Raider track and fielders compete at state Cooley named WIAA athlete of week

Lake Roosevelt track and field athletes did themselves proud last week, setting personal records at the state meet and earning one big mention from the governing body of Washington state high school athletics.

That would be for senior John Cooley, whom the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) named athlete of the week May 28, noting his achievements the week before:

"John Cooley qualified for Districts in four events: 110m hurdles, 300m hurdles, long jump, and triple jump. He won the league title in the triple jump with a personal best of 40′ 4.5″ and broke a 13-year-old 2B league record in the 300m hurdles with a time of 40.95 seconds," WIAA noted on its website.

Along with the of-the-week plaudits, Cooley gets:

• A letter of recognition from the WIAA executive director,

• A certificate of achievement,

• A $25 gift card, courtesy of Gesa Credit Union,

• An announcement on the WIAA website, WIAA Live mobile app, and on social media, plus

• Statewide bragging rights.

That honor happened the day the team was heading out to the state meet in Yakima May 29-31, where Cooley took seventh place in the state in both the 110-meter and 300-meter hurdles.

"John hit a PR time of 40.87 in his preliminary race of the 300H," noted Head Coach Lori Adkins.

Also at state, Caden Portch took 12th place out of 17 in the 1600 with a PR time 4.43.81, and 11th place in the 3200 out of 17 runners.

The Raider relay teams competed at state in the 4x100, coming in 11th out of 20 teams, and 11th out of 18 teams in the 4x400.

"They ran a heck of a race and fought hard," Adkins said. "The team ended up less than one second away from making the podium!"

Madelynn Carman, who just started running hurdles halfway through this season, came in 14th out of 17 competitors at state in the 300m hurdles.

She also came in 14th out of 17 in the 100-meter run.