The "Run-Down": Mark Morris @ Lake Sacagawea
So this was the dual meet we had been waiting for all season long. Well, at least for the boys. Mark Morris girls team was scheduled to place just two on the starting line, thus giving us an automatic win. But the boys were ready to challenge the Monarch boys and break the decade or so long streak of ruling over the Panthers. Each team was missing a scorer, which proved to make it even more interesting.
Deciding to get a good tune up for the league meet next week, Sophomore Courtney Owens captured the lead early and waltzed to an easy 20:34 victory on a course that is not so easy to PR on. Classmate Hannah Lintala battled experienced Monarch Brooke Hogsed with teammate Karina Miller racing her last race at her favorite location (but on a slightly different course than RA Long's) where she always seems to put on a show - and her 21:50 was her 2nd 50 second season's best of 2014. The rest of the girls cruised through an easy pace, with the exception of Senior Genevieve Ashley who decided to crush her PR by a 34 seconds! Senior MacKenzie Kitchen and Freshman Jeannine Jones squeaked out minor P.R.'s in the process. It looks like our girls are refreshed and ready to perform at their best at the League Championships next week.
In regards to the team goals, one down, one to go. The automatic win was, well, automatic. The boys race was anything but automatic. Mark Morris was missing their #2 guy will we were missing Luke, our #5. That should have shifted the numbers in Vegas from us being a 3-4 point underdog to a 3-4 point favorite. As expected Aaron Brumbaugh, the best XC runner in the League (and arguably the best ever in the League), took the pace out hard with several of his teammates close behind. However, the Panthers were quite confident in their race plan to run them down after the first mile. We were hoping for places 2 and 3. Sophomore Aiden Pullen and Junior Bailey Duncan were in a decent position to catch their second runner (on that given day) at the half way point and their teammates were in an acceptable place, however not close to moving up a place. We were down by 3 points, so it looked like the most plausible solution to win was for Aiden and Bailey to each pass their #2 - Mark Morris' Steven Wallis. As we waited for the return from the south portion of the course, Brumbaugh had the field bested by a minute or more, but only one Panther in orange and white had moved ahead of Wallis. Aiden did his share, but Bailey was struggling another 30 seconds back in 4th place. Unless someone else moved up, the Panthers would fall one point short, as we did 2 years earlier. But the next uniform behind Bailey to become visible was of the same color as his... it was Senior Nicolas Velardi being the hero of the day, and ecstatically fulfilling his highly treasured goal of beating Mark Morris. We are not sure how long it had been since WHS outran the Monarchs, but it probably was before Nicolas entered grade school. Other Panthers that truly came through to secure the win were Sophomores Gabe Groom, winning the battle of the mind in the form of a pre-race headache, and Alex Flansburg, one of only two boy P.R.'s of the day (the other came from Junior Taylor Leifsen). The Mark Morris coach had warned us it was difficult to P.R. on this course, and evidently was very correct. By placing tons of Panthers (8 in all, so literally more like a half of ton) in front of Monarch #5, we waltzed away from Longview with a one point victory. What a great feeling, especially for Team Captain Nicolas competing in his final dual meet of his career.
For the most part, things went like clockwork. We even arrived home, right on time: 6:33 pm, as we projected when we left Longview.
Each High School team extended their league win streaks to 5, and are now prepared to put on several shows as we enter the championship season.
Coach Terry L. Howard
Here are the line scores:
|
Boys |
|
1 Mile |
2 Mile |
5000 M |
|
|
Aiden |
2nd |
|
|
17:18 |
|
|
Bailey |
4th |
|
|
17:47 |
|
|
Nicolas V. |
5th |
|
|
18:06 |
|
|
Gabe |
8th |
|
|
19:32 |
|
|
Jamison |
9th |
|
|
19:47 |
|
|
Collin |
10th |
|
|
19:55 |
|
|
Tanner |
11th |
|
|
20:00 |
|
|
Alex |
12th |
|
|
20:07 |
P.R. |
|
Jesse |
15th |
|
|
21:05 |
|
|
Taylor |
16th |
|
|
21:08 |
P.R. |
|
Nicholas W. |
17th |
|
|
21:28 |
|
|
Evan |
19th |
|
|
21:49 |
|
|
Bryson |
20th |
|
|
21:50 |
|
|
Isaac |
21st |
|
|
22:41 |
|
|
|
of 22 |
|
|
|
|
|
Varsity Girls |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Courtney |
1st |
|
|
20:34 |
|
|
Hannah |
3rd |
|
|
21:42 |
|
|
Karina |
4th |
|
|
21:50 |
|
|
Meredith |
5th |
|
|
25:27 |
|
|
MacKenzie |
6th |
|
|
26:16 |
P.R. |
|
Lydia |
8th |
|
|
26:44 |
|
|
Abby |
9th |
|
|
26:48 |
|
|
Genevieve |
10th |
|
|
26:49 |
P.R. |
|
Jeannine |
11th |
|
|
28:36 |
P.R. |
|
Amber |
12st |
|
|
38:43 |
|
|
|
of 12 |
|
|
|
|