Tri-Cities track & field athletes sprint ahead. Hanford girls pole vaulters lead state

High school track and field has only had two weeks’ worth of competition, but there already have been some good marks and times.

Hanford senior Landry Allen — along with her teammate, Katelyn Wolfert — both have already cleared 11 feet, 6 inches in the pole vault. That makes the pair the girls state leaders. Allen, a senior, signed a letter of intent in February to pole vault next school year at Illinois. … Walla Walla’s Kirsten Anderson is in third in the pole vault at 11-0.

Wa-Hi’s Adisyn Andrews ranks second in the state in the javelin at 129 feet, 2 inches; while Kamiakin’s Aubrey Herrin has already cleared 5-5 in the high jump, ranking her second. Richland’s Lena’s Martin triple-jumped 37 feet, 6.75 inches on Tuesday to rank No. 2 in state.

Two other area girls rank third in their categories: Richland’s Mackenzie Schulz in shot put (39-8.5), and Walla Walla’s Lillian White in discus (131-11).

On the boys’ side, Chiawana senior Tristan Breier is the state leader in the 400 meters with a time of 50.12 seconds.

Chiawana teammate Braxton Feldmann has already tossed the javelin 178 feet, 9 inches in competition, giving him the second-best distance in the state.

Kamiakin senior Devin Crews crossed the finish line in the 110 high hurdles in 14.63 seconds for a No. 2 ranking.

Chiawana’s Angel Colon ranks third in state in the 200 meters with a time of 22.28 seconds.

And the Riverhawks’ two relay teams — the 4x100 and 4x400 — are the No. 3 teams in the state in both events.

The 4x100 team consists of Breier, Colon, Carter Kreutz and Cooper MacPherson with a time of 43.18 seconds; the 4x400 squad is Breier, Colon, Kreutz and Athen Harris with a time of 3:28.50.

Other area athletes ranked third in the state are Richland’s Jaden Booker in the 300 hurdles (39.72), and Grandview’s Titus Jeffrey in the shot put (57-10).

▪ Keep an eye on Southridge junior Koven Burke. Last season his PR high jump was 5 feet, 10 inches. This spring, he’s already cleared 6-3.

▪ Major meet this weekend is the Clay Lewis Invite at Hanford High School. Field events begin at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, while the first running events start at 11 a.m. Seven of the nine MCC teams will be competing.

▪ Early warning: the biggest of all regular-season meets, the Pasco Invitational, is set for Saturday, April 12, at Edgar Brown Stadium.

Boys soccer

Last season, it seemed every time Chiawana and Pasco met (three times), each game was a classic.

Well, here we go again. On Tuesday night, Freddy Andrade scored off an assist from Adrian Arangure in overtime to give the Riverhawks a 1-0 verdict over the Bulldogs.

This is an especially good week for MCC boys soccer fans, as Richland (last year’s third-place team in MCC play) will meet Pasco at 7 p.m. Thursday at Edgar Brown Stadium. Then the Bombers travel to play Chiawana at 12 p.m. Saturday.

Another key early contest: On April 1, Othello visits East Valley of Yakima at 6 p.m. in 2A CWAC play.

Key games already played: On March 22, Quincy shut out Othello 1-0 in 2A play. … On March 18, Wahluke stopped 1A SCAC rival Royal 3-1.

College baseball

The Columbia Basin College baseball team opened NWAC East play on Wednesday with a doubleheader sweep of Big Bend, winning 2-0 and 14-0 (seven innings).

In the opener, Brayden Walls scattered 7 hits over 8 innings, and he struck out 8. Ethan Stewart had two hits for the Hawks.

Walls has a 4-1 record.

In the nightcap, Kennewick High grad Ambrose Driver tossed a complete-game 1-hitter to raise his record to 2-1. Lance Anderson had 3 hits and 4 RBIs for CBC, now 12-10 this season.

Still, the Hawks garnered enough respect from the NWAC coaches to be ranked No. 7 in the first coaches poll that came out March 20.

Lower Columbia is No. 1 with a 22-2 record — one of the Red Devils’ losses comes at the hands of CBC.

Everett (20-3) is ranked second. Sophomore right-hander A.J. Hendrickson (Southridge) is the Trojans’ top pitcher. He’s 5-0 with a 1.54 earned run average, and in 35 innings of work he’s struck out 28 batters.

Also on the Everett roster is lefty sophomore pitcher Landon Welter (Kamiakin) and freshman left pitcher Jabari Simon (Southridge).

▪ Kennewick High grad Elijah Tanner spent the last three seasons playing baseball at Whitworth University.

But he entered the transfer portal last summer and ended up at NAIA Bellevue University in Nebraska — a strong program that makes regular trips each May to the NAIA World Series.

The senior outfielder joins two former Columbia Basin College pitchers on the Bruins roster, both right-handers and seniors: Brady Toth and Jace Wessels.

So far, the Bruins have a 14-11 record.

And Tanner is batting .318, with a home run and 19 RBIs.

Toth and Wessels are both relievers, with Wessels earning two saves.

College basketball

Senior Jayda Clark (Richland) just completed her senior season with the Boise State University women’s basketball team, which finished the regular season with an 18-15 record.

The 5-foot-4 senior was a solid contributor off the bench for the Broncos each of the last four seasons.

She was also a Mountain West Conference scholar athlete for the 2021-22, 2022-23, and 2023-24 seasons.

▪ Kamiakin grad Leanna Lepe was the leading scorer for the Blue Mountain Community College women’s basketball team this season, averaging 12.7 points a game for the 5-20 Timberwolves.

Lepe also led the team with 2.5 steals and 5.2 rebounds. Lepe also made the NWAC East Region all-defensive team.

College softball

Pitcher Maggie O’Leary (Kamiakin) is 11-1 in the circle for the Lewis & Clark College Pioneers softball team this spring.

Through games of March 25, LC is 16-2.

In a doubleheader sweep of Pacific University on March 1, O’Leary won both games of the twinbill.

Overall, she tossed 10 innings, surrendered 2 earned runs, walked just two batters, and had 15 strikeouts.

In a March 25 win in Florida in which the Pioneers shut out Wisconsin-Platteville 3-0, O’Leary scattered 4 hits in the shutout.

That win gave her a school-record 29 victories for the junior, and it was her third career shutout.

In 61.1 innings pitched this season, O’Leary has fanned 51 batters. She also has a 2.74 earned run average, and opposing batters are hitting a paltry .218 off of her.

This story was originally published March 27, 2025 at 11:20 AM.