NC boys win sixth straight state cross country title

PASCO – As his runners prepared for the state cross country meet, North Central coach Jon Knight was preparing for the worst.

If his seniorless team was going to have the school’s five-year reign as State 3A champions end on Saturday, he was going to be ready.

“I was prepared with a quote from Marcus Cicero,” he said. “ ‘If you aim for the top, there’s no shame ending up on the second or third spot.’ ”

Instead of delivering that to his team, he could share the words of the Roman philosopher, who died in 43 B.C., with the other coaches, who again came up short.

With six runners in the top 30, the Indians had 59 points, 21 in front of Seattle Prep, 22 in front of Kamiakin and 38 in front of Bellevue and Mt. Spokane.

It was by far their closest call since their streak started in 2006 with a 14-point win.

While NC was having its way, the individual race came down to another duel between Anthony Armstrong of Kamiakin and defending champion Nathan Weitz of Shadle Park.

Weitz beat Armstrong at the regional last weekend, but this time Armstrong stormed down the stretch to steal the win by 1 second as the pair became the first runners to break 15 minutes since the race at Sun Willows Golf Course went to 5,000 meters in 1997.

“I didn’t expect to have that much left,” Weitz said. “I saw Anthony coming. He deserved to win. I’m fine with it.”

Armstrong’s official time was 14:58.4. Weitz ran 14:59.3.

There were no individual champions from the area, but the Lakeside (Nine Mile Falls) boys again edged league rival Colville to go 1-2 in the 1A race.

Mead’s Andrew Gardner was again second in 4A.

3A

The top finisher for NC was Keith Williams in sixth – the first time since the first race of the season he ran No. 1 as the junior led sophomore Kai Wilmot to the line

Williams was 12th overall last year in 15:56 but was 34 seconds faster this time.

“It feels good to know that I’m racing the way I should have the whole season,” he said.

Mt. Spokane’s Hunter Johnson finished between the two NC runners. His Wildcats, who had all seven runners PR, lost the fourth-place trophy on a tiebreaker.

NC also had close runners at 18th (junior Sam Holland) and 19th (freshman Tanner Anderson). Junior Nik Taylor was the fifth NC runner at 29th overall, 22 in scoring, just two scoring runners ahead of junior teammate Isaac Kitzan.

It’s that kind of pack, a 53-second spread, that makes NC almost impossible to beat.

4A

Gardner was disappointed after a 3-second loss to Jacob Smith of Wenatchee, leaving him second for the second straight year.

“It’s about place, not time,” he said. “Two years in a row in second place. Am I doing something wrong?”

Gardner pulled away from Smith to win last week’s regional by 12 seconds.

“I think I took off too early,” said Gardner, whose time of 15:07 was 19 seconds faster than last year. “Last year I wasn’t healthy.”

Gig Harbor ended Eastern Washington’s 24-year reign as the boys team champion of the largest classification. The Tides had 55 points, 23 clear of defending champion Eisenhower.

This year was also the first time since 1986 that the GSL did not get a trophy. Central Valley was fifth.

LC’s Sumner Goodwin (seventh) and Ferris’ Alex Kimsey (ninth), finished in the top 10.

2A

In the closest battle for a championship, Lindbergh nipped Sehome 112-113. Deer Park was third at 148.

DP senior Dayde Collins was fourth in 15:43 and junior Daniel Amann took sixth at 15:45.

1A

Lakeside scored 79 points to beat league rival Colville by 29. The Indians were 14 points shy last year in the 1-2 finish.

“We were worried,” sophomore Ryan Coffman said. “We knew Colville, Charles Wright, King’s Lynden Christian, they were all there.”

Three of those teams put their first two runners higher than Lakeside, which had Coffman 10th overall and senior Michael Anderson 12th. That included Colville’s Biagio Pietroburgo in fifth and sophomore Kevin Carpenter eighth.

Senior Michael Anderson was 12th for Lakeside.

2B/1B

Tri-Cities Prep defending its title, scoring 56 points, 33 ahead of Northwest Christian (Lacey).

Davenport and Republic were third and fourth, respectively.

Davenport senior Austin Telford was seventh.