The 61st Pasco Invite - By John Simons
The 61st Annual Pasco Invite, held on April 13th, 2024, is the premier track and field event in the state of Washington. Over 80 schools and thousands of athletes come out to compete and write their names in the history books. With nationally recognized sprinters, incredible high flyers, and relay teams that have perfected their craft, the Pasco Invite is one you don't want to miss.
This year, Rocky Mountain High School, out of Meridian, Idaho, got 1st place in the boys' team results. Rocky Mountain dominated on the boy's side. Winning the meet with a score of 89.5, in second place, Kamiakin scored 36. With such a dominant performance, the Grizzlies have stud athletes. Notable athletes from Rocky Mountain include Braden Ankeny, who won the 200-meter final, getting a PR with a blazing time of 21.71. Braden also ended 4th in the 400-meter final with a time of 50.31. In the 800-meter race, Cole Reed ran a 1:57.06, which placed him 2nd in the event. Charles Dodd helped the Grizzlies in the 300m hurdles with a 3rd place finish. In the 1600m race, Landon Heemeyer smoked the competition, running a 4:10.56, the next best time being 3 seconds slower. Landon's teammate in the race, Cody Lucas, also finished 5th. Keeping the 1st place train rolling. The 4x100m team ran the only sub 42 seconds with a time of 41.92. Rogers (Spokane) and Richland High School finished close behind in this exciting, fast-paced relay. Not slowing down at all, Rocky Mountain's 4x400m team finished 2nd place. Another 2nd place finish was from pole vaulter Brady Abbott. Another sweep came from the DMR 4000m team, finishing with a 10:30.51, beating the next-best team by over 13 seconds. Finishing off the long list of awards for this Rocky Mountain team is Timothy Price, who tied for 3rd in the high jump with an impressive leap of 6'2.
I had the chance to interview spectator Sage Olsen about his thoughts on the performance of the Grizzlies and the track meet as a whole. "The meet met all the expectations I had going into it. With all the teams there, everyone knew there would be lots of competition, and it blew me away the level at which Rocky Mountain competed, showing every fan and competitor why they were there."
In my personal favorite event, the 100m dash, Tristan Wood from Eastmont High School won the finals in an incredibly close race. Tristan leaned just ahead of Mason Davis from Monroe High School. Clocking a 10.75 while Davis ran a 10.76, both being PRs. With this blazing fast time, you might expect Wood to have the quickest time at the meet. This would be wrong. In the last round of preliminaries, you would have seen Dominick Corley out of Mead High School run. This 2x national champion, state champion, USC commit, and 2023 100 meter dash Pasco Invite champion ran a 10.54….. Injured. Corley decided not to run in the finals to not aggravate his injury more. Corley has previously run in the 10.3 range for the 100-meter race. There's fast, then there is Corley fast. I asked Kennewick's Dylin McIntyre about competing against Corley, "I knew the whole Pasco Invite was an amazing competition, and the top of that was Dominick Corley, and what that did was push me harder. I knew I probably wasn't going to beat him, but I was going to push myself the best I could, and then coming close to him would make me happy. Was I nervous? Yes. Was I scared? Absolutely not." McIntyre ran an 11.04, placing him 7th in the finals of the 100-meter dash. This is McIntyre's first year doing track. This University of Idaho football should be proud of this feat, especially running this time at 240 pounds of solid steel, outweighing the next closest in-weight sprinter by 40 pounds.
Moving over to the high-flying pole vaulters, I noticed there was a soaring eagle competing in the event. Oh, wait, it's just Kyle Worthy out of Lewis and Clark. Worthy got gold, winning the event with an incredible 16'0" jump. Kyle attempted to meet the record of 16'3" but couldn't quite make it over the bar. Either way, it is an awe-inspiring performance and a spot on the history books with that feat.
There is just nothing like a hot day out at Edgar Brown Memorial Stadium, watching the best athletes in the Pacific Northwest showcasing their talents. The memories made at this meet will never be forgotten. If you get the chance, don't miss next year! The energy, the noise, and the history are what put the Pasco Invite into a league of its own!
