Saturday, Oct. 31, 2009

Richland girls no longer second fiddle

By Kevin Anthony, Herald staff writer

SPOKANE -- For the last two years, the Richland girls have played second fiddle to Central Valley in the chase for the Eastern Region cross country title.

For two of the last three seasons, the Kamiakin boys have been the odd man out, finishing one spot away from advancing to state.

Guess it's time to put something new at the top of their respective lists of priorities -- like, say, bringing home some state hardware.

The Bombers and Braves had a big hand in helping the CBBN hold its own against the vaunted Spokane schools in the 4A races Friday afternoon at Wandermere Golf Course.

Richland led a charge of three CBBN girls teams in the top four to advance to state, and the Big Nine grabbed 13 of the 20 qualifying individual places.

"It feels really good," said junior Katie Mahoney, a member of both those runner-up teams and now a key cog in the program's first regional title.

The Bombers became the first Tri-Cities team -- boys or girls -- to win a 4A regional title since the 2003 Kamiakin girls, and they did it in classic Richland style.

Emily Hazen, Mahoney and Maggie Jones finished within 4 seconds of each other, 10-12, and Lauren Dernbach gave the Bombers four top-20 showings with her 17th-place finish.

Mead's Baylee Mires set a tremendous pace from the start and won going away in 18 minutes, 30 seconds, 22 seconds better than runner-up Rachel Nelson, a freshman from Walla Walla.

"I was hoping to beat Baylee," said Nelson, who smartly didn't get caught up in the junior's pace and instead keyed off a pair of Eisenhower runners.

Moses Lake freshman Hannah Marsh finished 14th, while Kamiakin's Michelle Fletcher and Stephanie Rexus were 18th and 20th.

For the Kamiakin boys, finishing fourth was a relief in so many ways.

First, the team that ran the table in the CBBN and was ranked as high as third in the state barely qualified to compete at regionals. The Braves finished fourth at districts last week, still suffering from a lingering illness -- like so many teams here.

Second, this was the same venue that saw Kamiakin come up two points shy of going to state two years ago when Southridge grabbed the final spot for its first-ever state berth.

"Finally -- that's it," senior Justin Yoke summed up after finishing 18th, one spot behind teammate Evan Fiske. Sophomore Anthony Armstrong led the Braves, finishing sixth as Ferris' Adam Thorne posted the individual win and paced the Saxons to an easy team title.

Walla Walla junior Aaron Nelson, Rachel's big brother, placed eighth for his first trip to state.

For Yoke and Fiske, who were both key contributors on that 2007 team, Kamiakin's fourth-place finish and berth into state was a long time coming.

"We're finally going to state with the whole team," said Fiske, who qualified individually the previous two seasons. "Our class has been saying since we were freshmen we're going to state, and we had the team to do it as sophomores. It's been an agonizing two years."

Southridge finished fifth without having a single runner place in the top 20.

The 3A races were dominated by Spokane teams.

The Shadle Park girls, despite missing one of their best runners -- illness, of course -- still ran away with the team title, though three-time regional winner and two-time state champ Andrea Nelson couldn't run away from the entire field.

North Central freshman Katie Knight, who won the Richland Invite earlier this season, posted a remarkable 29-second win over Nelson. Hanford's Erin Hegarty, who ran with the lead group the entire race, finished fourth to qualify for her third state meet.

On the boys side, three-time defending state champion North Central won its fifth straight regional title, scoring just 23 points.

Hanford's Albert Rodriguez (11th) and Zach Martin (13th) just missed individual berths. Only the top two teams and top 10 individuals from the 3As moved on to state, slate for next Saturday at the Sun Willows Golf Course.