Cross-country – Washington’s Gig Harbor Girls Just Miss Another State Title and Chance at History

Copyright © 2008 Ed Bagley
Washington State’s 2008 Prep Cross-Country Championships taught the Gig Harbor High School girls’ team a really disappointing lesson in knowing just how close is not close enough.
After winning 3 consecutive state titles in the 4A state championship competition, Gig Harbor fell 1 point short in the team competition Saturday (11-8-08) at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco, settling for the runner-up spot.
Had they won, the girls would have set the Washington State record with 4 consecutive titles. Only two other 4A teams in state history have won 3 consecutive titles. Bellarmine Prep accomplished the feat in 1977, 1978 and 1979, and Issaquah matched the feat in 1985, 1986 and 1987.
So close and yet so far. Eastlake High School of Sammamish nipped the Tide runners 97 to 96. Eastlake’s runners finished 14th, 15th, 18th, 24th, 25th, 40th and 72nd. Gig Harbor’s runners finished 1st, 16th, 17th, 30th, 33rd, 44th and 48th. Each team has 7 runners but only the first 5 runners finishing figure in the team scoring.
Since Eastlake’s 5th scoring runner was 25th, it did not matter that Gig Harbor’s last two runners finished 44th (sophomore Kelly Williams in 20:05) and 72nd (senior Ashley Horton in 20:42).
Senior Alyssa Andrews of Gig Harbor won the 5000 meter run (3. 1 miles) in 18:00 flat to become the state 4A champion. She could not have done any more for her team. Sophomore Brittany Kealy was 16th and junior Erin Hull was 17th, they both finished in 19:21 and did their job. Sophomore Danie Moon was 30th in 19:47 and senior Claire Betterbed was 33rd in 19:50.
Gig Harbor could have won its 4th consecutive title and set a new record if either Danie Moon had run 2 seconds faster and finished 28th rather than 30th, or Claire Betterbed had run 3 seconds faster over the 3. 1 miles and finished 31st rather than 33rd. Two seconds faster or 3 seconds faster does not seem like that much unless your are running the 3. 1 mile race in the highest level of competition.
Saturday’s result for the Gig Harbor girls underscores the importance of the 4th and 5th scoring runners during competition. When they are running behind it seems as if the value of their effort is diminished when in fact their importance becomes more valuable with each stride they take. Reaching down deep and passing just a couple of runners near the finish can make the difference between winning a state title and losing a state title.
Eastlake ran a great race and its spread was only 29 seconds between its first and last scoring finisher. Gig Harbor’s spread was 1:40, 71 seconds more. This is one reason why team running is emphasized in cross-country. Your best runner does not have to finish among the top 10 or 13 runners to win a state championship.
Coach Patty Ley and her girls were pretty disappointed to say the least. However, Gig Harbor did amazingly well considering that only one runner—eventual state champion Alyssa Andrews—returned from last year’s state championship team. Their finish was a testimony to Ley’s coaching and the tremendous winning tradition the Gig Harbor girls have built.
The Tide girls preceded their state meet finish by winning their 4th consecutive West Central District III championship at the American Lake Golf Course in Lakewood. Alyssa Andrews won the individual title in 17:45 to lead Gig Harbor to the title.
The Gig Harbor boys had a tougher go of it in the state 4A run, finishing 7th overall with 192 points. Mead High School of Spokane won the title with 98 points, racking up its 14th state championship in cross-country. Mead’s runners finished 8-9-24-27-30 with a 30-second spread.
Mead is legendary in Washington State, producing more top distance runners than any other prep school. Mead won 9 consecutive state titles from 1988 through 1996, and added 3 more titles from 2000 to 2002, making it 12 titles in 15 years. That is dominance by any standard.
Gig Harbor’s top boy finisher—junior Conner Peloquin—was 10th in 15:55. He was followed by sophomore Robby Ubben in 37th at 16:31, senior Chris Adgar-Beal in 43rd at 16:35, junior Spencer Payne in 49th at 16:40, senior Alex Sundell in 53rd at 16:44, senior Nate Funkhouser in 88th at 17:29 and sophomore Casey Kalbrener in 89th at 17:30.
Clearly, the girls rule at Gig Harbor at the moment.

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Northwest Christian in Lacey Becomes a Washington Powerhouse in Cross-country

Copyright © 2008 Ed Bagley
Northwest Christian High School is tucked between the evergreens in Lacey in an idyllic setting, but do not mistake this pleasant atmosphere for a lack of competitiveness in its cross-country runners. The Navigators arrive at the starting line ready to not only compete but to win.
And win they did Saturday (11-8-08) during Washington State’s 2008 Prep Cross-Country Championships at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco, taking home championship trophies in both the girls and boys B (small school) races.
The girl Navigators topped Asotin by scoring 60 points to Asotin’s 68. The low score of each team’s top 5 finishers wins in cross-country. Northwest Christian was led by freshman Elizabeth Weber’s 3rd place finish in 20:27.
Weber was followed by junior Ashlee Giesman in 4th place at 21:04, senior Jessica Zimmerman’s in 12th at 22:03, junior Taylor Bodine in 15th at 22:17, freshman Janna Salo in 26th at 23:42, junior Chelsea Dick in 44th and senior Lacey McConnell in 48th. The spread between their first scoring runner and last scoring runner was 3:15.
Northwest Christian’s 3-4-12-15-26 finish beat Asotin’s 5-10-13-19-21 finish.
The Navigators entered the final as the two-time defending state champions so the victory was their 3rd consecutive title. There is no question that the girls rule the roost at Northwest Christian.
For the record, the girl Navigators won the state Track and Field Championship in 2007 and were runners-up this year.
The Navigator boys’ team has been moving up for three straight years, having finished 3rd in the team competition in 2006, as the runner-up in 2007 and winning their first state title this year by beating Reardan, 52 t o 77.
They dominated and almost crushed the competition as sophomore Justin Holden was the individual runner-up at 17:01, senior Micah Cushman was 3rd at 17:01, senior Alex Feero was 6th at 17:27, freshman Lucas Graham was 7th at 17:29, senior Bohlig Nathan was 34th at 18:25, junior Johnny Motte was 47th and senior Michael Schmidt was 48th.
Their 2-3-6-7-34 finish topped Reardan’s 4-9-19-20-25 finish. The Navigator boys spread was 1:25. It was good that Northwest Christian had a lot of front runners and high finishers because Reardan’s spread was 1:07.
Coach Bill Kehoe has made Northwest Christian High School into a state powerhouse in cross-country. While he loses 1 senior—Jessica Zimmerman—among his top 5 girl runners, and 3 seniors—Micah Cushman, Alex Feero and Bohlig Nathan—among his top 5 boy runners, Kehoe still has some good runners left and a tradition of winning to defend both titles next year.

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Cross-country – Washington Women Win Pac 10 Title, Set Record Wtih First-ever Perfect Score

Copyright © 2008 Ed Bagley
It was show time on Halloween at the Springfield (OR) Country Club for the 2008 Pac 10 Conference Cross-Country Championships and the University of Washington women runners showed why the Huskies are the No. 1-ranked team in the country, winning with an unprecedented perfect score of 15.
Freshman Kendra Schaaf broke the course record by 33 seconds and was followed by sophomore Mel Lawrence, freshman Christine Babcock, senior Anita Campbell, junior Katie Follett and senior Amada Miller. The perfect 1-2-3-4-5 finish for 15 points had never before been accomplished in women’s or men’s Pac 10 championships.
Schaaf, a Canadian from Regina, Saskatchewan who led from start to finish, ran a blistering 19:34 over the 6,000-meter course (3. 72 miles) to break the record of 19:57. Four of Washington’s top 5 finishers—Mel Lawrence (19:53), Christine Babcock (19:54) and Anita Campbell (19:57)—all beat or tied the old record. Katie Follett was 8 seconds later at 20:05. Washington’s total team time was 1:39:12. 24 for an average individual time of 19:50 for the Huskies’ first 5 finishers.
Amanda Miller’s strong 6th place finish did not even count as only the first 5 finishers figure in the scoring. Sophomore Lauren Saylor finished 12th. Schaaf was Washington’s first individual winner since Regina Joyce in 1982.
All 7 women runners earned All-Pac 10 honors for their unprecedented top 6 finish that gave the Huskies their second Pac 10 title in school history, the first coming in 1989. In the women’s team competition, Oregon was runner-up (55 points), Stanford 3rd (99), Arizona State 4th (105) and Washington State 5th (188).
The previous record low score in Pac 10 Championship history was 19 by the 2002 Stanford men’s team and 22 by the 2006 Stanford women’s team. Both teams went on to win NCAA championships. The win by the Washington women snapped Stanford’s streak of 12 straight championship titles.
Many pundits thought Oregon may have had an advantage in the meet since it was run on their home course, and the Oregon men did prevail in their competition, easily winning the team title with 28 points. Stanford was runner-up with 47 and California and Washington were tied for 3rd with 169.
Oregon was led by senior Galen Rupp’s course-record 22:55 clocking for 8,000 meters (4. 96 miles). It was the first race of the season for Rupp, a 2008 Olympic competitor for the United States in the 10,000 meters.
Washington’s top runner in the competition was Jeremy Mineau’s 10-place finish. The 3rd place finish by the Washington men was their best showing since 2003. The Huskies are coached by Greg Metcalf.
Next up for the Husky runners will be the NCAA West Regional Championships on Nov. 15 at Stanford University, and then the NCAA National Championships on Nov. 24 at Indiana State University.

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