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MLHS Track team hits new personal bests

CALEB PEREZ | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 year AGO
by CALEB PEREZ
| April 7, 2025 3:05 AM

MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake Mavericks track and field team had great success Thursday afternoon in the dual meet against Eastmont, with multiple athletes breaking personal records. 

“We had some kids doing events that they haven’t done before that showed not just good results but real promise for the future,” said Mavs head coach Mark Ward. 

The boys took first in 13 out of the 17 events that took place and the girls took first in 10 of the 16 they did. Both the boys and girls were able to set new personal and season records in almost every event they participated in. 

Moses Lake's Hunter Blackman took first in two events on the boys' side, throwing for 160 feet, 1 inch, in 800g javelin and 53 feet, 6 inches, in shotput for a new personal record and eighth place in the state for the event. 

“Blackman had been toiling in the mid-to-high 40-foot range in shot put and exploded with a 53 feet, 6 inches, yesterday and jumped right into the top 10 of the state rankings,” said Ward. “Things like that were nice.”  

The girls track team earned first in 100 meters with Kaiya Char running a new school record of 13.06a, 200 meters with Kamery Char running a new season record of 27.81a, 1,600 meters with Rachel Nofzinger running 5:55.37a, 3,200 meters with Kaytlyn Russel running a new personal record of 12:54.0 and 100-meter hurdles with Kayla Gonzalez getting a new PR of 19.03a. The Mav girls relay teams all set new personal records as well, with Miciah Higley, Kamery Char, Hannah Lawton and Kiah Char going 51.38a in 4x100 and Madison Bond, Kamery Char, Miciah Higley and Kaiya Char team taking first with a time of 1:50.46a in 4x200.  

Mavs’ Fielding had similar success with Ciara Quilter taking first in discus and Madison Bond taking first in triple jump. Jaedynn Dietmeyer set a new personal record and took first in 600g javelin with 94 feet, 6 inches. 

“We had a number of our ladies missing and we were able to fill in and give some other athletes a chance and they stepped right up,” said Ward. 

The boys also had several first-place finishes with Calin Dameron running 11.01a for a new season record in 100 meters, Brady Jay running 23.13a for a new personal record in 200 meters, Taggart Rathbun running a personal record of 56.39a in 400 meters, Jaciel Valdez going 2:09.09 in 800 meters, Liam O’Shea running a season record of 4:44.55a in 1600 meters, Angel Verduzco going 10:01.00a for a new personal record in 3200 meters and Dash Luiten getting a new personal record of 19.32a in 110m hurdles. Mavs boys also set new personal records in the relay with Parks Whitaker, Isaac Legault, Brady Jay and Calin Dameron taking first with 43.47a in 4x100 and Parks Whitaker, Noah Demchuk, Liam O’Shea and Jaciel Valdez taking first with 3:46.21a in 4x400. 

For field, Malaki Town took first and set a new personal record in discus, throwing 136 feet, 9.5 inches, and Isaac Legault took first in high jump with 5 feet, 8 inches. 

All statistics and records for the event can be found on Athletic.net. 

Ward said that the league doesn’t typically do dual meets, but due to differing spring breaks around the area and changing of schedule dates, he and Eastmont head coach Gary Millard decided to have their teams meet up. 

“It didn’t count for league standings, but it’s always fun to just go head-to-head with another team,” said Ward. “These kids weren’t used to it, and I think they had a lot of fun doing it.” 

The Mavericks are preparing next for a field-only event after spring break and will take a medium-sized group to the Van Kuren invitational in Cheney. The team looks to continue following their season plan, working on technique and, most importantly, staying healthy, he said. 

The Mavs will host the Field Event Festival at 3:30 p.m. April 15 at Moses Lake High School and travel to the Van Kuren Invitational at 9 a.m. April 19 at Cheney High School.  

“This has been a great opening to our season,” said Ward. “I’ve been really pleased with how the kids have practiced and performed and looking forward to warmer weather.” 


    Moses Lake’s Jaedynn Dietmeyer set a new personal record in 600g javelin throwing for 94 feet 6 inches and taking first in the event.
 
 
    The MLHS boys relay teams took first in both 4x100 and 4x400 relays in the dual against Eastmont Thursday.
 
 
    Maverick Madison Bond started off the girls 4x200 relay and Kiaya Char finished it, setting a new personal record of 1:50.46.
 
 
    Dash Luiten took first in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 19.32a and second in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 47.94a.
 
 


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