O’Reilly savors 4A state win

Megan O’Reilly was emphatic. She isn’t running for the wins.

“If it was about winning, I wouldn’t do it because I’ve had plenty of bad races,” O’Reilly said. “For me it’s about running. I enjoy being out there.”

She’s had plenty of successes, including state 3,200-meter track championships as a freshman and sophomore.

Still, Saturday’s 4A State cross country title, her first as a senior, was something to savor.

O’Reilly obliterated the course record by 18 seconds set previously by Bellarmine Prep’s Brie Felnagle, considered Washington’s top high school distance runner all-time.

And victory capped a remarkable fall in which O’Reilly had her way in every race, including a record at the Jim Danner Invitational in Gresham, Oregon.

Just as importantly, she learned something about herself after missing last year’s state race with a stress fracture in her left shin.

“The worst thing is when you’re not there,” she said. “I would have loved to have run and finished second or third again. When you don’t get a chance, it’s the worst.”

As a freshman, O’Reilly said she panicked in the first mile, hyperventilated and didn’t finish. The next year she was third at state and has had all those track successes since.

Last year the Wednesday-Saturday race grind broke her down physically and mentally, she said. It taught her to train and run smarter.

“You only have so many races in you, I think,” O’Reilly explained. “You just have to kind of rate them and see how hard you want to go.”

The Jim Danner Invitational, regional two Saturdays ago and state last weekend in Pasco were her targets. O’Reilly was up to the task.

Second places aplenty

Though Saturday was a trophy day to envy for North Side teams, their bridesmaid status provides incentive for next year.

Mead, North Central, Lakeside and St. George’s boys and Mt. Spokane girls all finished in second place, joining Riverside’s champion girls among the state elite.

Mt. Spokane’s girls — O’Reilly, freshman Courtney Zalud (16th), junior Jessica Klier (20th), sophomore Amy Pomante, freshman Stephanie Inouye, freshman Kacey Smith and sophomore Callie Runkel — finished behind Gig Harbor, 73-107 in 4A.

“They made a commitment to each other to finish the season like champs,” said an elated Linder.

And nearly the entire team returns.

Ditto for Mead in 4A and Lakeside in 2A, who were bushwacked by district foes.

The Panthers had won three of four meetings with Ferris. At state, Mead runners got boxed in during early race jockeying and never really got back into it.

The Saxons’ top five finished just a little sooner in the 57-73 win, averaging five seconds faster per man.

Six Mead runners placed among the top 40 despite the loss. Taylor Nepon closed hard to finish sixth overall. Dylan Hatcher, Steve Gimpel, Brian Palmer, Kelly Lynch, Kelvin Daratha and Ryan Bishop rounded out the team. All but Gimpel and Palmer are back next year.

NC placed second for the second straight year in State 3A.

“It’s a sign of a lot of hard work on everybody’s part,” said coach Jon Knight, “that we’re getting done what we’re getting done. I’m very happy.”

Like Mead, the Indians are relatively young. They will graduate the 1-2 senior punch of Jake Sanders (seventh) and James Clark (13th) and Nate Havko.

Sophomore Adam Tyler, junior Andrew Scott, freshman Leon Dean and sophomore Steve Hicks provide a strong returning nucleus.

Lakeside coach Steve Olson said before the race that even though the Eagles won district, he considered Colville the team to beat. He proved to be a prophet.

The Indians won 74-85. Max Reeder finished eighth and Kyle Johnson 13th for the Eagles.

Rounding out the team are Jason Reeder (23rd), Eric Alexander (24th), Tim Welch, David Scott and Tristan Anderson. Reeder and Anderson are the lone seniors.

St. George’s Brian Angove took third in the B race, highest individual finish for the school in a decade. The Dragons lost by a point to Reardan, finishing second for the fifth time.

Michael Wilhelm was ninth, Sam Annan 13th and Davey Coombs 18th. All are sophomores. Hal Halverson and Matt Gehr all return. Evan Reich was the lone senior.

Lakeside’s Kayloni Jones was 10th and Riverside’s Erik Kuno 12th place to medal among 2A girls and boys.

NC’s Mary Graesser just missed, placing 13th among 3A girls. Five return for the Indians’ ninth-place team, including 25th-place freshman Rachel Ballard.

The wheelchair race was nearly an all-North Side event. Rogers’ Cody Mace finished second, Bob Hunter was third and David Watts was fifth, both from Riverside. Jordan Clyburn from North Central, fourth place overall, was the winning female.