LIBERTY LAKE–The Pomeroy Boys ran, jumped and vaulted their way to the regional championship here last week, tallying 104 points to easily outdistance St. John-Endicott-LaCrosse for team honors as some 18 Pirate thinclads are bound for state at EWU this weekend.

Leading the charge for the Pirates will be Colton Slaybaugh, Katie Boyer and Sidney Bales, all champions in their respective events.

"We scored 104 points to win the meet," said Head Coach Adam VanVogt, "which had 22 teams competing. Second place SJEL scored 71.5 points, which shows just how well our boys did at this meet."

Colton Slaybaugh was the regional champion in three events: the long jump, pole vault, and 4X100 Relay with Braedon Fruh, Sidney Bales and Tyler Slaybaugh. He PRd-long jump with 19-11.75.

Katie Boyer was regional champion in pole vault and set a personal best by nine inches.

Sidney Bales was regional champion-100 m. dash and as a member of the 4x100 Relay. Bales also finished second-200 and pole vault.

The girls 4X400 Relay (Beth Zimmerman, Katie Boyer, Michealle Debord and Haliee Brewer) finished fourth for a berth at state in 4:52.50.

Raelin Borley will compete at state-shot put and javelin. She finished fourth in both, hitting 32-7.5-shot and 94-11-javelin. Borley's eighth place discus throw of 91-7.5 did not qualify for state.

Other Pirate track athletes headed to Cheney include Tyler Slaybaugh, Braedon Fruh, Tyler Bagby, Troy Steele, Trevin Walton, Josh Kepner, Kyzer Herres, Tyler Matheny, Levi Bowen, Raelin Borley, Haliee Brewer, Michealle Debord, Bethany Zimmerman, Sophia Phelps, and Atalya Mitchell.

"Colton Slaybaugh, Sidney Bales and Tyler Slaybaugh will all compete-maximum allowable four events," VanVogt commented, "which is a rare and impressive accomplishment. Braedon Fruh and Katie Boyer qualified in three events each."

Eighth grader Kyzer Herres qualified for three events in regionals. "That is the most events I can remember seeing an eighth-grade male athlete ever competing in," VanVogt said.

"The regional qualifying meet was one of the craziest post-season meets that I can remember," the coach noted. "It had multiple delays for bad weather (thunderstorms and lightning-area) and our kids really had to bear down to compete.

"It really shows our kids competitive spirit to see them do so well in those conditions," VanVogt said. "I am so proud of all of our regional representatives. Just getting to this meet is a major accomplishment. Our region is so tough that all of the athletes who advanced to state have the ability to bring home medals.

"After not having a state meet the last two years, and after having to endure such crazy weather this year, I am very happy to see so many kids be rewarded for all of their hard work during this season," he said. "It has been a great year and I look forward to watching our kids compete in state next week."

Five Pirates will accompany the team as alternates for relays: Atalya Mitchell, Sophia Phelps, Tyler Matheny, Levi Bowen and Josh Kepner.

The top six finishers qualified for the state meet and these Pirates qualified for state:

Sidney Bales-1st-100 (11.74), 2nd place-200 (24.07), and 2nd in pole vault (12'6")

Colton Slaybaugh-1st in pole vault (14'), 1st in long jump (19'11.75"), and 3rd-100 (11.91)

Tyler Slaybaugh-4th-100 (12.01) and 6th in pole vault (10'6")

Kyzer Herres-7th-400 (57.24) and 8th in pole vault (9'6")

Troy Steele-3rd in javelin (136'8"), 4th in shot put (37'8.75"), and 8th in discus (88'5")

Braedon Fruh-3rd in pole vault (12')

Tyler Bagby-4th in pole vault (11') and 9th in long jump (16'8.25")

Tyler Matheny-7th in pole vault (10'6")

Levi Bowen-9th in pole vault (8'6")

Trevin Walton-8th in long jump (16'11.5") and 10th in triple jump (35'1")

-Photo courtesy of Fred Knebel

Pomeroy's Regional Champions also included Sidney Bales-100m. dash, and pole vaulters Katie Boyer and Colton Slaybaugh. Bales set a new personal best at 11.74, Boyer cleared 8-9, also a personal record, and Slaybaugh's 19-11.75-long jump was also a PR.

Raelin Borley-4th in shot put (32'7.5"), 4th in javelin (94'11"), and 8th in discus (91'7.5")

Katie Boyer-1st in pole vault (8'9")

Haliee Brewer-7th in pole vault (6'6") and 10th in long jump (13'5.5")

Natalia Larios-8th in pole vault (6')

Bethany Zimmerman participated in triple jump. No distance recorded.

Boy's 4x100 Relay-1st (45.91) (Braedon Fruh, Sidney Bales, Tyler Slaybaugh, Colton Slaybaugh)

Boy's 4x400 Relay-4th (3:50) (Braedon Fruh, Trevin Walton, Kyzer Herres, Tyler Slaybaugh)

Girl's 4x100 Relay-6th (56.76) (Bethany Zimmerman, Katie Boyer, Michealle Debord, Haliee Brewer)

Girl's 4x400 Relay-4th (4:52) (Bethany Zimmerman, Katie Boyer, Michealle Debord, Haliee Brewer)