Tri-Cities senior wins discus event at prestigious Arcadia Invitational

For the first time in three years, the Pasco Invite will be held at Edgar Brown Stadium this Saturday.

It’ll be the 59th iteration of this event that was started in 1962.

“Back then, my dad (Emerson Morgan) and Ron Wells decided they wanted to start an invite,” said John Morgan, the long-time Pasco coach and administrator who now is the assistant meet director. “Then, John Crawford took it to another level.”

Recently, the meet was canceled because of the COVID outbreak in 2020. And it wasn’t held in 2021 because schools held track meets on a smaller, more local scale because of the continuing pandemic.

“But over that time, (led by meet director Rick Redden), we continued to hold group meetings about the invite,” said Morgan. “It’s going to be an exciting day. We’ve spent so much time working on it.”

Morgan says meet officials expect some large numbers again: 146 teams and more than 1,100 athletes.

“We’ve also got the largest number of volunteers we’ve ever had, with 186,” said Morgan. “That allows people to work in shifts. The community has just been awesome. A lot of people are starting to come out to do things, because Covid has started to slow down.”

The meet is being dedicated to two long-time volunteers in Grace Bell and Mitch Madison. And this year’s Invite Hall of Fame inductees are Kamiakin grad Ellie Heiden-Quackenbush and Ellensburg grad Ja’Warren Hooker.

Saturday’s meet begins at 9 a.m., and it ends after 6 p.m.

Arcadia Invitational

I’ll write more later this week with some of the better area athletes — and Northwest standouts — competing at the Pasco Invite.

But before that happens, we need to recap what a few area stars did at the Arcadia Invitational last weekend in Southern California.

It’s one of the more prestigious track and field events held on the West Coast, if not the entire nation.

And Hanford High School senior Katelynn Gelston made the biggest mark from our area.

Gelston — who will compete next year in the throws for the Oregon State University women’s track and field team — ended up winning the women’s discus invitational.

She fired the saucer 156-0 feet, making her tops among the 18 competitors.

It also gives Gelston the sixth best mark in the entire nation among high school athletes.

Gelston also competed in the women’s shot put invitational, placing sixth out of 18 athletes with a mark of 40 feet, 7 inches. Kennedy Clarke of San Diego’s Cathedral Catholic won the event with a 44-6.5 toss.

Meanwhile, Kamiakin’s two senior boys running standouts — Isaac Teeples and Grayson Wilcott — had opportunities to run in different 3200 meter events.

Teeples, who has committed to Brigham Young University to run both cross country and track, placed 16th (out of 31 competitors) in the Men’s 3200 Invitational.

Teeples crossed the finish line in 8 minutes and 55.97 seconds. Colin Sahlman of Newberry Park High in Thousand Oaks, Calif., won the race in 8:34.99.

Wilcott ran a 9:05.32 in the Men’s 3200 Seeded event, earning him a 25th place out of 57 runners. Rocky Hansen, of Christ School in North Carolina, won the race in 8:51.60.

Wilcott has committed to running this fall for Washington State University.

Spring RPI rankings are out

The WIAA has released its Ratings Percentage Index this past week for baseball, boys soccer and softball.

It’s still early, but it at least gives teams an idea of where they stand compared to the rest of the state. Besides, before we know it, postseason will be here in a couple of weeks. State tournament seeding committees will use these final rankings to create the tournament fields.

Here’s a look at each sport, the top team in each classification, and any of our region’s teams if they’re in the top third of of their classifications:

Prep baseball

• Class 4A (51 schools): 1. Camas (6-0 record); 10. Kamiakin (10-4); 12. Richland (9-2).
• Class 3A (79): 1. West Seattle (13-0); 3. Kennewick (11-1); 17. Southridge (9-3).
• Class 2A (61): 1. WF West-Chehalis (9-1); 20. Othello (8-5).
• Class 1A (51): 1. Cedar Park Christian-Bothell (11-1); 7. College Place (7-1); 9. Royal (6-1).
• Class 2B (50): 1. Brewster (9-0); 7. Tri-Cities Prep (8-2); 16. Warden (3-3).
• Class 1B (38): 1. Wilbur-Creston-Keller (6-0); 2. DeSales (10-0); 7. Liberty Christian (2-2).

Boys soccer

• Class 4A (51): 1. Bellarmine Prep (6-1); 2. Pasco (9-0); 13. Chiawana (7-2); 15. Richland (7-2).
• Class 3A (79): 1. Lincoln-Seattle (9-0).
• Class 2A (62). 1. Columbia River (8-0); 13. Othello (8-3-1).
• Class 1A (73): 1. Toppenish (7-1-2); 5. Connell (8-0-1); 7. Wahluke (7-1-2); 20. Royal (5-4-1).

Prep fastpitch softball

• Class 4A (51): 1. Jackson-Mill Creek (9-0); 11. Kamiakin (6-4); 14. Richland (7-2).
• Class 3A (77): 1. Everett (7-0); 2. Walla Walla (9-0); 15. Hermiston (8-2).
• Class 2A (61): 1. Olympic (7-0); 6. Othello (10-0).
• Class 1A (43): 1. Mount Baker (10-0); 6. Royal (5-0); 7. Kiona-Benton (8-2).
• Class 2B (50): 1. Asotin (10-0); 5. Mabton (4-0); 7. Warden (7-1); 12. Columbia-Burbank (6-4); 14. River View (8-2).
• Class 1B (31): 1. Almira Coulee Hartline (8-0); 2. Liberty Christian (9-2); 3. DeSales (5-4)

WIAA Hall of Fame

The WIAA will induct two classes into its hall of fame on May 4th at the Renton Pavillion Center.

Among those in the classes will be Walla Walla’s Drew Bledsoe, whose rocket arm at quarterback for the Blue Devils brought him along to star status in college football at Washington State University.

Bledsoe also shined in the NFL, where he played for the New England Patriots, the Buffalo Bills, and the Dallas Cowboys.

Meanwhile, Moses Lake product BJ Garbe was a standout high school baseball player who was drafted early in the first round of the MLB draft by the Minnesota Twins.

Garbe was never able to make the major leagues, but he was a standout player in the minor leagues.

Tickets cost $20 to the event and can be purchased on the WIAA website.