Lewis and Clark girls finish second in 4A state race

PASCO – The irony wasn’t lost on Lewis and Clark girls cross country coach Kevin Swaim.

His team finished tied for second in the State 4A meet Saturday at Sun Willows Golf Course, but this time the Tigers’ sixth place runner was the deciding factor in their favor.

Earlier in the year, they lost a tiebreaker to Mt. Spokane in a league race that decided the league title.

LC finished with 151 points, matching Mt. Si. Camas was the runaway winner (81). LC’s sixth runner was 74th, Mt. Si’s was 103rd.

“Kind of a theme for our season,” Swaim said. “These ladies were well prepared. Physically they were ready to go. We just had to get the mental part ready. We spent a lot of time this week talking about focus and strategy. They needed to look out for each other on the course, and they did a nice job with that.”

Sophomores Abby Smith and Katie Thronson led LC. Smith took third in 18 minutes, 5 seconds and Thronson (18:12) took fifth.

“It went well,” Smith said of her race. “The first mile I really felt good. Then after that it started to hurt.”

It was quite the climb up the leader board for Smith, who was 28th last year.

“I worked really hard over the offseason and in track,” Smith said.

“I’m delighted to move from ninth place last year,” Swaim said. “And the cool thing is it’s the same group of girls who were here last year. And we’re just losing one senior from our top seven.”

Swaim said the team finish could be seen in Smith’s approach.

“She executed a plan. She’s the kind of kid who really likes to have a very specific race plan,” Swaim said. “At the third mile was going to be the move. She finally – and I shouldn’t say finally – but this season has been about her breaking into the upper echelon of Washington distance runners. She needs to see herself as a force to be dealt with, and she ran like that today.”

Freshman Taylor Roe of Kamiak won (17:56).

In the boys, Tahoma captured the team title (79) and Ferris took fourth (139).

Zak Kindl of LC was the top area finisher placing fourth (15:28). Hunter Simpson of University (15:41) was 11th. Erik Holm led Ferris, taking 14th (15:41).