Success smiles down on them

Sisters Courtney and Delaney Zalud are both accomplished athletes if not two peas in a pod.

Courtney prefers the solitude of distance running. Delaney is more into the team sports of soccer and softball. When asked to describe their abilities, articulating them does not come easily for Courtney. Delaney’s words come tumbling out.

But the two Mt. Spokane standouts found common ground last Saturday. Courtney earned her third straight individual and team state cross country trip and Delaney was part of a ground-breaking soccer victory, sending the Wildcats to their first state tournament.

Courtney raced at noon, finishing second in the 3A regional race at Wandermere Golf Course to lead her team to Saturday’s state meet in Pasco.

Later, Delaney took to the field and had two assists in the Wildcats’ 3-0 victory over Southridge for the state soccer berth.

“I watched Courtney run, then got in the car and drove to Mt. Spokane for Delaney’s match,” said their mother, Andrea. “It was perfect.”

The conflict in sports wasn’t always the case for the two girls. Courtney, a junior, and Delaney, a sophomore, played together in club soccer for two years.

By high school, Courtney said she knew which fall sport she was going to pursue.

“I always decided I was going to do cross country because I liked running,” she said. “When I did races when I was younger, I was always good at them. I liked soccer at first, but not as much.”

She will always remember her freshman year for the fact she was a teammate with distance star Megan O’Reilly on the school’s first state placer. Mt. Spokane has finished second in state back to back as both a 4A and 3A participant. Courtney placed 16th and 14th as the Wildcats’ No. 2 finisher.

Coach Sean Linder said she has shown a reticence to lead, even if in training she has run superb times. At regional he saw signs of a breakthrough.

“She’d do anything not to beat a teammate,” he said. “(At Wandermere) I was proud of her taking a chance. At the mile she broke away and never looked back. She caught up with Lisa (race winner Lisa Olander of West Valley-Yakima) and ran with her.”

Delaney said she figured she would join her sister in cross country at first when she arrived at Mt. Spokane as a freshman.

“As it got closer and closer to the school year I figured I would regret not playing soccer and decided to do that,” she said.

She played outside midfielder for a team that finished in the middle of the GSL and lost in the first round of regional competition. This year she played center midfield beside veteran Tiara Pittman, was second in team scoring with six goals, and had three assists during the Wildcats’ two regional wins that earned them a state milestone.

“She’s definitely one of our go-to girls,” said coach Ryan Campanella. “She’s very physically fit, can run forever and is definitely skilled with her feet. For a sophomore to come into that position and play 80 minutes every game says a lot.”

Delaney also came up to varsity softball late last season and pitched six games, including in the regional playoffs, winning twice.

Linder said that if Courtney and Delaney had chosen to be teammates, whether it was cross country or soccer, they would have been successful in both.

He said he certainly would have liked to have Delaney on his team.

“Delaney is an amazing runner and Courtney is a real athlete,” he said. “Both are extremely gifted and very supportive of each other. They showed their talent from a very, very early age.”