Cheney Claims Fourth

3A-2A cross country

Who would have thought the Cheney boys cross country team could have a better performance than it did a week ago?

Andy Davis finished 20th in the State 3A cross country meet Saturday at Sun Willows Golf Course to help the Blackhawks boys place fourth.

Colville junior Cory Rebmann placed fifth.

Riverside’s boys and girls both earned trophies in the 2A division.

The Rams boys were fourth and the girls were third behind the seventh-place finish of sophomore and district champion Katie Prichard.

Boys district champ Robby Miller of Medical Lake came in 14th.

Omak took the boys and girls 2A individual titles, and the Newport girls of Bellevue defended their 3A team title.

3A boys

Davis could barely stand up after finishing in 16 minutes, 30 seconds Saturday.

“I just felt awesome,” the senior said. “We were psyched up for the race and we wanted it as much as any team out here.”

Cheney was the second of two teams out of regionals and has been an underdog all season.

Colville’s Rebmann bested his time from last year by 46 seconds with a 16:01 clocking. He was 11th in the 2A meet in ‘98.

“I can’t be mad at fifth,” he said. “I thought I’d do OK. I was ready for it.”

3A girls

Colville senior Crystal Evans was finally running at state with her best friend, Amanda Baker. Evans was 17th and Baker 26th.

“We’ve been shooting for this all of high school,” said Evans, who made it to state as a freshman but missed out the past two years. “It was one of my best races but I would’ve liked it to be better. It was my second-best race of the year.”

2A boys

Medical Lake’s Miller was hoping for much better. Like top-5. Or at least top-12.

But his time of 16:36 was his fastest of the year.

“I was really tired at the end and I lost contact with the lead people in the pack,” Miller said. “The competition is a lot harder and it’s a lot more crowded.”

Omak senior Matt Harriman breezed to victory in 15:29 to defend his title and help the Pioneers to the team title. Harriman’s time Saturday was the second-best of the day behind Class 4A winner Michael Kiter of Shadle Park in 15:18.

2A girls

Prichard was disappointed. She no longer has Nora Zaprzalka around to push her. Prichard was fifth in ‘98 and Zaprzalka 10th.

Prichard was passed at the finish line.

“This year I was kind of by myself,” Prichard said. “I set high goals for myself and I wanted to do better than last year. I was hoping to get a medal. I was excited for the race. I just kind of fizzled out.”

Still, she was excited for the team, which edged fourth-place Cascade of Leavenworth by seven points for third.

“We are not a group of great individual runners,” Rams coach Bill Kemp said. “It’s our four, five and six runners who helped us beat Cascade.”