Parrish The Thought: She’s Back Ferris’ 800-Meter State Champ Hopes To Double Her Pleasure

Motivation is easy to come by for Kristen Parrish.

When the Ferris junior is in a good mood, she can remember the euphoria of winning the Class AAA State 800-meter championship last spring.

When she’s dejected, Parrish can remember being disqualified after winning her heat in the 400 meters a day earlier.

“I think it would be neat to win the four since I was DQ’d last year with a good time,” she said, “but I want to defend my title.”

There’s no reason to believe she couldn’t accomplish both goals. Parrish had the second-fastest Class AAA 400 last year (57.28 seconds), and her state-winning 800 (2 minutes, 12.63 seconds) was a Class AAA best.

Saxons coach Jim Missel is an unabashed Parrish fan.

“I think it’s desire and a lot of heart; she’s a competitor from the word go,” he said. “After she got DQ’d … she got upset and then she got focused. She said, ‘Mr. Missel, I’m going to win (the 800).’ When she puts her mind to something, she does it.

“She’s a competitor. The definition for 110 percent is Kristen Parrish.”

As a sophomore, Parrish established herself as the dominant 400 runner in Eastern Washington, and was strong enough in the 800 to keep the pressure on senior teammate Shelly Zickler.

But in the 400 preliminaries at state, Parrish ran out of her lane.

“She doesn’t bring it up anymore,” Missel said. “I was there, right by the official (who made the call). I didn’t really make her aware (of the danger of her tendency to run near the line) until 2 or 3 minutes before she ran.

“I brought it up to other coaches. We need to be more conscious (making those calls during the season). I screwed up for her. She learned a lot from that.”

But that is ancient history. A winter of serious training has Parrish ready to double, plus help the Ferris 1,600-relay team try to improve on last year’s seventh-place finish at state.

For Parrish, picking a favorite event depends on which one she’s entered on a given day. But she said, “It’s probably the 800, because I won state last year. You have more strategy because of the distance - it’s not over as fast.”

She paused before adding, “I really like the 400, too.”

Missel said, “This year she wants that championship,” though he didn’t say which one. “I don’t see her as state champion and she doesn’t see herself as state champion. She was happy to win, but that was last year. She’s focused on what she wants to do this year.”

His biggest concern is keeping Parrish from doing too much, too soon. She’ll run her three events at Pasco on April 15 to check out the West Side competition, and then will slowly build toward the postseason.

“I know the pressure’s there from other athletes,” she said, “but I just try to get it into perspective and look at my goals, not other people’s expectations.”

Her expectations are high enough.