Two GSL coaches hope to leave winners

For two Greater Spokane League coaches, having their teams in Saturday’s state cross country meet is special.

It’s not because GSL boys are attempting to stretch their team title Class 4A championship streak to 17 successive years or that the league could also win the 3A state title.

Lewis and Clark’s Chris Morlan, member of a tight boys coaching fraternity that has helped Spokane set the state standard of distance excellence, and Steve Llewellyn, who turned University’s girls into one of the league’s premier programs, are stepping down.

They are ending their careers in style by having both teams qualify for state.

“It just feels good ending it there rather than ending it at regionals,” said Llewellyn, who is retiring from teaching.

Llewellyn, a former collegiate runner, came to U-Hi in the early 1980s after a successful career as an attorney.

This year’s young team is his eighth state qualifier, a surprise third-place finisher at regionals. The Titans won state in 1992 and were second the previous year. They’ve trophied two other times by finishing fourth.

He figures assistants Chrissy Francek and Shanna Hale will be excellent replacements.

It will free him for other passions, such as rock and mountain climbing, fly fishing, travel and time spent with grandchildren, said Llewellyn. But he won’t totally remove himself from the sport.

Morlan, also a former standout runner, has been part of the LC program either as an assistant or head coach since 1990. Like Llewellyn, his career path changed.

An architect by education, he went into teaching in 1997, the year he became LC’s head coach. The Tigers finished third and fifth at state the following two years. They are back as a team for his swan song.

He cited several “simplistic” reasons for why he’s resigning as coach.

The true reason is time spent away from his wife and 4-year-old son.

“They deserve my presence,” he said. “That’s really where I want to be the next few years. But what we have done with a bunch of kids who don’t do popular ball sports in the downtown school is phenomenal. I’ll miss it greatly.”

The Tigers can contend for a state trophy; U-Hi will be a long shot at the meet on Pasco’s Sun Willows Golf Course.

Ferris, however, will be chasing its second straight state title in a tight race with last weekend’s regional champion Eisenhower and third-place Mead.

“I was asked (by a Seattle newspaper) if there is a chance the GSL or eastern Washington streak will end,” said Mead coach Pat Tyson. “We look pretty darn good over here.”

He still favors the Saxons, whose Brendan Chestnut has been a model of consistency, while others have had their moments. If Robert Cosby bounces from his regional race and duplicates earlier efforts like the Jim Danner Invitational, and Peter Hawkins and Ben Poffenroth close ground on Eisenhower’s three-runner punch, the Saxons can repeat.

At regionals, Mead’s top five runners were just seconds away from their Ferris counterparts. And last week Laef Barnes, one of the individual favorites, was pain-free for the first time this year.

Number one ranked North Central, which had its way during last week’s boys 3A regionals, now faces the west side of the state.

“Seattle Prep, Sehome and Blanchet return to state,” said coach Jon Knight last week. “We’ve had one guy who’s been there, Luke Graesser as a sophomore. Competing at this (the GSL) level week in and out, I don’t know what effect that has.”