Yahoo Sports Eastern WA Olympian will race for gold in steeplechase finals
College Place High School graduate Kenneth Rooks advanced to the finals of the men’s 3,000-meters steeplechase at the Paris Summer Olympics.
Rooks — the two-time men’s steeplechase champion of the United States — finished second in his heat to move into Wednesday’s final.
The top five in each of the three heat races advanced to the final, set for 12:43 p.m. Pacific Time on Wednesday, Aug. 7.
In his heat on Monday, Rooks stayed near the front of the pack for the entire race. After 1,000 meters, he was in third place at 2 minutes, 57.0 seconds.
At the 2,000-meter mark, Rooks was in fourth place among the 12 runners in the heat at 5:50.2.
At that point, Rooks made his move to stay among the leaders, twice over the final 1,000 meters looking behind him to see where everyone else was so he could stay among the top five.
He crossed the finish line in second place — behind heat winner Lemecha Girma of Ethiopia — in a time of 8:24.95.
Howard places 7th in heat
Marisa VanderMalle Howard, a 2010 Pasco High graduate, placed seventh in her heat race of the women’s 3,000 meters steeplechase at the Paris Summer Olympics early Sunday morning.
That eliminated the 31-year-old Howard, who lives in the Boise area, from further competition.
Howard needed to finish fifth or better in her heat race to advance to the finals, which are Tuesday.
It was her first time as an Olympic competitor.
In her heat race, Howard was in fifth place after 1,000 meters with a time of 3 minutes, 4.9 seconds.
By 2,000 meters, she had dropped back to seventh out of 12 contestants with a time of 6:13.4.
Howard tried to catch up with the lead back. But she couldn’t make up the gap. She finished seventh in a time of 9:24.78.
Seafair
J. Michael Kelly, who flipped his U-1 Miss Beacon Electric on Saturday of the Apollo Columbia Cup weekend in the Tri-Cities, raced to victory this past Sunday at the Seafair Apollo Mechanical Cup.
It was Kelly’s fourth consecutive Seafair victory.
Jaime Nilsen in the U-11 Miss Mercury’s Coffee finished second, while Dave Villwock in the U-27 Miss Apollo placed third.
Corey Peabody in the U-9 Miss Beacon Plumbing was assessed a 1-minute penalty in the pre-race milling period when he washed down Andrew Tate in the U-91 Miss Goodman Real Estate. Tate eventually got his boat restarted, but he was so far behind the rest of the field that he was never a factor in the final.
There is just one more H1 Unlimited race remaining this season, and that is the San Diego Bayfair/APBA Gold Cup, set for Sept. 13-15.
Heading into that race, Tate and the U-91 lead the national high point standings with 5,819 points. Peabody is in second in the U-9 with 4,870 points, while Dustin Echols in the U-40 Flav-R-Pak is third at 3,837 points.
Signings
Abigail Beaton, a Chiawana grad who spent the last two seasons competing at North Idaho College, will be playing this fall for the Lewis-Clark State College women’s volleyball team.
Three Columbia Basin College men’s soccer players are moving on to the four-year level. Diego Lopez has signed with Western Washington University, while Alexander Magana is headed to Seattle Pacific University, and Sylver Schweiger will play at Oregon Institute of Technology.
Stephanie Bryson, who spent this past spring playing for the Columbia Basin College softball team, has transferred to Eastern Oregon University, where she’ll play for the softball team there in La Grande.
Juan Medina-Marquez, a Riverside High grad from Boardman, Ore., has signed a letter of intent to play for the Warner Pacific University men’s soccer team starting this fall.
Walla Walla High School graduate Cameron Carrara signed a letter of intent last month to participate in track and field for Lewis-Clark State College.
Hockey
Tri-City Americans defenseman Jackson Smith has made Canada’s roster to play in the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, which runs from Aug. 5-10 in Edmonton. The 6-3, 190-pound Smith is one of eight Western Hockey League players on the Canadian roster.
Left winger Nolan Yaremko, 26, recently signed a one-year contract with Kaufbeuren of the DEL2 in Germany. Yaremko played 278 games for the Tri-City Americans between 2014 and 2019. Yaremko spent most of last season for the Trois-Rivieres Lions of the ECHL.
Former Tri-City Americans right winger Kyle Olson, 25, has signed a one-year deal with Zvolez of the Slovakia Extraliga. Olson, who spent last season with Choux-de-Fonds in Switzerland, played 205 games from 2015 to 2020 for the Ams.
Dust Devils
Tri-City Dust Devils first baseman Matt Coutney and shortstop Chad Stevens each earned promotions to Double-A Rocket City recently.
It’s the time of year when draft picks and major-league teams come to contract terms, and then a number of players are moved around in the farm systems.
Among Dust Devils players released were shortstop Andy Blake, and pitchers Erik Rivera and Willian Suarez.
Being sent back to Tri-Cities is shortstop Arol Vera.
Meanwhile, keep an eye on pitcher George Klassen, who should end up in the Tri-Cities. The right-hander was part of a Phillies-Angels trade at the deadline earlier this past week.
The Los Angeles Angeles received Klassen and left-handed pitcher Samuel Aldegheri from the Phillies; while the Angels sent reliever Carlos Alvarez.
Through July 31, Tri-City has a 12-20 second-half record (38-59 overall), and the Dust Devils are in Vancouver all of this week.
Jeff Morrow is former sports editor for the Tri-City Herald.
