By Mike Maltais
The Liberty Bell High School varsity boys’ track and field team delivered an impressive second-place performance in its first major meet of the season, the 29-school Ray Cross Invitational held at Ephrata last Saturday (March 22).
Led by a core of returning veterans, the Mountain Lions piled up a number of first-, second-, third- and fourth-place individual performances including first place by Jaymis Hanson in the high jump, second by Austin Watson in long jump, second by Liam Daily in the 800 meters, second by the 4×400 relay team, third by the 4×100 relay team, and third and fourth by Ben Klemmeck in the 1,600 and 3,200 meters.
“This is quite an accomplishment despite not having time on the track in preparation due to our snow on the track,” said coach Rocky Kulsrud. “The guys are competing well and are hungry to get better.”
The competitive field featured a number of schools from 4A to 1A in size including 2A host Ephrata that won the meet.
“If you look at the top 10 for state 2Bs, a number of our kids are doing quite well including some current state leaders,” Kulsrud said. “It’s early but we are off to a good start.”
The Mountain Lions opened their season at the Bridgeport Jamboree against the Mustangs, Manson and Pateros on March 18.
“We had a number of first-place finishes,” Kulsrud said.
The coach noted that the results were good in spite of early season practices that confined his team to indoor workouts while snow still covered the LBHS track.
Liberty Bell’s first-place finishers at Bridgeport were Watson in the 100m and long jump, Daily in the 800m and 1,600m, and Lauren Fitzmaurice in the girls’ 400m and long jump.
Ephrata boys’ results
100m
7 Austin Watson12.32
40 Evan Wagstaff 13.32
200m
27 Evan Wagstaff 26.71
400m
7 Cesar Dominguez 55.55
22 Andrew Reggiatore 1:00.53
800m
2 Liam Daily 2:02.22
23 Jake Pennock 2:26.47
1,600m
3 Ben Klemmeck 4:44.08
11 Morgan Ott 5:05.31
3,200m
4 Ben Klemmeck 10:37.59
13 Josiah Klemmeck 11:45.48
300m hurdles
6 Micah Klemmeck 46.75
19 Kelsey Jensen 56.74
4×100 Relay
3 Cesar Dominguez 45.80
Jaymis Hanson
Liam Daily
Austin Watson
4×400 Relay
2 Jaymis Hanson 3:45.76
Kelsey Jensen
Cesar Dominguez
Liam Daily
Discus
31 Jake Pennock 75-10
High Jump
1 Jaymis Hanson 5-10
15 Morgan Ott 5-02
Long jump
1 Austin Watson 19-03.25
5 Jaymis Hanson 18-01.75
Triple jump
7 Micah Klemmeck 36-01
11 Andrew Reggiatore 33-01
Ephrata women’s results
100m
38 Jessica Johnson 16.35
200m
19 Hannah Hafsos 32.14
400m
11 Hannah Hafsos 1:12.61
1,600m
28 Lilly Schlotzhauer 7:27.23
100m hurdles
10 Lauren Fitzmaurice 18.77
14 Jessica Johnson 20.77
300m hurdles
9 Lauren Fitzmaurice 54.48
18 Lilly Scholtzhauer 1:02.53
Long jump
13 Ashley Watson 13-02.25
19 Lauren Fitzmaurice 12-11.00
Varsity boys’ results
1 Ephrata 148
2 Liberty Bell 64
3 Moses Lake 52
4 Bridgeport 51
5 Quincy 44
5 River View 44
7 Connell 32
7 Cascade Leavenworth 32
9 Royal 25
10 Odessa-Harrington 24
11 Waterville 23
12 Othello 17
13 Wahluke 14
13 Republic 14
13 Omak 14
16 Valley Christian 13
17 Oroville 12
18 Umatilla 11
19 Tonasket 8
20 A.C. Davis 7
21 Soap Lake 6
22 Curlew 3
23 Stanfield 2
The Mountain Lions were scheduled to compete at the league meet in Bridgeport Tuesday (March 25). The team will then travel to Colville for the Ezra Gordon Invitational Saturday (March 29), its last competition before spring break.
