Win Gives Mead Junior Big Confidence Boost

Consider Chris Fayant among the state’s elite runners.

When the Mead junior beat Andrew Ice of Ferris last Wednesday to win a Greater Spokane League cross country meet at Manito Park, he proved he can run with Washington’s best.

Ice placed seventh at regionals in ‘98 and 15th at state and is considered one of the favorites to win the State 4A title Nov. 6 in Pasco. Fayant finished 34th at state last year.

Panthers coach Pat Tyson said the win was a confidence boost for Fayant, who hadn’t won a big race.

“He’s been running well all season,” Tyson said. “He’s been consistent and hasn’t had a bad race. When you beat Andrew Ice, it’s good for you and it’s good for the GSL. They all feed off this.”

Fayant pulled away at around 1-1/2 miles, and the hills didn’t bother him. His winning time of 16 minutes, 41 seconds was 16 seconds ahead of Ice.

“I felt ready to go,” Fayant said. “I don’t particularly like hills, but I just felt good today.”

And the win came at just the right time.

“It boosts me up big time,” Fayant said. “I know I can run with him. And I know I can run on hills now.”

He will get plenty of hills during the Oct. 30 regional meet at Hangman Valley Golf Course.

Trial and error for Toliver

Mead junior Amy Toliver used last week’s cross country meet at Manito Park to figure things out before regionals.

Toliver broke away at about mile 1 for her second win of the season. Her time of 21:06 was 10 seconds ahead of Lewis and Clark’s Alana Hagney. Toliver said it was the perfect race for a couple weeks before regionals.

“This is one of the hillier courses,” she said. “It helps us work on hills and helps us learn what we need to do to be stronger.”

Toliver said she expects Mead to be ready come regionals.

Coach Wes Player says there’s lots of work to do. LC defeated the Panthers for the first time in Tigers’ coach Wes Marburger’s memory.

“We’re not where we should be,” Player said. “There are too many good teams. We have to do better than this to get to state, and I think we will. We’re a better team than this. We’ve just got to show it.”

Enjoying themselves

They’re having more fun than ever, finally. They’ve been waiting for a season like this.

Seniors Rachel Jones and Jamie Vanos have hit plenty of bumps in their soccer careers at Shadle Park.

Four coaches in four years. Losing records. Divided teams.

“You try to get the team and the coach on the same level,” said Jones, 17. “You’ve finally got it together, and it falls apart and you have to build it back up again.”

Jones and Vanos hope there won’t be need for building for a while. Highlanders first-year coach Mike Eliassen says he’s in for the long haul. Eliassen, who replaced Jay Frank, has a strong soccer background, and the players agree with his philosophy.

“This is the first year we’ve been a team,” Vanos said. “We clicked. We’re friends off the field, and we can read each other’s minds. It’s gotten so much easier. There’s just something that happened.”

Shadle is playing better soccer, too. The Highlanders have beaten some of the Greater Spokane League’s top teams, as in a 3-1 win over Ferris and two victories against Central Valley.

Yet Eliassen, the team’s first in-building coach, isn’t stressing wins.

“I’m here to develop soccer players into respectable young ladies whom I would feel comfortable having coach my daughters in 10 years,” he said. “This is the generation that can make a difference in soccer. I’m just banking on having these girls be the right age to help soccer grow.”

Eliassen already has helped in the development of freshman Rachael Bauer. She plays for him on the Under-15 Spokane Skyhawks club team. Eliassen also has coached at West Valley and for the Spokane Valley Flames.

At first, Eliassen wasn’t sure that Bauer, the league’s leading scorer just ahead of Vanos, should play varsity. He didn’t want to appear as if he was playing favorites with one of his club players.

But after the first week of practice, he sought out Jones and Vanos for another opinion. And Bauer was moved up.

“They really supported me and welcomed me,” said Bauer, 14, whose personal goal was to score at least one goal this season. “They’re not afraid to pass to me because I’m a freshman. That has helped a lot.”

Jones, a four-year starter, has helped by serving as a utility player. She’s played almost every position for the Highlanders. She’s currently sweeper but prefers to play forward.

Jones says she would play goalie if it was the best thing for the team and would help the Highlanders make the playoffs.

Jones and Vanos hope they have contributed to the program’s turnaround.

“It’s kind of like people would come in and play us and say, `It’s Shadle,’ and they didn’t even think they had to prepare for us,” Vanos said. “They could have an easy practice the day before and it was just an easy game, no big deal. We’re hoping people are seeing now that they have to earn it.”

SCHEDULE Important games Shadle’s football team (5-1) plays at first-place University (5-0) at 7 p.m. Friday. The Highlanders are looking for a share of the league lead. The Riverside girls soccer team (8-0) hosts Pullman (7-1) in a match with Great Northern League title implications at 4 p.m. today.