Fayant’s Strong, Late Surge Lets Mead Maintain Status

As Pat Tyson gazed into the distance Wednesday, he saw three Ferris runners leading all of his Mead boys at the 1-mile marker.

For any cross country coach, especially one of Tyson’s stature, that bit of information meant one thing: an automatic Ferris win if nothing changed in the next 2 miles.

One thing did change - and it wasn’t Mead’s long-standing domination of the Greater Spokane League.

Mead junior Jason Fayant, in fifth place through one-third of the race at Whitworth College, reeled in two Ferris runners (and Cameron Hatch of Rogers) to prevent the second-ranked Saxons from ending Mead’s eight-year streak in GSL duals.

With Mead swallowing up spots 6-11, the top-ranked Panthers (8-0) edged Ferris 28-31 to extend their league streak to 66. “This is pretty predictable,” Tyson said. “We broke up their top three, and then we wanted to get our seventh man ahead of their No. 4. We did all that - plus - because Jason got up there for second.”

Another pack joined the season-ending festivities on a warm autumn afternoon. Jennifer Smith of second-ranked Ferris (8-0) led four Saxons girls in the top five during a 21-34 win over fifth-ranked Mead (6-2).

“To go undefeated in our league is a tremendous achievement for our girls,” said Wayne Gilman, who also coached Ferris titles in 1991 and ‘92.

Isaac Hawkins of Ferris blazed to a clear-cut win in 14 minutes, 57 seconds. Only three-time state champion Matt Davis (14:50) of Mead has run the course faster.

Hawkins, teammates Dave Schruth and Paul Harkins, and Hatch led the Mead pack at the first good viewing area. Tyson, standing one-half mile away, liked what he saw anyway.

“Our goal was to be close to their third man at the mile - then we thought we could get them,” Tyson said.

Fayant quickly moved up. He finished 10 seconds behind Hawkins, with Schruth (15:11) nestled in third. Harkins (15:30) couldn’t catch Hatch (15:24) for fourth, then his Saxons watched the stream of Mead runners finishing ahead of Ferris’ No. 4.

Ferris held the 1-2-3 spots for half of the girls race, but Stephanie Goaslind (18:24) of Mead rebounded for third place. Breaking up that pack didn’t matter, however, as Ferris placed five in the top nine.

Smith (18:13) and freshman Jill Johnson (18:15) ran 1-2 all the way.

“Somebody yelled, ‘1-2-3,’ so I knew we were doing pretty good,” Smith said.

In other season-ending meets, University’s sixth-ranked girls (7-1) claimed second place and Gonzaga Prep’s boys (6-2) captured third with double wins at Finch Arboretum.

Second-place Taraka Campbell (19:57) led five U-Hi girls in the top six, all bunched within 9 seconds. Champion Jenni Saling (19:33) guided CV (3-5) over Prep (0-8).

G-Prep’s pack from 6-9 enabled it to topple the third-ranked U-Hi boys 23-32. Prep’s Jim Rucker (16:26) lost to Robby Warnock of CV (2-6) by 1 second. Seth Mott (16:48), in fourth, topped U-Hi (5-3).

At Shadle Park, the seventh-ranked Highlanders girls (5-3) and North Central boys won twice.

Second-place Sara Hall (19:13) led five Shadle girls in the top 10. Rebekah Paulk (19:01) of LC (3-5) led all the way, but the Tigers fell to NC 24-33. Third-place Lori Kostelecky (19:17) guided NC (3-5).

While the race to the finish in the boys race was between Casey Perry (15:47) of Shadle (1-7) and Ryan Johnson (15:48) of LC (3-5), NC picked off five of the next eight spots to win. Justin Hill (15:54) led NC.

Girls soccer

Allison Beatty and Michelle Bussiere scored 1 minute apart as Mead beat Central Valley 5-0 at Mead Junior High to clinch its 10th consecutive GSL title.

Mead, with 13 regulation wins, one overtime win and no losses, has 41 points - eight ahead of the field with two matches remaining.

The Panthers earned the top seed to the Just a Kick GSL District Soccer Tournament and an automatic State AAA playoff berth. To make the playoffs, sixth-place CV (6-0-3-6, 21) must upset G-Prep and have U-Hi stumble in two matches.

In other matches, G-Prep (10-1-1-2, 33) earned the inside track to seed No. 2 with a 1-0 win at Ferris (9-2-0-3, 31), which entered the day in second.

Prep’s Michele Caputo intercepted a Ferris throw-in and placed a shot high to the far post.

At Hart Field, freshman Megan Mackenzie scored twice in host LC’s 4-1 win over U-Hi (7-0-1-6, 22).

Fourth-place LC (7-2-1-4) marked Titans scoring leader Sara Streufert with Kari Nichols. The Titans will earn the fifth and final district seed with wins over NC and Shadle.

Lisa Moen assisted on two first-half goals as visiting Shadle (3-0-1-10, 7) beat Rogers (0-0-1-14, 1) 5-0.

, DataTimes