That is the way it was when we were looking for Aiden Pullen's name in the State Meet results on Athletic.net the few hours after Saturday's race. There were issues with the official results for both the 2A races. In their first attempt to "fix" the times in the boys race, a few dozen runners disappeared. Aiden was one of them. Once he surfaced again, we were able to detect that Aiden (17:03.9) narrowly missed his PR, which was on a much easier course 16 days prior. Therefore, it is easy to argue that his 58th place finish was his best race of his career. His effort pushed him up to be the 6th finisher from out district as he was only 13th the week before. He was also the 11th sophomore in the race, just missing #10 by a step and a half. Regardless of the variations of the results, we know we will be looking forward to a couple of more great races from Aiden on the Sun Willows Golf Course before he graduates!
We have seen a lot of smiles on Karina Miller's face after many of her 42 XC races in her Panther uniform. But none of them seemed as big and powerful as her "Pasco Smile" following her grand finale effort on Saturday. Most of the thousands of spectators at Sun Willows Golf Course walked away unaware that Karina was relishing quite possibly her most satisfying performance of her career, but all Panther athletes and parents in the vicinity of our tent were reaching for sun glasses because it was so big and bright! However, it was evidently more powerful that it was big, as it vanquished the pain in her back that seriously hampered her walking gait after her race! Despite the pain, there was no complaining or tears. Her personal experience in Pasco two years earlier was than satisfying, but her 21:31 this year was a big season's best and should be one of the best lasting memories of her 4 years at WHS.