Thursday, May. 28, 2009

First-day thoughts from Star Track

I'll reserve final judgment until after Saturday's final races about Mount Tahoma's facility.

But my first impression was that I was not too impressed.

I was told there were some things I'd like and some I wouldn't like. So far, the scales are tipped in the "wouldn't like" direction.

I do like the brick facade of the grandstands, though.

The Southridge girls weren't supposed to make things so difficult on themselves in Thursday's prelims.

First, they botched a pair of handoffs -- including the final exchange in which senior Kasey McNeill nearly came to a stop to secure the baton -- before getting through to Saturday's 4x200 final.

"Just as long as we don't do that in the final," McNeill said. "Which I'm sure we won't. We just had to get that out of the way."

Then in the 100 hurdles prelims, junior Chelsea Bourque nearly wasted a strong start out of the blocks, squeaking into this evening's finals with the seventh-fastest qualifying time.

Coach Sheila Smith explained that Bourque was so excited about her start, she lost focus for a second ... and that was almost enough to cost the regional champion.

"This is 4A," Smith said. "It's another step up."

If I'm Richland coach Jim Qualheim, I'd be thinking about retiring the bumblebee uniforms.

Not that I dislike them -- in fact, they've kind of grown on me over the years.

But over those same years, the Bombers have a nagging propensity to get DQ'd at state meets. Thursday, it was their boys 4x400 relay that got a strong anchor leg from Steven Piippo to finish second in their heat with a time in the high 3:22s.

But Piippo was ruled to have impeded a runner during the last exchange, and the team was disqualified. Qualheim was furious. "That's just racing!" he fumed as he stormed to the coaches tent, protest form in hand -- a protest that was, of course, denied.

I think the bumblebee uniforms are to meet judges like a red sports car is to a police officer. They stand out so much, they attract too much attention -- in this case, unwanted attention -- toward things that might otherwise be considered "just racing."

Hanford senior Haley Tank is hoping for some serious mojo to come her way for the good deed she performed Thursday.

When Othello's Christine Kirkwood forgot her javelin shoes at home, her coach was set to drive up to Spokane and fork over $110 to buy her replacements.

But thanks to Falcons throws coach Nathan Cummings' connections to the Othello program -- he coached for the Huskies several years ago -- and to the fact that Tank and Kirkwood had similar shoe sizes, Tank loaned her shoes to Kirkwood.

Kirkwood went on to win the 2A girls title with a state-leading throw of 151-10.

And Tank hopes she banked some goodwill with the track and field gods for today's 3A girls finals.

Til next time ...