Tiger athletes place at Papa Wells Invitational meet
Ephrata picked up wins from Hunter Mills and Maddax Iverson and personal bests from several distance runners Saturday at the Papa Wells Invitational in Yakima.
YAKIMA — Hunter Mills and Maddax Iverson each claimed event wins Saturday as the Ephrata Tigers competed at the 17th annual Papa Wells Invitational track and field meet, a 27 team meet at Earl Barden Field in East Valley (Yakima).
Mills won the 200 meters in 23.08 seconds and placed fourth in the 100 (11.34) behind winner Cody Floren of West Valley (11.06). Iverson won the 300 hurdles in 42.23 and placed sixth in the 110 hurdles (16.65, PB), won by Preston Bates of East Valley (15.76).
Caleb Fitts was third in both the 800 and 1600, setting personal bests at 2:02.36 and 4:33.73, respectively. Brendan Kramer of Grandview won the 800 in 1:57.17 and Kian Compton of Eisenhower took the 1600 in 4:25.44. Niko Diaz placed sixth in the 3200 (10:46.76), won by Cruise DeRuyter of Pasco (10:18.14).
Both boys relay teams finished second. The 4x100 crew of Casey Melcher, Alex Belino, Andy Addink and Mills ran 44.4 seconds, barely trailing winning East Valley (44.37). The 4x400 quartet of Iverson, Cooper Black, Addink and Belino clocked 3:33.90 behind winning Eisenhower (3:31.50).
In field competition, Belino leapt 19 feet, 5.5 inches to place fifth in the long jump, won by Ezra Week of Cascade-Leavenworth with an impressive jump of 23-1. Ephrata's Cooper Kriete finished seventh in discus (126-11) and 12th in shot put (44-6.5) while teammate Tyler Kono was eighth in discus with a personal best distance of 125-10. Winners of the respective throwing events were Gavin Case of Prosser (discus, 152-1) and Silas Stewman of Ellensburg (shot put, 52-11.5).
On the girls' side, Lila Buchmann finished with a third-place javelin throw of 96 feet, 11 inches. Winner Shelby Hoisington of East Valley led the field at 112-11.
On the track, Ephrata's Bella Wood placed fifth in the 100 hurdles (17.77) behind winner Elsa Emmans of Highland (16.54). Fellow Tigers Rebecca Wiser and Hannah Fitts ran personal bests in the 800 — Wiser placed seventh in 2:36.54 and Fitts ninth in 2:37.08, behind winner Hadley Hanchett of Eisenhower (2:18.65). Wiser also placed sixth in the 1600 (5:45.39, PB) behind winner Grace Beachy of Ellensburg (5:17.84), while Savannah Harper posted a time of 12:47.45 to finish seventh in the 3200, won by Amarylis Mendoza of Naches Valley (11:41.51).
Up next, the Tigers host the 50th Ray Cross Invitational this Saturday, March 28, welcoming 24 visiting programs to Ephrata. Field events begin at 10:20 a.m. and track at 10:45 a.m.
