Ferris’ Ice Tops Freshman Field

FROM SPORTS page C2 (Monday, December 8, 1997): Replay Mike Witt from Lakeside finished 79th, 16:34, and Nick Trefry from Mead finished 152nd, 17:04 in the Foot Locker West Regional cross country meet on Saturday.

Ice conquered the rain at Saturday’s Foot Locker West Regional cross country race.

Andrew Ice of Ferris won the boys’ freshman race, completing the rain-drenched, 5,000-meter course in 16 minutes, 30 seconds.

Ice placed 39th at last month’s State 4A meet, with the second-best time for a freshman.

Runners from 13 Western states battled 2-inch deep mud, the result of heavy rain many Californians are blaming on El Nino.

The champions in seeded races, for elite runners, were senior Steve Smith of Chino Hills, Calif., in 15:30, and junior Mariel Ettinger of La Grande, Ore., in 17:40.

Washington was third behind California and Utah in the team standings.

State 3A champ Melanie Frostad of East Valley, a freshman, was 22nd in the girls’ seeded race, in 18:42. State 4A champ Emily Hawkins of Ferris was one place and 3 seconds behind Frostad. Ferris’ Dan Schruth placed 21st in the boys’ seeded race, in 15:59. Schruth beat Seth Mott of University (16:14) and Tom Becker of Mount Spokane (16:21).

EV’s Korinda Godwin finished second among junior girls, in 19:18; Melissa Frostad, Melanie’s twin sister, was fifth among freshman girls in 19:35; and West Valley’s Sean McLachlan was seventh among junior boys, in 16:44.

No local runners qualified for next week’s national meet.

, DataTimes