Hanford’s Gelston, Kamiakin’s Teeples shine in final WA track and field championships

Last Saturday’s events ended a long and eventful high school sports year — a full one at that.

That’s something that hadn’t happened in the past three years.

Spring sports is always the busiest of the three seasons, with there being so many sports going on.

And most of it always culminates in a final weekend spread out all over the state.

Last week, I touched on the state golf tournaments. And on Sunday, I reviewed the 3A and 4A state baseball finals.

This week, we’ll be recapping many of the other sports events.

4A track

In last weekend’s 4A state track and field championships, Hanford senior Katelynn Gelston and Kamiakin senior Isaac Teeples had standout performances from the Mid-Columbia.

Gelston won the girls discus event easily, with a throw of 151 feet, 11 inches.

The Falcons star, who is headed to Oregon State University in the fall, also placed second in both the girls javelin and the shot put.

Teeples had three second-place finishes in his final meet: in the 800 meters, 1600 and 3200.

Bound for Brigham Young University in the fall to run both cross country and track, Teeples set a personal record in the 800 meters in 1 minute, 52.74 seconds.

Other boys standouts included Chiawana junior Kade Smith, who took the boys triple jump with a personal record of 46 feet even.

Kamiakin senior Grayson Wilcott finished third, right behind Teeples, in the 3200 with a time of 9:07.34. Wilcott also garnered a fifth place in the boys 1600.

Richland sophomore Elijah Lynch snared a third-place medal in the boys pole vault, clearing 13-0 feet.

And Chiawana senior JP Zamora finished third in the boys javelin, throwing a personal best of 159 feet, 8 inches.

Girls’ standouts

On the girls’ side, other standouts included Richland sophomore Hailey Summers.

She placed second in the girls 400 meters, only trailing winner Ava Simms of Curtis. Summers crossed the finish line with a PR of 57.47 seconds.

Summers also ran legs on the third-place Richland 4x400 relay (along with Alyssa Marsh, Hannah Chang and Natalie Ruzauskas) and the fourth-place 4x200 relay (with Marsh, Macie Milan and Emma Wahlstrom) with a time of 1:43.05.

Richland’s Chang, a senior who will compete next year for the Seattle Pacific University women’s track and field team, also placed third in the 100 hurdles, and fifth in the long jump.

Pasco senior TaLeya Maiden, who will play basketball at Whitman College next fall, placed third in the javelin at 126-10, and fourth in the shot put at 39 feet, 9.50 inches. Both are personal records.

Richland junior Madison Castillo grabbed a fourth-place finish in the pole vault, clearing 11 feet; and Hanford senior Iliana Moran snared a fourth-place finish in the girls 100 hurdles.

Team scoring: Lake Stevens won the boys title with 58 points, while Kamiakin tied for fourth with 39, and Richland tied for 11th with 21 points.

In the girls team race, Curtis won the title with 68 points. Richland finished sixth with 42.25 points, and Hanford was seventh with 39.25.

1A state track

Not sure there wasn’t a better performance at any of the state track meets, regardless of classification, than by Carson Riner.

The Connell senior won three events in Cheney last weekend — the javelin, long jump and triple jump. He also ran the anchor leg for the third-place Connell boys 4x100 relay team.

Riner had a PR in the triple jump, going 45 feet, 7.75 inches in the event.He threw the javelin 168-6, and long jumped 22-9.75.

As a team, the Eagles scored the most points in the boys race, with 59.

And while Carson was a huge reason the Eagles won the team title, he had help.

Start with Chase Nielson, who placed third in the long jump (with a PR of 21 feet, 4.50 inches), and fourth in the triple jump (a PR of 42-6.75). Nielson also ran a leg of the third-place 4x100 team (along with Jacob Freeman and Kellen Riner).

Connell junior Cade Clyde grabbed third place in the boys shot out, as he had a personal best of 48 feet, 4.25 inches.

Finally, younger brother Kellen Riner, a sophomore, placed fourth in the javelin with a PR of 158-10.

Other area highlights included Kiona-Benton senior Seih Jackson, who finished fifth in the boys 300 hurdles with a PR of 41.94 seconds; Connell sophomore Emily Vanburen, who placed fourth in the girls 400 meters in 1:02.05; and the Connell girls 4x400 relay team of Vanburen, Morgan Jenks, Kyla McGary and Madalyn Jenks, which ran a 4:21.52 to place fifth.

Javelin stars

I don’t know what’s in the water that the Riner family is drinking in Connell, but it must be good for throwing javelins.

I’ve already discussed what Carson and Kellen have thrown, but older sister Ashton right now is definitely the star.

The senior standout from Brigham Young University threw the javelin 187 feet, 10 inches, on Thursday in the NCAA West Regionals in Fayetteville, Ark.

She’ll head to Eugene as the top women’s javelin thrower in the nation when the NCAA Track and Field Championships will be June 8-11.

Tennis, golf

• Wahluke’s Andrew Ferrios defeated Kiona-Benton’s Ezra Beus 6-1, 6-3 on Saturday to finish fifth in the 1B/2B/1A boys tennis singles competition at the Yakima Tennis Center. After losing his opening-round match, Ferrios rallied to win three consecutive matches. Beus placed eight for the Bears.
• Kamiakin High grad Tatum York-Bement finished tied for 10th at the NWAC Women’s Golf Championships last week at AppleTree in Yakima. York-Bement, playing for Columbia Basin College, shot a two-round total of 173 (rounds of 87 and 86).

1B state track

DeSales junior Emmalyne Jimenez had an outstanding state meet in Cheney, winning the 200 meters (PR of 26.36 seconds), 800 (2:25.02) and 1600 (PR of 5:26.79). She also helped the DeSales girls 4x200 relay team that included Izzie Parker, Heidi Scott and Helen Hellberg-Wilson finish fourth.

Teammate Morgan Thomas also won the shot put (35-7.25) and discus (PR of 131-5) events, as the Irish earned enough points to finish second in the girls team race with 65 points. Only Pope John Paul 2 was better with 73 points.

Other highlights included DeSales senior Jadon Bingham finish third in the boys javelin (154-1), and the girls 4x400 relay team of Parker, Hellberg-Wilson, Sarah Auth and Regina Nelson place fourth.

This story was originally published May 31, 2022 at 1:13 PM.