Socking it to 'em

Socking it to 'em

Section: SPORTS
Page: C1
Date: 5/20/2001
Author: Dave Trimmer Staff writer
Illustration: Color Photo
Caption: Shadle Park senior Michael Kiter puts his stocking feet forward on the way to the 3,200-meter championship. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review

The smiley socks appear to have survived.

So did Michael Kiter, though there were a few grimaces interrupting the smile.
That's because Kiter's determination stole the show Saturday afternoon at Central Valley in the annual showcase of track and field, the 4A Eastern Regional.

The Shadle Park senior ran almost seven laps without his shoes and still won the 3,200 meters, clinching the regional championship for the Highlanders.

``Running comes from the heart not from the shoes,'' Kiter said. ``I decided right after I lost them, just because I lost them shouldn't be an excuse.''

About 100 meters into the second lap Kiter cut inside and his right heel was clipped. He kicked the shoe off and ran about 200 meters before rival Cameron Schwehr of Mt. Spokane suggested he lose the other shoe or risk injury.

``They gave me room to pull off the other one,'' said Kiter, who loosened the shoe on one stride and grabbed it on the next before tossing it aside.

The runners were tightly packed because the athletes were running into a westerly wind of more than 25 miles per hour with gusts up to 35 on the backstretch.

``I got blisters in lap six or seven,'' Kiter said. ``The only time they bothered me was when I actually got up on my toes to sprint. They popped and it was too late. It was just a nagging thing. It wasn't actually that painful.''

So instead of backing down and coasting into a comfortable top-four finish to advance to Star Track XIX at Lincoln Bowl in Tacoma on Friday and Saturday, Kiter held off Schwehr down the stretch to be the boys' only double winner.

``I've got a spike mark on the back of my foot, a cut on the bottom of my other foot, two blood blisters and I tore up my best pair of socks,'' said Kiter, while sitting on the training table getting the blisters drained and taped.

However, upon further examination, the double-padded smiley face socks held up fine despite the blood stains and Kiter should be fine for another week.

Shadle Park heads into this weekend's state meet in Tacoma as the favorite.

Mead should be in the hunt after scoring 91 points, eight behind the Highlanders. Davis upended Shadle in the 1,600 relay to score 66 points, one ahead of Central Valley.

The Greater Spokane League boys set a regional record by taking 44 of the 68 state berths.

The girls side was reversed, with the Big Nine getting 46 of 72. Defending state champion Eisenhower ran up 102 points, followed by Richland (83) and Mt. Spokane (60).

The only double winner for the girls was Southridge sprinter Nicole Hatcher in the 100 and 200. Richland's Sara Rowse set a state record in the pole vault by clearing 12 feet, 3 inches.

Boys

Shadle Park scored in 13 of 17 events and advanced 10 individuals (counting Kiter twice) and a relay team.

Potential state points were lost in the shot put on Friday when Eric Crudup arrived late and was disqualified, but he made up for it by placing second in the discus, one of five events the GSL swept. With Mead first, third and fourth, the GSL's eight discus throwers all placed ahead of the Big Nine entrants.

``Minus the shot put, the glass is still pretty full,'' Shadle Park coach Ivan Corley said. ``I'm very proud of my kids. I say that over and over, like a broken record. They're a team, when they get going . . . that's why I'm speechless. You get awed.''

Still, he wasn't getting carried away with a regional title.

``We won regional last year, then we got to state and all kinds of weird things happened,'' he said.

``It was pretty low key (during the week) . . . he didn't emphasis state too much,'' senior Kenny Votava said after qualifying with the relay and in the 300 hurdles. ``There was no pressure on us, except the seniors. We kind of put pressure on ourselves.''

Mead is taking 10 athletes with 13 chances to score.

``It was a good two days. There were no big failures,'' Mead coach John Mirer. ``I think we do (have a chance to catch Shadle). You always want to say that, but we are in the hunt.''

Besides dominant discus throwers Lars Slind, Charles Harris and Brian Magney, the Panthers got a big boost from Joey Cwik, who won the long jump (21 feet, 1-3/4 inches).

``I didn't think I'd get in with 21-2,'' Cwik said. ``It was horrible (jumping into the wind).''

He entered regionals with a best of 21-9, which ranked him seventh.

``I knew I couldn't compete with everyone. I wanted to compete against the state standard (22-6). I was competing with myself,'' Cwik said. ``I usually jump good early but when everyone else was struggling in the 20s, I thought I was OK.''