Cougars add competitors to field events

Published 5:00 pm Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Sophomore Cameron Princena will lead Wallowa High School’s expanded corps of competitors in field events.

Usually, the program has been fully stocked with track stars. The boys’ short relay won last year’s state championship. Kaleb Oveson and Brandon Mahon starred in races. But other events were overlooked. Geoff Long worked hard at the long jump. Teammates dabbled in field events. Kainoa Delatori made high jumps. When Long and Delatori graduated, the Cougars seemed to be left with Princena throwing the discus, shot put and javelin. “I could have done better,” Princena said about his freshman season, “but there was no one to teach me. I was basically on my own.”

Not anymore. Senior Zach Lathrop and sophomore Sean Hunt and Lee Fox – each of whom played with Princena on the offensive and defensive lines for football coach Mitch Frye – came out for track and field. They give coach Dawn Crow a young, sizeable quartet she can count on for the next few years.

“Mr. Frye has a good weight-lifting program,” Crow said. “We’re finding out that we have a few strong athletes. We’ll make some company for Cameron.”

Senior Dalton Weaver joins the big boys in field events. He won last year’s district title in the 800-meter run, and now he’s adding the javelin to his repertoire. However, he mostly focuses on sprints. With Weaver, the Cougars want to rebuild the first-place relay team. Only Mahon returns to be joined with Weaver and Fox, but that leaves one more spot to fill. The team has one junior (Price Both). Freshman Ronald Gladden moves up to the high school team after his success in junior high.

The Wallowa girls mostly run the track, led by seniors Monique McKenzie and Mallory Turner. With experience from cross country, McKenzie runs 3,000 meters. In shorter dashes, Turner raced in three events at last year’s state championship meet. She took fourth place in the 400 and sixth in 200. A leg of the girls’ 4 x 100-meter relay along with sophomore Anna Chrisman, Turner helped them come in at fourth place. Turner’s goal for this season is to set a new personal record. As a freshman, she ran the 400 in 62.24 seconds. She missed it by just half a second at last year’s state meet. “I want to build myself back up for my fastest time,” Turner said. “I think I’m getting there; it’s just mental. I guess I’m nervous ’cause it’s my last year.”

Wallowa girls also have sophomores Natalie Millar and Tiffany Zollman, and a few newcomers. Senior Cansu Kartal and freshman Isabell Peterbauer, both foreign exchange students, will double with track and softball. Freshman Jesica Bingham was planning to double before dropping out of softball entirely. Crow recruited another freshman, McKenzie Shelton, after watching her cover all grounds during the basketball season. Long before the track season, Shelton and Bingham were raising eyebrows. “We have two very promising freshmen,” Turner said. “Very speedy. We saw that during basketball.”

Wallowa High School track and field begins this season March 14 at the Umatilla Icebreaker.