O’Reilly state’s best prep ever

Mt. Spokane senior Megan O’Reilly ran the third-fasted 5,000 meters in high school history Saturday at the Cardinal Invitational at Stanford.

In placing 15th in the open race, O’Reilly ran 16 minutes, 10.05 seconds, the fastest-ever by a Washington high school female and 10th fastest ever by a Washington native.

The previous fastest time by a Washington prep was 16:44.81 by Alison Tubbs of Enumclaw in 2001.

The national high school record is 15:52.88 by Caitlin Chock of Granite Bay, Calif., in Grosseto, Italy, on July 13, 2004.

The race was won by Isabella Ochichi of Kenya, who is ranked 10th in the world, in 14:59.79.

O’Reilly hit the 3,200-meter mark in 10:18, which would be the state’s eighth-fastest (two-mile) all-time, and she still had more than a mile to go. Only Patty Matava (six times in the early 80s) and Tubbs have run a faster 3,200.

GSL championships

It seems so simple.

Although the Greater Spokane League is broken into two divisions, meets at the end of the regular season determine a champion and the final standings through 14th place. Host schools are determined by the standings with one division hosting the girls meet and the other the boys so a school doesn’t get caught hosting meets on consecutive days. The girls go Wednesday and the boys Thursday so coaches who do both can be at both. All meets are at 4:30 p.m.

If only it was that simple.

Mead, Mt. Spokane and North Central are at Shadle Park, the American Division leader, to determine the GSL girls champion. The championship meet is scored as dual meets.

However, the meets to determine the rest of the placings weren’t so easy. Because of insufficient results from a season-opening meet, a tie couldn’t be broken for third place. Lewis and Clark, Gonzaga Prep and Central Valley tied for third. A tiebreaker would determine the host for the fifth- through eighth-place meet and the second American Division team to go. The fifth-place team, by tiebreaker, would be the host for the ninth- through 14th-place meet.

Because the tie can’t be broken, all three teams are going to Hart Field with Ferris and East Valley. The meet for 10th- through 14th-place now goes to Cheney, with West Valley, University, Clarkston and Rogers attending. Fortunately, the non-championship meets are scored as invitationals so the mixup doesn’t drastically affect the competition.

On the boys side it is almost cut and dried for the meets.

The championship is at National Division-leading Mead with East Valley, Lewis and Clark and Central Valley attending.

The second meet is at Ferris with North Central, Mt. Spokane and Shadle Park. The meet to determine the bottom six places is at University and includes West Valley, Cheney, Gonzaga Prep, Rogers and Clarkston.