Liberty Bell’s Keeley Brooks led off for the winning girls’ 4×400-meter relay team at the sub-district meet.
By Don Nelson
The Liberty Bell High School girls won the 2B District 6 sub-district track meet last week for the second consecutive year, and the boys claimed a strong third-place finish, in preparation for the District 5/6 finals at Kittitas this Friday (May 18) that will determine who advances to the state meet.
At the sub-district meet in Manson on May 9, Liberty Bell qualified a total of 24 athletes — 10 boys and 14 girls — for the district meet. The girls took first place with 174.5 points, well ahead of second-place Bridgeport with 118. The boys scored 88 points, behind Oroville (142.5) and Manson (140) in a close battle for first and second.
The state championship meet is May 24-26 at Eastern Washington University. The top five finishers in each event at districts will qualify for the state meet.
For the Liberty Bell girls, freshman Sammy Curtis continued to improve on an impressive first season with second-place finishes and personal records in both the 100-meter and 200M dashes. Sophomore Ali Palm ran a PR in the 400M for fifth place.
In the 800M, one of Liberty Bell’s best events in the past couple of years, the Lady Lions showed off their depth by taking five of the first six places: Freshman Liv Aspholm in first, junior Ava Mott second, freshman Keeley Brooks third, freshman Lena Nelson fifth and senior Cece Odell sixth. For good measure, freshmen Gretta Eberline and Camille Odell finished in a tie for 10th and junior Sage Borgias was 11th.
It was another sweep for the girls in the 1,600M, where Aspholm claimed her second victory of the day followed by junior Icel Sukovaty in second and Nelson in third. Annika Tate Libby finished 7th.
The girls weren’t done in the distances. In the 3,200M, Sukovaty took first place and freshman Lindsay Worrell was second. Junior Athena Milani took second in the 400M hurdles.
The quartet of Curtis, Palm, junior Sally Thornton-White and junior Angelique Kelley took third in the 4x100M relay. Curtis, Thornton-White, Palm and sophomore Maya Sheeley teamed up for first place in the 4x200M relay, while Brooks, Thornton-White, Sheeley and Milani claimed first in the 4x400M with a 5-second margin over Oroville.
Senior Lauren Ochoa was sixth in the shot put, fifth in the discus and second in the javelin. Freshman Camille Odell tied for fourth in the high jump, sophomore Willow Temple was fifth in the long jump followed by Kelley in sixth place, and Palm took second in the triple jump while sophomore Tommie Ochoa was fourth.
For the boys, senior Seth Stevie’s PR in the 100M hurdles earned him second place, and he added a victory in the 400M hurdles, followed by junior Brayden White in second. Senior Carson Gunnip-Hunter took sixth in the 400M run, and junior Emerson Worrell was third in the 800M.
Freshman Bodie Paul took first place in the 1,600, and also qualified with a second-place finish and personal record in the high jump.
Freshmen Tyler Darwood, Marshall Budrow and Tommy Knox were joined by sophomore Galen Fonda to take fifth place in the 4x100M relay. The boys continued to be strong in the 4x400M relay, taking first place behind the efforts of Gunnip-Hunter, White, Stevie and Worrell.
Sophomore Magnus Treise showed his versatility in taking fourth place in the javelin with a PR toss, followed by a first-place finish in the triple jump with another PR. He was also seventh in the long jump and fifth in the high jump.
Liberty Bell athletes are often involved in many other activities as well, and some qualifiers for the district won’t be competing because of schedule conflicts. Nelson will be playing her violin with the Methow Valley Community Orchestra as the featured performer and Christine Cherrington Award recipient. Cece Odell set a new PR in the 800 and qualified for the district meet, but cannot attend due to previously scheduled events.
