By Jack Millikin Herald staff writer
Kyle Schauble was fully spent at the end of Star Track XXIV on Saturday at Edgar Brown Stadium.
After three qualifying races and a long jump final Friday, he finished three finals Saturday, coming away in the end with a sweep of the 4A boys 110- and 300-meter hurdles state titles, a third-place finish in the long jump and a second place in the 4x400 relay.
His spikes of choice are fancy, custom-design, golden Nikes, but there was something more to his performance.
And it had nothing to do with the shoes.
\"That was the best race I\'ve ever run,\" Schauble said after
his 14.20-second time in the 110 highs tied him with Barry Leavitt of Kiona-Benton for first on the all-time Mid-Columbia list. \"I feel much better than I did (Friday).\"
Later in the meet, Schauble and fellow sprinter/hurdler Donnie Clark began to feel the effects of a heavy workload, which may have cost the team a title in the 4x400 relay in the day\'s final event.
\"When your two fastest (relay) legs are running PRs on both days, it\'s going to take its toll,\" said Clark, who finished eighth in the 300 hurdles at 39.49 after running a personal-best 39.33 in Friday\'s prelims.
Clark, the anchor leg in the 4x400, trailed Wilson\'s anchor Nic Johnson by 5 yards when he took the handoff from Ross Manderscheid, but made up the distance on the backstretch and led by two steps heading into the far turn.
But Johnson caught Clark as they entered the front straightaway and held on to win in 3:21.34 to Kamiakin\'s 3:22.00.
\"I might have had to kick too soon,\" Clark said. \"I think we ran a good race. Second place is not the end of the world.\"
Aaron Wafer of Moses Lake had a strong meet, winning the 200 with a time of 22.08 and adding a sixth-place finish in the 100 at 11.04 behind Dak Kongela of North Kitsap (10.95). Wafer also finished fifth in Friday\'s long jump at 22-3. The Chiefs tied for 10th with Mt. Spokane in team scoring with 22 points -- 17 of which came from Wafer.
\"I had four events I had to do yesterday, but today I didn\'t have to do the 400,\" said Wafer, who credited an excellent start for his win in the 200. \"I got out low and I exploded really early. I could have done better on the turn. Down the stretch, my legs were dead. I could feel people catching up to me at the end.\"
Southridge senior Stephen Marshall capped his year with a second-place finish in the triple jump, where his jump of 46 feet,
7 inches fell short of the 46-11 put up by Redmond senior Andrew Chapin.
\"I hit my 46-7 with my first jump in the finals, and I thought I could build on that,\" said Marshall, whose season-best is 48-1. \"It\'s hard to take coming in second after being first all year. The Pasco Invite is a good championship to have, but I would have liked to add a state title to my resum.\"
Ferris senior Cameron Elisara successfully defended his state shot put title with a monster heave of 63-41/2, which topped runner-up Todd Gallant of Wilson (55-81/2) by nearly eight feet.
Elisara, the state leader in the event at 63-8, said he had to iron out some kinks in his technique that caused him to scratch on two of his preliminary throws -- he threw a safety on his second attempt to reach the finals sitting in an uncustomary fourth place.
He took the lead with a 61-foot throw in the second round of the finals, then uncorked his winning throw on his final attempt, just keeping the iron ball inside the sector along the right boundary.
\"I was bending my back and falling into the middle,\" said Elisara, who will play football at University of Washington in the fall. \"I talked to my dad and he helped talk me through it. I knew (the
63-footer) was all right, but it still went off to the right. You can tell when it\'s a perfect throw because it\'s right down the middle.\"
Richland had a trio of placers Saturday, led by sophomore Cody McCargar in the high jump. McCargar matched his personal-best by clearing 6-6 to tie Stephen Praast of Tahoma for second behind Trent Arrivey of Woodinville, who went 6-10.
John Marler earned Kennewick its only points of the meet with a sixth-place finish in the high jump at 6-2.
\"I\'ve had three meets here, and the best I\'ve done is 6 feet,\" McCargar said with a smile. \"I was nervous, but I\'m always nervous before meets.\"
Fellow Bomber Mark Presby took fifth in the javelin at 181-10 -- well below his PR of 188-9 -- as Wes Nolen of University won the event with a toss of 190-7.
\"I would have liked to have a bigger throw. I guess it just wasn\'t there for me,\" said Presby, a senior who won the Pasco Invite javelin title last month. \"I\'ve been able to pull out big throws before. Everything just happens so fast.\"
Richland junior Tyler Noland also grabbed a fifth-place finish in the 800 in 1:57.19.
Tahoma senior Luke Lemenager set a grueling pace on the first lap, crossing in 52 seconds, then held off Emerald Ridge\'s Emmanuel Bofa to win in 1:54.55.
Auburn-Riverside senior Joe Churchill bounced back from a disappointing finish in the 3,200 on Friday to win the 1,600, and learned a valuable lesson in the process.
\"I watched The DaVinci Code before the (3,200). It probably wasn\'t a good idea to sit in a theatre for three hours before a race,\" Churchill said. \"I didn\'t just go out there and screw around, but there was something wrong with my legs.\"
Churchill built a 10-meter lead on the back straightaway and held on for the win in 4:15.48 despite giving some ground at the end to old rival Michael Chinchar of Kentwood (4:16.16).
The Walla Walla 4x100 relay team finished seventh in 43.03 behind Skyview\'s 42.50. Stadium senior Michael Dean ran a state-best 48.47 to win the 400.