Cheney - With the best distance runner in the state of Washington at the 1A level out for the entire meet, the door was wide open for Lynden Christian's Eric Steiger and Brooks DeWaard to place 2nd in the 1A Boys 1600. Both would have to settle though for a 3rd and 4th place finish in yesterday's state final at Eastern Washington University.
Steiger ran 4:26.68 for 3rd and DeWaard ran 4:29.16 for 4th.
Steiger knew without College Place's Kenneth Rooks racing, the opportunity was there for him to finish 2nd.
"Going into the race, I figured I had a shot at 2nd." Steiger said in a phone interview. "I didn't know how the race was going to plan out, but the top 2 guys did go pretty hard the first couple of laps, and I sat on Arie Smidt from University Prep in the 4th place spot for most of the race."
Smidt would eventually fall apart on the 2nd 800 according to Steiger, but it was too for the LC senior to go after 2nd place.
Although Steiger and DeWaard were not working together during the race, they knew they could work together to guarantee points for their team, as the Lynden Christian boy's are in 1st as a team.
Both boy's return to the track tomorrow in the final of 1A Boy's 3200 final starting at 4:10 at Eastern Washington' Roos Field.
"The goal for tomorrow is to go out with the top 2 guys, hang with them and make it an 800 race at the end." Steiger said.
Other results from day 2 in Cheney include Meridian's Jenson Ellars and Ashlee Van Den Top advancing to the final of 800 meter race. Van Den Top will be making her 3rd straight 800 meter state final appearance.