic run at a place among the top four teams when the meet concludes today at Mount Tahoma High School. Ki-Be has 26 points going into today finals.
"Chewelah, Lakeside, and Kings are all right there," Ki-Be Coach Jim Perry said. "It should be a good race between the four of us."
Meroni had cleared at least 10 feet in all but two of Ki-Be's meets this year. Her consistency gave her an opportunity to win while other pole vaulters struggled with the elements.
"The wind was a just little problem," said Meroni, who is at Kiona-Benton as an exchange student from Italy. "It's not usually this windy in Italy."
Meroni came into the meet as the No. 4 seed, 12 inches behind Lakeside's Loreah Winlow, who managed only 9-6 Friday.
"I guess the old adage applies," Perry said. "You have to do it on the track, on the day."
Hadley also credited consistency for his javelin championship and a personal record 189-4.
Other SCAC East athletes who won medals Friday were Mabton's Sara Vazquez (third in the 3,200), Ki-Be's Giselle Kauer (fourth in the pole vault), the Bears' Ryan wolf (fourth in the discus), Hadley (fifth in the discus), Ki-Be's Jose Marcial (sixth in the 1,600), Connell's Daniel Cuello (sixth in the javelin), Royal's Lydia McCubbins (sixth in the 3200), Ki-Be's Katherine Lotze (sixth in the triple jump), and Royal's Austin Allred (eighth in the pole vault).
