NC boys, CV girls finish in second
For area cross country teams, it wasn’t where they started Saturday; it’s where they finish in early November that will count most.
What Spokane teams, for example, can learn from the highly competitive Tracy Walters Invitational is they’re right where they want to be but there’s much room for improvement.
Under gorgeous conditions, the boys and girls teams of Mountain View out of Meridian, Idaho captured team titles at the eighth Tracy Walters Invitational on the 3-mile layout at Audubon Park.
A different scoring system was used. Each team entered 10 runners and the top eight were scored. The Mountain View boys finished with 125 points, 21 ahead of runner-up North Central. It’s the first time NC hasn’t won the title. Kamiakin, which finished runner-up to NC at state last year, had 157 and Central Valley was a distant fourth at 257.
In the girls, Mountain View had 113 points, CV was next at 126 and Kamiakin third with 141.
NC’s Tanner Anderson cruised to victory in the boys race, finishing in 14 minutes, 55 seconds on the relatively flat course. He threatened the course record set by former teammate Kai Wilmot two years ago, but Anderson’s pace fell off as he finished 11 seconds shy of the record. Andrew Snyder of Kamiakin (15:13) took second and East Valley’s Scott Kopczynski (15:23) and Chad Stevens (15:33) were third and fourth, respectively.
Erin Hagen of Mountain View won easily in the girls race, finishing in 19:14. Gabrielle Ford of CV (19:27) was third.
The Mountain View boys placed six runners in the top 18 and eight in the top 30, while the girls placed six in the top 17.
After Anderson finished, he made it a point to walk back along the finish shute to congratulate every runner.
“It wasn’t necessarily the goal (the record). If I’d wanted to do that I’d have to race a little smarter,” Anderson said. “Halfway through there was a point where I thought ‘maybe I can do this’.”
Anderson turned the first lap of the three-lap race in 4:47.
“That was a little fast,” Anderson said. “Then when I heard I was at 9:50 on the second lap, I did the math in my head and thought I was slowing down. The (final) mile was a real struggle.”
Anderson thought the record could have been threatened had John Dressel of Mt. Spokane ran. But Dressel, who is being recruited by Stanford, was attending to a college-entrance test.
NC’s last loss came a year ago at the Bob Firman Invite in Boise.
“We’re pretty young and untested in the back,” NC coach Jon Knight said. “We had a lot of guys that were shocked by the speed of the first half mile. They weren’t quite ready for it. They’ll get better. It was a good lesson. A credit to our competitors.”
• The Highlander Invitational at Shadle Park may not have had the quality of the Tracy Walters Invitational, but it had quantity and a festive atmosphere for a season-opening meet.
In the girls race, Lindsey Bradley of Richland won by nearly a minute, finishing in 14:09.1 on the 2.5-mile course.
Katie Thronson took fourth (15:20.3) to lead Lewis and Clark to the team title. The Tigers had 80 points, followed by Mt. Spokane (130), Walla Walla (136) and Lakeside (147).
The meet segregates the boys by class. In the seniors race, Cole Christman of Wenatchee won in 12:32.1. Jake Finney of Lake City (12:41.6) took second and Skylar Ovnicek (12:47.6) of West Valley placed third.