Cogdill sets new school record

Being a former pole vaulter I love it when that sport is featured.

Well this weekend, Ben Cogdill broke the school record in the pole vault for Eastern Washington University.

Cogdill cleared 16-8 1/4. The record was 16-7 1/4 set in 2005 by Mike Erickson.

Cogdill, a senior from Estacada (Ore.), will now compete at the Big Sky Conference Championships on May 12-15 in Ogden, Utah.

Congrats to Ben on this accomplishment.

High School Sports Feature: Mead Track and Field

The Track and Field powerhouse that is Mead High School (and if you want to talk semantics, they've won the 1990, 1994, 1995, and 1996 state 4A title for the boys, the girls also have the 1996 state 4A title) is back up to their old tricks.

The boys and girls both finished with 10-0 records this season and obviously "ran away" with the Greater Spokane League championship title.

(Ran away? Seriously I kill myself. And you all out there will probably be killing me soon if I keep making bad puns)

Mead disposed of Mt. Spokane 87-63 last Thursday to drop them into a tie with Central Valley at 8-2. I'll keep tabs on how these teams do as the postseason unfolds.

(Special thanks to Dave Trimmer of The Spokesman Review for doing a big feature on the Mead track teams on Friday. It's always good seeing the tracksters getting a lot of ink!)

High School Sports Feature: Shelton Invitational

Yesterday marked the 49th Shelton Invitational in Shelton, Washington. The day was met with rain and a strong breeze.

Oh, and an amazing individual performance on the girls side.

Curtis High School’s Andrea Geubelle came to win. And that she did.

Geubelle, a senior, is the defending 4A State Champion in both the long jump and the triple jump. She won both those events yesterday with 19 feet 0 inches in the long jump and 39 feet 3 1/4 inches in the triple jump.

Both these marks were well behind her season bests though. Her best in the long jump is 19 feet 11 1/2 inches and in the triple jump 41 feet 9 inches. Both these marks rank her in the top 5 nationally.

Geubelle added another gold medal in the 100 meters, finishing in 12.32 seconds.

She also opted to run the 200 meters as a way to add more points for the team competition for Curtis. She finished in 2nd with a time of 25.85 seconds.

Three golds and silver. I'd say that was a successful invitational.

Oh, and an update on the state bests in pole vault. Since I love pole vault.

The best height in the state right now is 15 feet 6 inches. This is held by (Brandon will be happy) two eastside vaulters.

Kyle Brown of Central Valley and Keith Webber of Mead High School both went 15'6" at the Pasco Invitational on April 18th. Brown won the meet.

The second best height (but third best vaulter) is close behind at 15 feet 4 inches. Bryce Borer of Mercer Island High School cleared this height on Saturday, April 25 at the Bellevue Invitational.

There are also two vaulters going 15 feet even. Wes Chamberlain of Ephrata High School and Scott Kolb of Joe Ferris High School.

All five of these boys are seniors.

When I grow up, I want to throw stuff

Mullets are great. A classic hair cut that really says you have guts. Not just any guy can pull off the mullet look. So when a world record holder in the javelin breaks the world record for the mullet throw, my interest was perked. I pictured a dude throwing his mullet around. Little did I know that a mullet, is also a fish.

Every year there is a mullet throwing competition. Here's the official description:

"A Mullet Toss consists of individuals on the beach throwing a mullet, from a 10-foot circle in Alabama across the state line into Florida."

Well, Roald Bradstock of Britain did it. He broke the world record in his age group (he's 45) for throwing a mullet. He hurled a wet, dead mullet 169 feet and 9 inches.

And if that wasn't an accomplishment in itself, he later set the world record for throwing an ipod. He chucked his 154 yards. Yeah, crazy.

But if iTunes keeps acting up, I my be attempting to beat his record with a toss of my own.

Back to the mullet toss though. My question is, why do the people in Alabama throw the fish into Florida? Do they know that their state is really lame? Maybe the Alabamans are just jealous that Florida is a huge vacation hotspot. Or that Florida has Disney World. Yeah, that must be it.

We here at Just South of North are very interested in participating in a mullet toss. Here's the flyer if you would like to go. But sadly, we haven't been training. Maybe next year.

The Wii Workout

Incase you haven't heard, the Wii is the hottest thing to happen to videogame systems since Pong.

Well, I joined the craze of Wii fanatics and purchased one a while back. I actually had to fend off 14 kids, 7 moms, 2 grandpas and a goat on my way to the cash register at Toys R Us.
For some reason I have always enjoyed track and field.
So when Nintendo came out with Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games, I knew I had to get it. Little did I know what I was getting into.

Day 1: Throwing the game into the system I get ready to play. Two hours later I was ranked 1,251 out of 45,082 in the world. Yet I still sat over four feet behind first place.

Day 2: My shoulders were slightly sore yet I decided to play anyway. Today I won the gold in the 100 meter dash, a silver in rowing against the computer and placed 983 out of 14,256 in the hammer throw.

Day 3: I head for the TV with a slight limp and unable to lift my arms above my head. The constant movement of the remotes (spinning and flicking) have begun to take their toll on me. Yet somehow I manage to place silver in archery, gold in high jump and after the fourth hour still couldn't break the top 5 in long jump.

Day 4: I warm up with a few stretches and jumping jacks. Then I get to work. After 3 hours I have won gold in the 400 meter dash, forth in the 4 x 100 relay and silver in the triple jump. Another day, more sore muscles but more medals too.

Day 5: I lay in bed, unable to move. The constant abuse to my muscles has finally been too much. I finally roll out of bed and crawl to the TV. Refusing to let this system get the best of me, I turn it on. After only 12 minutes my arms feel like putty and I am laying in the middle of the floor on my back. Sweating worse than Mark Mangino at a lobster buffet during the Kansas summer. This round goes to Mario and Sonic. They have beat me.

This game is a better workout than Richard Simmons came out with Disco Sweat. And that is saying something.