Boys present strong teams

If it’s not a problem to you voters in the statewide poll of cross country coaches, Jim McLachlan and Gene Blankenship would like you to vote some team other than West Valley at No. 1 on your next state Class 2A ballot. Thank you very much.

Based on last year’s state meet results, the Eagles have the No. 1 returning class 2A squad entering the season. West Valley, in fact, returns all seven runners, led by Richard Keroack, who finished seventh, from the team that placed third behind Burlington-Edison and Sehome a year ago.

Still, neither Burlington-Edison nor Sehome is conceding a state title to anyone.

“We’re going to go over and run a meet at South Whidbey as one of our nonleague meets,” said coach Jim McLachlan, now in his fourth decade as the Eagles coach. “It’s not a very big meet, but it will be a good trip for our kids and it will give us a chance to run on the same course that Burlington-Edison and Sehome will run their district meet on, so we’ll be able to compare some times at the end of the season and see where we are.”

This year’s senior class is starting its fourth season together on the WV varsity, with the goal of finally bringing home a state boys cross country title for McLachlan – the one title that has eluded him – solidly in their sights.

When it comes to cross country, the Greater Spokane League is the toughest league in the country. A year ago Ferris, Mead and Central Valley spent the entire season ranked among the Top 20 teams nationally. Mead and Ferris started last season ranked Nos. 1 and 3, respectively. The Saxons, Panthers and Bears went 1-2-3 at state a year ago, with seven runners among the first 10 finishers.

This year, North Central and Central Valley are the teams with national rankings on their preseason resumes going into the season.

“It’s tough when you have a young team and you have to run against these incredible teams in this league,” East Valley coach Dave McCarty said. “You just have to go out there and do the best you can every week and try to get better.”

Central Valley

Coach James Berry and his Bears are ranked No. 3 in the Northwest entering the season, but still are not favored to win a GSL title. That distinction goes to North Central, the defending state Class 3A state champion – ranked No. 2 in the nation and No. 1 in the Northwest.

“That’s fine with me,” Berry said. “I’d just as soon see everyone worry about North Central. Let them get all the headlines. It’s much easier to chase someone than it is to be the frontrunner.”

Still, Central Valley is the state’s top-ranked Class 4A squad in a preseason poll of coaches. And the team is solidly on the national cross country radar for the second straight preseason – coming in at No. 24 nationally.

This year’s squad returns four runners who finished within 38 seconds of each other at last year’s state meet – carrying the Bears to a third-place state finish.

Jayson Taylor covered the state course in 16 minute, 34 seconds, followed closely by Bryce Aguilar (16:47), Jason Stoker (17:08) and Andrew Cesal (17:12). All are seniors and each is determined to improve on last year’s success.

What the Bears don’t have, however, is a strong No. 1 runner with a threat to win each and every race. Gone are both Tylor Thatcher, who placed third at last year’s state meet, and Sean Coyle, who placed eighth.

“Runners like those two don’t come along that often, and we were lucky to have two of them last year,” Berry said. “What we do have is a strong group that will run as a very tight pack, and that will be tough to beat.”

East Valley

Senior leadership is something that will have to wait a year at East Valley.

The Knights are without a single senior on McCarty’s squad.

“We’re young, but a bunch of our juniors ran for us last year,” he said. “But if we work hard and learn, who knows what can happen by the end of the season. That’s the thing about this league. We run week in and week out against the Meads and the Ferrises and the Central Valleys, but at the end of the year, we break off and only have to run against the rest of the Class 3A teams.

“North Central is a beast, of course, but after them, there will be some room to get to state.”

Junior Tyler Sullivan stepped into the senior vacuum over the summer and helped McCarty keep the team organized on training runs. He enters the season as the team’s No. 1 runner.

Juniors Nic Price and Dmitriy Kulpin and sophomore Merrill Lines all are solid varsity runners. Sophomore Sean Biltoft and freshman Jaren Novakovich are likely starters as well.

“I always have a couple wrestlers who come out to run with us just to get themselves in shape,” McCarty said. “I always welcome them, and I like having them with us. But there are always one or two who start running and get into the sport. Once we get into actual competition, you hope some of their competitive fire will take over and they’ll really get into running.”

University

Second-year coach Mike Barbero has a good-sized squad to work with, with newcomers beginning to filter in now that students are back in class.

“I’m starting to hear some yeses from kids,” he said.

The Titans put in plenty of work over the summer and enter the season with plenty of promise.

“The commitment is there,” Barbero said. “And it’s much stronger than it was a year ago. We’re building.”

Junior Mike Owens enters the season as the team’s No. 1 runner, with senior Brian Borden a solid No. 2. Senior Jacob Hawkins, juniors Garrett Evenson and Nathan Hutchens, and sophomores Mack Fey, Sean Mummey and Steven Witkoe round out the starting group for the first meets.

“I have a couple pretty good freshmen who will challenge,” Barbaro said. “We will have a strong junior varsity that will push the varsity every week. That’s where we want to be.”

West Eagles

The Eagles have worked hard getting ready for their senior season. Perhaps a bit too hard.

“A couple of our guys are a little dinged up to start the season,” said assistant coach Blankenship, who oversees the boys squad. “Richard Keroack and Joey Hartmeier have just started training with us again this week. They may have done a little too much running coming in. We don’t anticipate either one of them running in a meet for another couple weeks. There’s no need. We want them to get plenty of rest and be healthy.”

Keroack placed seventh at last year’s state meet, running 16:37 – just five seconds behind Great Northern League individual champion Justin Rose of Colville. The two will again challenge one another for the league’s top honors.

Junior Michael White took turns as the Eagles’ top finisher on several occasions last year, as did Hartmeier, a senior.

Seniors Alex Hanson, Justin Degenhart, Steve Foster and Dillon Hettinger all ran at state a year ago. First-year senior Matt Tremblay and junior Lon Bench will run with the varsity while Keroack and Hartmeier recover and will push the start group hard for a varsity spot.