Team concept wins out

Lest anyone forget, cross country is first and foremost a team sport.

That’s why Cheney is sending a boys and girls team to the state Class 2A meet.

Colville had both the boys and girls individual champions over the 5,000-meter course at The Fairways Golf Course on Friday – senior Brittney Williams won the girls title in 19 minutes, 18 seconds while junior Justin Rose won the boys race in 16:16 – but failed to qualify as a team, despite being ranked No. 7 in the most recent Washington State Cross Country Coaches Association boys poll and on the verge of the top 10 in the girls.

Great Northern League girls champion Riverside, ranked No. 3 in the final poll, won the team title with 53 points. The Rams placed two runners among the top 10, Amanda Wilson (fourth) and Sammi Nelson (seventh), and saw their top five runners cross among the top 21.

Colville got a third-place finish from senior Nikkol Sipes and a 12th-place finish from sophomore Jessica Cloke, but it wasn’t enough to qualify as a team.

Cheney, ranked No. 6, earned the second state team berth on the strength of senior Maddie Brown’s 20th-place finish.

The fourth-year runner, the fifth Blackhawk to cross the finish line, came in ahead of Colville’s fourth-place runner, earning her teammates the trip to Pasco for next week’s state meet.

“I think people sometimes forget that cross country isn’t an individual sport, no matter how much it looks that way,” Brown said.In the District 7 2Aboys meet, No. 4 West Valley easily won the title by placing six runners among the first 12 finishers.

The Eagles were led by junior Richard Keroack, who finished second, 8 seconds behind Rose.

In the battle for the second of two state berths, No. 8 Cheney nipped No. 7 Colville by three points.

The Blackhawks, whose top finisher, sophomore Daniel Issa, placed 10th, bunched five finishers between 10th and 18th to finish with 73 points.

Colville had two runners among the top 10, but had its next four placers bunched between 20th and 29th.

In the District 5-6-7 B boys championships, also at The Fairways, top-ranked St. George’s edged No. 2 Reardan by 12 points.

Junior Brian Angove gave the champion Dragons the individual title in a time of 16:34, pulling away from second-place finisher Brad Serdar of Reardan in the final kilometer.

The Dragons placed four runners among the top 10 and pushed their fifth-place finisher across in 13th place.

The day’s biggest upset was in the girls championship race.

Unranked Reardan, led by senior Jenny Knezovich’s fourth-place finish, edged No. 3 St. George’s by two points.

The Dragons scored five runners ahead of Reardan, but only two were among the top 10 in team scoring: junior Maja Rodell (third overall, first in team scoring) and junior Lauren Meyer (15th/ninth).

Reardan made up the deficit and pulled ahead by placing three runners in the top 10: Knezovich (second in team scoring), freshman Brooke Lillengreen (ninth/sixth) and junior Lauren Adkins (12th/eighth).

Freshman Lisa Vandenburg won the individual title, covering the course in 19:14.