Distance runners from local high schools found themselves east of the mountains Saturday, competing in the state cross country championships.
The meet attracted the best from all classifications, teams and individuals who qualified during district meets a week earlier.
The meet was staged at the traditional site, Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco, where runners were greeted to clouds, a slight breeze and 60-degree conditions.
Here’s how runners from the four local schools fared.
WHITE RIVER
White River was the only local school to qualify both its entire boys and girls teams. In Pasco, the Hornet girls placed 14th and the boys were one spot back at 15th.
The girls were headed by Makayla Melcher, who toured the course in 20 minutes, 41 seconds, placing 25th in the Class 2A field. She was joined by Tori Goodrich, 21:55, 55th; Maria Hawthorne, 23:29, 91st; Rachel Franco, 23:30, 92nd; Kelsee Gould, 23:46, 96th; Jessica Taylor, 24:25, 102nd; and Grace Tyerman, 25:24, 105th.
The White River boys were led by Joel Slominski; running for the fourth year in Pasco, he posted a time of 17:06, good for 26th place in the 2A field. Teammates were Nathan Chaussee, 18:12, 85th place; Tanner Holmes, 18:19, 88th; Will Stern, 18:26, 89th; Grant Swettenam, 18:27, 90th; Ronnie Riggs, 19:05, 106th; Ted Stern, 19:34, 111th.
ENUMCLAW
Making the Pasco trip were the entire Hornet boys team, plus two girls who had earned a state berth.
The boys, who qualified the entire team for the second consecutive year, placed 15th in the Class 4A field of 60-plus teams.
The squad was paced by Sam Lingwall, who covered the Sun Willows course in 16:03 to place 28th in the field. Others competing for EHS were Dominic Deady, 16:28, 55th place; Jacob Dickson, 17:34, 144th; Seth Coons, 17:48; 153rd; Kyle Revell, 17:53, 154th; Sayer Dodd, 17:56, 156th; and Foster Barnhart, 18:06, 157th.
Running in the girls race were Natasha Puzon and Payton Roberson. Puzon placed 103rd with a clocking of 20:28 and Roberson was 118th with a time of 20:41.
BONNEY LAKE
The Panthers had two representatives in Pasco to compete in the Class 3A races.
On the boys side, Nolan Gain finished in 17:45 to place 130th. In the girls race, Zoey Daviney had a time of 19:41 to place 28th.
SUMNER
The Spartans had two runners in the 4A boys field, Adam Sjolund and Matthew Holme. Sjolund crossed the finish line in 16:07 to place 33rd. Holme finished at 17:12 and placed 129th.
Representing Sumner in the girls race was Evamarie Penney. She ran a time of 20:33 and placed 108th.
