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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Don’t mess with these running Dragons

They understand that one could beat the other.

For St. George’s runners Madison Ward and Marika Morelan, though, that’s a risk worth taking. And they wouldn’t have it any other way.

“For me, personally, it’s been awesome to race with Madi,” Morelan said. “We work out together all the time. We’re really able to push each other. She’s my best friend, I love her to death, and I love to race with her.”

Ward, a junior, and Morelan, a senior, finished second and third, respectively, last year at the State 2B/1B cross country race. They’re among a handful of challengers for the championship, which will be held Saturday at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco.

Ward finished the race last year in 18 minutes, 35 seconds – 3 seconds ahead of Morelan. The state champ graduated, so the natural inclination is to believe either Ward or Morelan will be the champ Saturday.

If St. George’s coach Josh Hayes were a betting man, he’d put money on one of his two runners.

That may have been Ward, but this hasn’t been a normal season for her.

“It started pretty rough for her,” Hayes said. “She had a stress fracture early in the summer. She spent all summer dong pool workouts, riding a bike and lifting weights.”

When the season started, Ward still hadn’t been cleared by her doctor to do strenuous workouts.

Ward spent most of September trying to build up her conditioning. She was cut loose for 5 minutes of continuous running, then 10, then 15. She was kept off pavement because her doctor believed the pounding could cause a setback.

“So year over year, she’s a little bit slower,” Hayes said.

“It just took a long time to heal,” Ward said. “I was finally able to do my first hard work out the middle of September and may first race Sept. 26.”

When she was cleared to go all out, Ward tried to make up for lost time.

“It feels good,” Ward said. “I’ve had some hard workouts to get back into shape. I did a lot of hill work to try to speed things up.”

Ward also finished second at state as a freshman.

She admits she has her eyes on a state title.

Morelan, who is involved in competitive cheerleading and gymnastics, didn’t take up cross country until last year.

“At first, all these people were telling me all these competitive tips. It all went over my head,” Morelan said. “I decided I was just going to run.”

Training with Ward allowed Morelan to learn at an accelerated pace.

“For her to come along and be third at state and contend for a title speaks to her athletic ability,” Hayes said. “She’s had to budget her time. She’s on an elite cheer squad and a pretty competitive gymnast. She didn’t start running last year until two weeks into the season.”

Ward fed off Morelan’s competitive nature.

Both want to run in college.

So will Ward, who has another year at St. George’s, defer to Morelan if the race is tight at the end?

“Probably not,” Ward said. “It’ll be a close race between us.”

“My only goal is to survive Saturday,” Morelan said. “Honestly, I’m never one to say I’m going to do this or do great. I put so much pressure on myself already. All I want to do is run and know that I tried as hard as I could. There are so many factors that go into it.”

Chances are, though, the teammates will finish 1-2 in some order.

“They’ll spend the first mile beating on the others in the race,” Hayes said. “They’ll spend the final 2 miles beating on each other.”