NC’s Knights speeds to victory in Walters Invite
It’s hard to be disappointed with what transpired at the Fifth Annual Tracy Walters Invitational cross country meet, but it’s hard not to be.
Before the girls took off at Audubon Park Saturday morning, Amy-Eloise Neale of Glacier Peak, one of the premier distance runners in the country, was scratched with a hamstring injury. That left North Central’s Katie Knight and Shadle Park’s Kendra Weitz without the target they’ve been chasing the previous two years.
As Tracy Walters said when he heard the announcement, “Aw, shoot, I’ve been thinking about that all summer.”
But by the time the legendary coach handed out the awards he was all smiles after another memorable day that included two meet records and varsity team champions repeating.
Knight tied her course record of 17 minutes, 41 seconds for 3 miles, breaking the meet record set by Coeur d’Alene’s Kinsey Gomez last year by 7 seconds. And Bozeman’s impressive young team repeated with 111 points, 35 clear of Jesuit of Portland. Kamiakin was third with 227, followed by Coeur d’Alene at 253.
Senior Anthony Armstrong of Kamiakin defended his individual crown, breaking his meet record of 15:15 set last season by 8 seconds, 6 seconds shy of the 18-year old course record. The Braves also gave Walters’ alma mater quite a scare, but NC won for the fifth time with 146 points, 30 in front of Kamiakin with Bozeman and Jesuit tied at 211.
Armstrong, a senior, was 30 seconds in front of NC junior Keith Williams, who beat sophomore teammate Kai Wilmot by 1 second, with NC junior Austen Frostad in fifth.
However, there was a poignant moment before the boys race, with a moment of silence for Tommy Hawkins. Hawkins, a senior co-captain on the Ferris state-placing team last fall, died last Saturday.
Each team consisted of 10 runners, with the top eight being scored.
Girls
This race simply fizzled as far as the individual battle among three juniors, although it still sizzled. After Neale was scratched, Knight set a blistering pace and Weitz faded, collapsing midway through the third lap, although she got up to finish 37th.
Weitz was only 13 seconds behind Knight at the end of the second lap.
“I was giving it all I had but I wasn’t going anywhere,” Weitz said.
Katie Biachnini of Glacier Peak, another junior, edged sophomore Caroline Hardin of Bozeman for second, about a half-minute behind Knight.
“It was pretty toasty out here,” Knight said. “I was feeling it, especially up on top, (but) I felt really good today.”
Andie Creek gave Bozeman two sophomores in the top eight and then four straight Hawks came in starting with senior Michelle Cline at 16th, followed by freshman Bridgett Creel, sophomore Malika Arnold and junior Katie Stephens.
Boys
NC coach Jon Knight was happy to get away with a win, entering the season without a senior leader for the first time.
“One thing I tell the guys before a race, ‘All things are still possible,’ ” he said. “This is a new group of guys. Some ask if you can do it again. We’re not putting that kind of pressure on them.”
Armstrong ran alone from early in the second lap but he was almost 2 minutes in front of his eighth-place teammate while the Indians ran within 73 seconds of each other.
“Nick Taylor (12th), a junior, really stepped up,” Knight said. “Another kid, Oliver Reed, a sophomore, really had a great run (23rd).”
• Greater Spokane League distance stars Nathan Weitz and Andrew Gardner put on a pretty good show, but it was anything but riveting.
Weitz, from Shadle Park, and Gardner, from Mead, posted the fastest two times at the Meadlander, but the race is contested by classes. That means Weitz ran alone to the days’ best time of 12:18.06, winning the senior race by 39 seconds over Mt. Spokane’s Hunter Johnson, the only other runner to break 13 minutes for the 2.5-mile course at Mead. Gardner, a junior, won by 55 seconds in 12:24.04.
Mt. Spokane had the sophomore (Kees Von Michalofski) and freshman (John Dressel) winners and Central Valley had the top team in all four races.
On the girls side, Mt. Spokane junior Brooklin Young had the fastest time at 15:59.72. Teammate Molly Cole won the senior race (16:17.21). Mead edged Mt. Spokane for the senior title and Richland for the junior, with the Bombers taking the sophomores and Gonzaga Prep the freshmen.
• Conor McCandless finished fourth over 2 miles in 10:04.64 to lead the Gonzaga Prep varsity to a third-place finish at the Bellarmine Invitational. Taylor Cherry (12:18.91) was fourth in the girls race as the Bullpups took sixth.