Chewelah Boys Win State A/B Title
After winning this year’s Gonzaga Prep Invitational over several larger schools, the Chewelah boys dropped in the state cross country coaches poll.
The Cougars didn’t forget the slap in the face.
Sparked by fifth-place David Yarnell and eighth-place Asher Ernst, seventh-ranked Chewelah ruled Saturday’s WIAA/U.S. Bank State A/B championship.
The Cougars placed their five scoring runners in the top 30 and scored 61 points. Runner-up Chelan, the state’s (hee-hee!) top-ranked team, scored 93.
Chewelah coach Dan Stone laughed about the rankings that rankled the Cougars all season.
“Our girls moved up to sixth in the poll when they won district last week,” Stone said. “We won district and stayed at seventh.”
Stone admitted that he caused some of the poll problems. In past years, he asked one of the voters to tone down Chewelah’s rankings to sidestep any possible overconfidence. It’s not as if Chewelah running is unknown in state circles. The Cougars won the 1992 state title and finished third, one point behind champion Omak, the following year.
“I told all the guys when we won it in ‘92 that it could be a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” Stone said.
Considering that Yarnell, who ran the 3-mile Sun Willows Golf Course layout in 15 minutes, 26 seconds, and Ernst (15:39) are juniors, the once-in-a-lifetime talk may go out the window. The Cougars’ next two runners, 19th-place Marcus Wright and 22nd-place Kent Potter, are also juniors.
St. George’s senior Christian Laugen, last year’s State B champion, proved he could run with the big boys once the A’s and B’s were consolidated into one race. Laugen cut 54 seconds off last year’s winning time to take second place, in 15:21.
“I didn’t get the first guy (junior Jim Reed of Ridgefield) … but I was about sixth place after the first mile,” said Laugen, the District 7 A/B champ. “I wanted to show (Class A athletes) that I could run with them.”
Girls district champ Hayden Kristianson of Chewelah didn’t fare as well as Laugen. Kristianson never conquered the cold, blustery conditions and finished 18th. Her team was seventh in the race won by Omak.
District runner-up Katie Kneeshaw of Colfax, third at state last year, finished eighth in 19:10. Deer Park’s Jaime Stone (19:04) was fifth, after placing fourth last year and seventh as a freshman.
“But my freshman time (18:46) was my best,” Stone said. “I want to get back up there next year. That whole year I was training with a bunch of guys. This year we didn’t have any guys on the team.”
, DataTimes