CV has depth

If you peruse the Central Valley girls cross country schedule, be forewarned: the heading for Sept. 22 is not a typo.

Coach Dennis McGuire’s varsity will run at the prestigious Bob Firman Invitational meet in Boise, Idaho, and at a cross country meet in Wenatchee on the same day.

It just won’t be the same varsity.

“We’re going to have two different varsity units run that day,” the longtime coach said. “We’ve got a very deep group this year. We figure we have as many as 16 girls who could conceivably run for our varsity this season.”

McGuire has quality depth. He returns five of the seven runners who placed seventh at last year’s state Class 4A meet.

The trip to Boise is an investment for the young team, the coach said. The 5K race, at Eagle Island State Park, features top teams from Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Utah, with squads coming from as far away as Alabama. Spokane-area teams entered are Central Valley, West Valley, Mead and North Central. Pre-race favorites include defending state Class 4A champion Gig Harbor, Idaho 5A champion Boise and 4A champion Bishop Kelly, and Alabama 6A state champion Mountain Brook.

“We want to get the girls in some big meets so they can learn how to deal with them,” he said. “I don’t think we dealt all that well with being in the state meet last year. Sure, we did okay, but I still think we could have done much better. We all fell down at the state and that slowed us down.

“It’s a learning process. You learn how to handle big meets by running in big meets.”

Central Valley

State experience doesn’t make you a lock to make the CV varsity.

Senior Melinda Miller and sophomore Ari Rios-Foucault both ran at state a year ago and each was an all-league second-team selection. Going into Wednesday’s Greater Spokane League opener, neither was a starter.

“I’m sure they will be, but they aren’t there right now,” McGuire said.

In fact, the toughest race the Bears will face on a week in-week out basis will be the one to determine who makes varsity and who runs with the junior varsity.

Eden Lake was the team’s No. 1 runner at the end of last season, earning All-GSL first team honors and turning in a team-best 20 minutes, 8 seconds in last year’s state meet. She turned in the day’s second-fastest time Saturday, a brisk 20:03, to win the junior flight at the All-Valley Invitational at Liberty Lake.

Coeur d’Alene freshman Kinsey Gomez turned in a stellar 19:15 to win her flight.

“Eden was injured at this time last year, so she didn’t run the All-Valley meet,” McGuire said. “We don’t have a time to compare, but I would guess that she’s running a good two minutes faster than she was this time last year.”

Central Valley runners turned in four of the five top times in All-Valley senior division. State veteran Camille Carter ran 21:58 to win the flight. Her twin, Brittany, in her first year of cross country, was third in 22:18. State veteran Miller was fourth in 22:21 and Sara Stiles fifth at 22:39.

Junior Breanna Barsten, who was the Bears No. 2 finisher at state a year ago, ran 21:19 Saturday. Sophomore Ashley Renz ran 21:07 to win her flight. Freshman Madi Barnes and Kim Thatcher ran 21:19 and 21:20 to place second and third, respectively, in their flight, with teammate Josie Warner fourth at 22:53.

Junior Tris Kline, who ran No. 5 for the Bears at last year’s state meet, did not turn out.

East Valley

The Knights have an experienced group of runners back from a year ago.

Junior Lauren Bergam, last year’s No. 1 runner, ran 20:21 at state a year ago and earned All-GSL first-team honors. She’s ready to build on last year’s success, turning in a 20:35 Saturday to finish second behind CV’s Lake in her flight of the All-Valley meet.

Junior Devon Borja, last year’s No. 2, also returns.

Senior Lori Bourgeous, who turned in a 22:03 to finished second in her flight at the All-Valley meet Saturday, is standout hurdler adapting to distance races.

Junior Ashley LaFayette, too, is a hurdler turned distance runner.

“Ashley’s first-love is still track,” Lazanis said. “She worked hard over the summer, but it was on the track and on the hurdles. It’s not the same as doing distance training, but she should be okay.”

Lazanis remains hopeful for junior Mackenzi Borja, who struggled a year ago with a hip problem.

“She’s still struggling with that same hip,” he said. “I’m hopeful for her because she’s just a great kid and a real talent, but, realistically, I don’t know how much we can expect from her.”

Sophomore Chelsey Denzin already is running well, turning in a 23:20 to place second in her flight at the All-Valley meet.

The Knights will battle for one of three state berths for Class 3A teams.

University

Much of coach Chrissy Francek’s team is running well ahead of where it was a year ago.

“I have several girls who are running more than two minutes ahead of their times from last year,” she said. “They’ve worked very hard over the summer and are committed to improving their times this year.”

The Titans sent one runner, junior Stevie Gildehaus, to last year’s state meet. The second-team All-GSL runner turned in a 20:54 in the Class 4A race, and ran 20:58 at the All-Valley meet Saturday.

Junior Maddy Fuchs, an accomplished hurdler in track, ran 21:17 to place fourth in her flight Saturday.

“Maddy is going to be one of our front runners, and she’s made a huge step up this year,” Francek said. “She is so competitive and is very hungry this year. She got into a couple varsity meets for us last year and ended up being one of our top five runners. She has so much speed and she’s learning to harness that this year.

Sophomores Lauren Baird and Katie Sherry ran 23:36 and 24:19 at the All-Valley meet. Both figure to push for time on the U-Hi varsity.

“Lauren’s time in the All-Valley meet was almost three minutes faster than last year,” Francek said. “She started getting ready for this season almost the minute last season ended. She ran over the winter. She ran track and is really building off of what she learned on the track last spring.

“She comes from a family of runners and I think that’s where she really got bitten by the running bug.”

Senior Skye Pearman-Gillman will combine with Gildehaus to be Francek’s team captains. Juniors Amanda Bridge, Alita Judkins and McCall Minarik rounded out the varsity for the team’s GSL opener Wednesday.

“I have a pretty good group of young runners who could very well crack the varsity before too long,” Francek said. “But this is the first year since I’ve been at University where the numbers in our freshman class were down. I went out and talked to the middle schools and, if you’d asked me during the summer what the freshman class would look like I would have said it would be the biggest I’ve had.”

West Valley

Long-time coach Jim McLachlan likes his young squad.

“We’re better than we’ve been in a while,” he said. “We may not be there at the beginning of the season, but we can be there. There’s running, and then there’s racing. We’ll see how we race.

“We qualify three teams to state this year and I think we can be one of them. I just don’t want to be the No. 3 seed. I’d rather be No. 1. That means we’re going to have to knock someone off.”

The Great Northern League was a talented league a year ago. West Valley finished fourth at the Class 2A Regional meet behind state runner-up Riverside, fifth-place Cheney and Deer Park

In all, 20 GNL runners ran at state a year ago, with a dozen placing among the top 50 finishers, and just five of them graduated – setting the stage for another hard-fought battle for a state berth again this fall.

Junior Krystal Hughes ran 20:13 at state and placed 18th. Deer Park junior Chantel Duenich, who ran 19:46 at state, Cheney senior Hayley Seipp, who ran 20:17, Hughes and Riverside junior Amanda Wilson, who matched Hughes 20:13 state time, figure to be the league’s top runners.

Sophomore Alex Fraser is WV’s No. 2 runner to start the season, with classmate Rachel Rubright at No. 3.

Camille Mackie and Morgan McQueen give the varsity its senior leadership, with sophomores Senaida Monroy and Virginia House rounding out the varsity.