Thorne tops Highlander

Adam Thorne reached a favorable turn in a spirited rivalry on Saturday.

A senior at Ferris, Thorne covered 2½ miles in 12 minutes, 26 seconds to win the senior boys division in the Highlander Invitational cross country meet at Shadle Park. He outpaced Mt. Spokane’s Allen Schroeder, who beat Thorne in this event in 2007.

“(The rivalry) has been going on ever since our freshman year,” said Thorne, who greeted Schroeder after the race with a congratulatory hug. “He kicked my butt our freshman year. I love running against him. He’s great.”

Thorne chipped 16 seconds off his time from last year’s meet – when he edged Schroeder by 7 seconds – and finished 14 seconds ahead of Schroeder this time.

Nathan Weitz of Shadle set a sophomore boys meet record with a time of 12:32. He raced to the finish line 9 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Anthony Armstrong of Kamiakin.

“I kept hearing Anthony’s name called … so I knew he was right behind me,” Weitz said. “But after the surge (to take control of the race), I just kept on running.”

Mead’s Baylee Mires narrowly defeated Sanne Holland of Cheney and a talented triumvirate of Shadle runners to claim the varsity girls title.

While both runners were credited with a time of 14:49, Mires edged ahead of Holland in a sprint to the finish line.

Mires, a junior, navigated much of the course flanked by Shadle’s Andrea Nelson, Kendra Weitz and Katie Morris.

Those three finished third through fifth, respectively, to help the Highlanders claim the senior girls team title.

“Last week I ran a race against Shadle and remember seeing Andrea on my left and Kendra on my right,” Mires said. “It’s a little intimidating at first. Then I think, ‘They’re the same (as me). They’re struggling just as much as me.’ So I just try to make ’em hurt as much as I can.

“It’s like that saying: You’re going to have to bleed to beat me.”

Mead’s Andrew Gardner ran much of the freshman boys race alone out front en route to an easy victory. His time (13:07) was just 6 seconds slower than the event’s freshman record set by Armstrong last year.

Richland’s Ryan Francis placed second, 51 seconds behind Gardner.

Lewis and Clark’s Kenji Bierig held off Walla Walla’s Aaron Nelson in a contested finish to win the junior boys crown with a time of 12:57.

Christina Anderson of Northwest Christian secured the combined girls title with a time of 15:56, and Central Valley’s Skye Sanders eased to a win in the freshman girls division.

Boys team title winners included Ferris (seniors), University (juniors), Kamiakin (sophomores) and Gonzaga Prep (freshmen). In addition to Shadle, girls team winners were G-Prep (combined) and CV (freshmen).