This week's Nike Portland XC Team of the Week is Washougal High School of Washington, home of the Panthers! The city of Washougal is on the Washington side of the Columbia River and the west entrance of the Columbia River Gorge, which accommodates various scenic trail runs for the Panthers.

Coached by Terry Howard, the Panthers have produced some big results for a small school. The girls have won 3 out of 4 league titles while the boys won in 2014. They have recently had three boy All-State runners (all three sub 16 at the Washington State Meet), and have only lost two dual meets in the past in the past two years by a total of three points.

The boys are led by Aiden Pullen, senior to be, who has qualified for State twice, and a supporting class of current freshman Gabriel Dinnel, who ran 16:37 at Nike Portland XC last fall, Troy Prince-Butterfield and Koy Chaston. The girls have been led by seniors to be Courtney Owens, school record holder, and Hannah Swigert, junior class record holder, who both posted top 15 finishes at Nike Portland XC last fall. Sophomores to be are very promising with Brooklyn Bausch and Annabelle Palmer being the strongest freshman in the league last fall. Washougal also started up a middle school program three years ago and has become a powerhouse team in the Vancouver area. The boys won the Ultimook Race and finished second to the Bowerman Track Club at Nike Portland XC giving them a run for their money with a score of 50.

The Panthers know how to work hard and work smart; they also know how to have some creative fun in workouts. The Washougal signature series of "Frunning" (Fun Running) workouts is titled "Let's Get Rich." Three times a year the runners are handed a map of the town with symbols where they can locate "PAWZ", a team monetary system. There are also cryptic clues they can solve to locate even more of this cross country cash, which can be used to buy prizes such as t-shirts, posters, food, even movie tickets or running watches. This workout intentionally targets "Map Reading Skills" as well as developing strategies while "thinking on the run."

Join Washougal at Nike Portland XC held in the infield of Portland Meadows Race Track. To sign up for our meet, simply add our meet to your https://www.athletic.net/ calendar. For teams that are traveling, we have reserved rooms at a reasonable price and information on the hotels are located on our meet website under "Meet Logistics" http://nikeportlandxc.runnerspace.com/

Ken Martinez

Aloha High School

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