The "Run-Down": Ridgefield/Hockinson @ Abrams Park

 

Our first League meet of the year, and we expect a moderate challenge in order to keep both our winning streaks alive. The girls sport a 6 meet streak and the boys a 3 meet streak as we drove down into Abrams Park in Ridgefield. It had been 5 years since a Panther has raced there. An elaborate play structure and picnic tables became our home base. A mix of sunny area soccer fields and shade woodsy trails (including a significant hill to negotiate twice) gave good variety to the race course. The course measures a bit short, but the hill factor slows it down enough to be very similar in speed to the faster orange courses we tread.

 

The first race of the day was historic. The very first Washougal Middle School XC competition included a dozen maroon-clad Panthers joined with one stellar Spudder gal to make a "not so even" baker's dozen. A pair of 7th grade boys crossed the line first: Gabriel Dinnel and Koy Chaston. Earlier workouts helped us to expect those two to lead the way; the real question was "Who will be next for the boys?" That was answered by Josh Fraught as he burst around the last building towards the finish seven seconds ahead of the Marcus Bennett/Levi Collins tandem. Three more Panther guys enjoyed the Panther MS XC debut: Trent Lowe, Eli Hoyt and Michael Stevens. For the girls, 7th grader Allison Warta was a solid 2nd. Just over a minute behind sprinted in Amelia Pullen and Alexis Maniscalco. Also completing the course was Bridgette McCarty. It appears all had a great time (pun intended). All MS XCers get there name mentioned for our inaugural race.

 

At this meet, we ran girls and boys together for the Future Varsity race (this was not the original plan, but it worked). The panther performances that did shine in this race included Junior Jacob Bowen (3rd) in 19:54.4, Freshman Lydia Lyall (1st for girls) in 25:32.9, Junior Grace Collins (2nd) in 25:42. This was a good opening act for the great things to come in the Varsity races...

 

2013 is an odd number; that means that the boys run first in our league meets. But there is nothing odd about our boys winning. Sophomore Bailey Duncan proved he can run a solid PR and with an assist from Senior Thomas Normandeau notched his first XC victory. His time of 17:39.0 puts him in a great position to eventually take claim of first team all-league honors. Three Hockinson and one Ridgefield athletes were hot on Bailey's heels, but with Thomas a few steps behind encouraging him all the way, they didn't have much of a chance. Freshman Aiden Pullen decided he could run with the big boys today and was occupying 7th place for most of the second half of the race, only to be caught and surpassed by fellow panther Junior Nicolas Velardi. Nicolas was a second or so off of his PR, but Aiden racked up a huge one with his 18:12, over 40 seconds faster than his Saxon Invite time! Senior Anthony Velardi has been establishing himself as the most consistent male panther and chipped another six seconds away from his PR to round out our scoring five. The scores against the other teams? Panthers 24, Hawks 31 and Panthers 18, Spudders 42. The boys move their league winning streak forward to 5. Sophomore Collin Manning tied his PR and freshman Gabe Groom ran an impressive 19:22.5 to post one of the largest PR's of the day. This guy is showing he has a bright future in the Panther XC program.

 

The girls race was anticipated to be a bit closer, well, at least with the Spudders of Ridgefield. After the first 1000 meters, the Panthers were down by one. The our steady Senior pace setter Hannah Wright took control and the rest of the girls followed suit. Her well executed even paced race plan earned her 2nd place, but the team race was one with the Pack of Panthers squeezing into 4th-7th place, thus giving the Panthers a comfortable 24 to 35 victory over the Spudders; the Hawks were incomplete, thus not capable of winning the battle. The pack consisted of Junior Karina Miller, Sophomore Meredith Collins, Senior Megan Anderson and Freshman Courtney Owens - one from each class; sounds something like a good poker hand. Also contributing was our Senior "bench scorers" Brooke Croeni and Sydney Hickey; they helped add more points to the Spudder total. Our girls now boast an 8 league meet win streak - GO PANTHERS!

 

The best benefits of the day appeared to be the valuable experience the younger panthers gained in learning to compete like seasoned veterans. Next week we host Mark Morris (and the Spudders, because they like running with us and will be at all of our league meets this year).

  

Coach Terry L. Howard

 

Here are the line scores:

 

Varsity Boys

 

Mile 1

Mile 2

5000 M

 

Bailey

1st

5:35

11:34

17:39.0

P.R.

Thomas

2nd

5:36

11:34

17:39.4

 

Nicolas

7rd

5:44

11:48

18:05.8

Aiden

8th

5:47

11:41

18:12.6

P.R.

Anthony

9th

5:46

11:54

18:26.6

P.R.

Collin

13th

5:58

12:15

18:53.0

P.R. - Tie

Gabe

15th

6:08

13:02

12:33

P.R.

 

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Future Varsity Boys

 

 

 

 

 

Jacob B

3rd

6:06

12:55

19:54.4

 

Blake

13th

6:41

14:18

22:15.9

 

Jacob

14th

6:35

14:11

22:16.1

 

Isaac

15th

7:01

14:52

23:09.8

 

 

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Varsity Girls

 

 

 

 

 

Hannah

1st

7:07

14:22

21:52.2

 

Karina

3rd

7:13

14:27

22:03.9

 

Meredith

5th

7:28

14:49

22:20.2

 

Megan

6th

7:20

14:34

22:25.7

P.R.

Courtney

8th

7:15

14:36

22:31.8

 

Brooke

10th

7:30

15:20

24:01.7

 

Sydney

12th

7:31

15:29

24:05.7

P.R.

 

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Future Varsity Girls

 

 

 

 

 

Lydia

1st

7:52

16:42

25:32.9

 

Grace

2nd

8:16

16:52

25:42.9

P.R.

Gabby

3rd

6:32

18:02

28:02.3

 

Maxyne

9th

9:49

20:45

33:40.0

 

 

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