GSL far ahead of pack

The weather at Deer Park Golf Course held up, and so did the Greater Spokane League’s cross country reputation.

Conditions were cool but pleasant and, most important, dry and calm during Saturday’s Eastern Regional 4A and 3A races.

GSL schools took advantage, dominating with 10 of 13 available State 4A and 3A team berths and earning most of the available individual spots as well.

Megan O’Reilly of Mt. Spokane nearly broke 17 minutes while laying waste to the 4A girls field and helping the Wildcats share the team title with Eisenhower of Yakima.

The Central Valley girls, in third, also qualified for state.

Mead’s Taylor Nepon had a breakout race to win the 4A boys meet by 9 seconds – in 15 minutes, 21 seconds – over teammate Dylan Hatcher.

Mead and Ferris turned the team race into a glorified dual meet, with Mead winning 40-54. The stunner was unheralded Lewis and Clark’s third-place finish and state berth, with 143 points.

GSL 3A boys also earned all three team berths as North Central, West Valley and East Valley made it their personal competition.

The Knights and Indians finished second and third among girls teams behind runaway winner West Valley-Yakima.

4A

Boys: Nepon and Hatcher had been joined at the hip for most of the season in leading Mead to a GSL championship. This race would be different.

“I’m surprised I pulled away,” Nepon said of his victory. “I thought Dylan would be with me a lot longer. I’m used to him being side-by-side with me all the time.”

Runners were bunched through a casual first mile before Nepon took the lead and wondered if anyone was going to go with him. No one did.

Three Mead runners, including ultimate eighth-placer Steven Gimpel, set the pace. Not far behind, five Ferris runners clung together. Even as runners made their moves and the field began to string out, it remained a two-team thing. Ten of the first 17 placers were from either Mead or Ferris. And that included a sub-par 16th by usual No. 1 Ferris runner Robert Cosby.

“Taking nothing away from the other runners, it really became a dual meet,” said Mead coach Pat Tyson.

Tyson liked what he saw in Nepon’s performance. Part of his success, Tyson said, was that the race was tactical. The other part was Nepon’s willingness to take a risk, open it up in the last mile and see if he could pull it off.

“I thought the kids ran really well today considering it was a qualifier,” said Tyson. “Three teams win.”

The third winner was LC, which finished sixth in the GSL and was overlooked as a state contender. But Tigers first-year coach Andre Wicks said he envisioned his team coming through.

“I knew it was going to be open to any of four or five teams,” he said, “and knew the most important thing was having everyone healthy and eligible. That’s where we were.”

Sean Coyle, third in the race, became the fifth runner from Central Valley to qualify for state.

Girls: The intrepid O’Reilly’s instruction from first-year coach Sean Linder was to take off at the half-mile if she was going to give the 17-minute barrier a try.

“Today we were pretty secure with the rest of the team, so she didn’t have to hold back,” Linder said.

It was a little cold, O’Reilly said, but she felt so comfortable that she timed a personal record 17:01 and beat Ike’s Chelsea VanDeBrake by more than a minute. CV third-placer Anna Layman ran 18:17.

“I was going to go out slower because it was so cold and I didn’t want to put myself in shock,” said O’Reilly. “Then I thought, oh, my gosh, it feels so good.”

She was one of four Wildcats in the race’s top 20. Freshman Courtney Zalud took fifth, and Mt. Spokane finished tied for first at 99 points with Eisenhower.

“We’re fine,” Linder said. “We were training through and are focused on next week.”

Even without injured freshman and No. 2-3 runner Breanna Barsten out for the year, CV was a clear-cut third-place finisher. Ferris’ Becky Mackelprang placed fourth individually.

3A

Boys: Sophomore Adam Tyler gave a big boost to North Central with Andrew Scott bothered by a lingering sinus infection and relegated to fourth among his team’s finishers.

Scott did manage to lead a four-Indian pack that placed between 14th and 17th to stave off West Valley’s challenge 46-60, with EV in third with 84.

Tyler finished ninth, behind top-five seniors Jake Sanders and James Clark.

“I would like to see Andrew healthy,” said NC coach Jon Knight when asked to assess the team’s state trophy chances. “But Adam had a great day.”

The Indians, Sehome and Seattle Prep will be among title contenders, but WV also threw its hat in the ring. The Eagles placed four runners between seventh and 13th and freshman No. 5 Justin Degenhardt capped scoring in 20th.

“WV is running very well, and East Valley is running well, too,” Knight said. “It’s fun to be in the GSL.”

His cousin, EV’s Nick Atwood, finished second individually. He was outlegged by Selah’s Gary Lorance, who clocked 15:25. In finishing third, East Valley easily outdistanced Mid-Valley fourth-placer Ellensburg.

Girls: WV-Yakima’s Michelle Schubert defended her regional title in 18:23 to lead a one-two-three finish that erased any doubt of the outcome.

The Rams scored 30 points to East Valley’s 82 and North Central’s 86. Both advance to state. It’s a return for the NC Indians but the Knights’ first trip since 1998, when both their boys and girls teams won trophies.

“The girls ran amazing,” said EV senior Jo E. Mayer, who led GSL runners with a near-photo finish for third in 19:06. “Our freshmen are so talented and have so much potential.”

NC’s Mary Graeser followed in 19:09 and West Valley’s Larsen Agee was sixth in 19:13.