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Octavio Alejandre and Chyenne Kelly-Marconi both placed for the Raiders at the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association State 2B Track and Field meet in Cheney last week.

At the meet, held at Eastern Washington University, Octavio Alejandre excelled for LR in the shot put. In the prelims, Alejandre had thrown only 43 feet, 5.5 inches, far short of his personal record of 46 feet-plus, and shorter still from the 48-foot goal he had set for himself at state.

The lone LR boys' team participant at state, Alejandre felt like he would not make finals and was expressing disgust at not throwing a PR. But then an announcement of the finals lineup included Alejandre.

Rejuvenated by making finals, and desiring a state medal, Alejandre threw further with each attempt in finals. His first throw in the finals pounded down at 44 feet, the next at 45.

On his last throw, Alejandre unloaded the big one for 48 feet, 4.5 inches, a new PR that placed Alejandre third in the state 2B competition.

"Octavio's performance in the shot put ring was a definite highlight for Lake Roosevelt Track and Field," Raider Head Coach Lori Adkins said. "He narrowly made the finals and then went big. His final throw was a foot-and-a-half PR to secure a third-place medal."

Alejandre now looks ahead to 2015 and competing at state in both the shot and the discus.

For the Raider girls' team, Chyenne Kelly-Marconi competed first in the triple jump. In the preliminary heats, she jumped 32 feet, 11.75 inches, which moved her on to finals. In finals, Kelly-Marconi could not pass the 33-foot threshold and finished ninth overall.

In the 100-meter hurdles prelims Friday, Kelly-Marconi finished sixth in her heat in 16.84 seconds.

On Saturday, in the finals of the 2B girls 100-meter hurdles, Kelly-Marconi ran into some trouble and placed eighth in 19.03 seconds.

"Chyenne's final 100H race had her running at PR pace and vying for fourth place when she clipped a final hurdle and went down hard to the track," Adkins said. "It was pretty amazing for her to finish in the time that she did and bring home an eighth place state medal."

Kelly-Marconi scored the only team point for the Raider girls at state for 2014.

Alexia Hanway missed placing in the pole vault by just one height. Hanway cleared 6 feet, 6 inches and then attempted to clear the 7-foot height. Hanway scratched all three attempts and finished ninth overall.

Octavio Alejandre launches a 12-pound shot put in the finals in the process of taking third place in the whole state Saturday. - Scott Hunter photos

"Alexia achieved her best mark at this, her second and final state competition; she narrowly missed the medals stand," Adkins said.

The Raider girls finished 36th overall with one team point. The Raider boys finished 29th with six team points.

"With steep competition, the LR athletes had to put it all out there and compete hard," Adkins said.

Adkins also thanked all those who attended as fans. "It was great to have the LRHS fan base to cheer on the athletes throughout the two-day competition," she said.

With state 2014 in the books, the Raiders begin to look ahead to the 2015 season with great expectations. LR was very young team and if all return their could be a great surge in team points and placings for the Raiders. Aiyana Picard and Nathaniel Hall have the potential to reach state in 2015, along with Gene Fenton and Nathan Morrell. That and many other possibilities await Raider track in 2015.

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