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RICHLAND -- Erin Hegarty issued the challenge.
The Hanford junior set a pace Saturday that was one of the fastest ever run by a girl at the Richland Invite or the Carmichael Middle School course.
This time, though, a freshman from Spokane was up to the task.
North Central's Katie Knight stayed within range of Hegarty, pulling almost even with two-thirds of a mile to go and then motoring to the finish line with a hefty kick coming off the final turn. Knight's time of 17 minutes, 56 seconds was the second fastest mark in meet history and the fourth fastest ever run on the 3-mile course.
"I had to make myself stay up with (Hegarty), and it was worth it totally," said Knight, who won her first invitational title to go with a pair of Greater Spokane League victories. "She ran a great race."
Hegarty finished in 18:00, third all-time at the invite and fifth fastest in course history.
The Richland girls defended home turf, winning the team title with 82 points, 23 ahead of Bellarmine Prep. Kamiakin finished third, its best showing since winning the invite in 2002 and '03.
On the boys side, Mount Spokane senior Allan Schroeder finally had his day in the sun, posting his first big invite win and setting a course record along the way.
Schroeder's mark of 14:55 was three seconds better than North Central's Ben Johnston and two seconds better than the previous record shared by Southridge's Andrew Gonzales and North Central's Andrew Kimpel.
"I've always been the third or fourth guy," said Schroeder, for years the second fiddle to Gonzales and Kimpel. "To win it, it's the greatest feeling. I feel like crying."
Drew O'Donoghue-McDonald of Seattle Prep finished third (15:00), with Kamiakin sophomore Anthony Armstrong fourth in 15:16.
"My strategy was to go out with them," Armstrong said of the trio of leaders who broke away early. "But I wasn't ready for that. I was happy with my decision."
Teammate Evan Fiske was seventh (15:27), and the Braves went on to finish second in the team standings.
North Central won its third straight Richland title, marking the sixth straight year a Spokane school won the race. Southridge finished fourth, led by Colby Cravens (18th).
The Richland girls posted the first Tri-Cities win -- boys or girls -- since those Kamiakin teams, and the first for the Bombers program since the 1990 girls.
"It feels really good," said junior Katie Mahoney, who finished fifth. "It was kind of embarrassing that we hadn't won our own race."
Hegarty, who led all but the last 100 yards, said she knew Knight was closing in during the last mile but wasn't expecting a big kick from the freshman at the end.
"It was a great move on her part," said Hegarty, who finished almost a minute ahead of her time from last year. "I'm pretty happy with it. She just ran a great race and got it at the end."
Camas' Kayla Blackford finished third in 18:06, followed by Pasco's Marisa Vander Malle (18:33), Mahoney (18:35) and Hermiston's Angelica Rodriguez (18:35).
"I didn't know if I could catch the Richland girl, but I did," said Vander Malle, who had finished 20th and 14th the last two years. "I was trying for top 10 and I got top five."
Richland's Lauren Dernbach finished eighth. Kamiakin sophomore Stephanie Rexus (13th) and freshman Michelle Fletcher (15th) sandwiched Richland's Maggie Jones to lead the Braves.
Boys
Team scores--North Central 63, Kamiakin 131, Mt. Spokane 151, Southridge 158, Seattle Prep 178, Bellarmine Prep 244, Mead 244, Lewis & Clark 248, Bothell 259, Nathan Hale 271, Richland 299, Hermiston 302. 17, Hanford 379; 21, Sunnyside 621. Top 10--Allan Schroeder (MS) 14:55; Ben Johnston (NC) 14:58; Drew O'Donoghue-McDonald (SP) 15:00; Anthony Armstrong (Kam) 15:16; Andrew Gardner (Mead) 15:23; Hunter Johnson (MS) 15:25; Evan Fiske (Kam) 15:27; Alexander Avila (NC) 15:29; Kevin Holmes (Both) 15:29; Chris Ennis (LC) 15:30.
Kamiakin--Armstrong; Fiske; 27, Austin Richards 16:04; 43, Justin Yoke 16:23; 53, Phil Snyder 16:31. Southridge--18, Colby Cravens 15:43; 23, Kyle Sturdefant 15:54; 26, Quinton Olivas 16:02; 35, Addison Quam 16:15; 59, Aaron Smith 16:37. Richland--46, Casey Casillas 16:26; 48, Cayle Turpen 16:26; 52, Stuart Kretzschmar 16:29; 73, Tyler Bowers 16:46; 87, Matt Wildey 16:55. Hermiston--46, Antonio Ortiz 16:26; 54, Javier Velasco 16:32; 58, Eduardo Juarez 16:35; 72, Andrew Valdez 16:46; 81, Juan Delgado 16:52. Hanford--34, Zach Martin 16:13; 49, Albert Rodriguez 16:27; 97, Ryan Nelson 17:03; 100, Brooks Kindle 17:04; 109, Jeevan Philip 17:09; 110, Noel Hathaway 17:09. Sunnyside--93, Jordan Esqueda 17:00; 130, Alejandro Campos 17:28; 140, Jaime Garcia 17:39; 141, Patrick Watts 17:39; 150, Andres Cantu 17:59. Chiawana--144, Matthew Sturtevant 17:46. Pasco--146, Hector Arredondo 17:49.
Girls
Team scores--Richland 82, Bellarmine Prep 105, Kamiakin 120, Seattle Prep 145, Davis 160, Westview 180, Lewis & Clark 217, Deer Park 226, Pendleton 229, Southridge 269. 13, Hanford 278; 15, Hermiston 313. Top 10--Katie Knight (NC) 17:56; Erin Hegarty (Han) 18:00; Kayla Blackford (Camas) 18:06; Marisa Vander Malle (Pas) 18:33; Katie Mahoney (Rich) 18:35; Angelica Rodriguez (Herm) 18:35; Alison Keenan (LC) 18:36; Lauren Dernbach (Rich) 18:37; Kaitlin Kaluzny (Davis) 18:38; Sammi Blodgett (Wapato) 18:48.
Richland--Mahoney; Dernbach; 14, Maggie Jones 19:03; 28, Emily Hazen 19:29; 37, Ariel Townsend 19:48. Kamiakin--13, Stephanie Rexus 18:55; 15, Michelle Fletcher 19:05; 24, Rachael Gerboth 19:19; 30, Erica Colvin 19:30; 51, Savanna Davies 20:18. Southridge--25, Emily Butler 19:21; 58, Michelle Snider 20:28; 59, Aubrey Callahan 20:29; 60, Robyn Feil 20:29; 93, Rachel Dahl 21:16. Hanford--Hegarty; 64, Breanna Daniel 20:37; 72, Lauren Curran 20:48; 75, Kate Thomas 20:50; 94, Bethany Dorian 21:17. Hermiston--Rodriguez; 40, Kimberly Macias 19:52; 90, Kelsey Trotter 21:12; 104, Zaira Sanchez 21:47; 109, Marissa Worstell 22:06. Chiawana--35, Hannah Stock 19:44; 92, Sydney Boothe 21:16.
Quincy Invite
At The Gorge (5K)
Boys
Team scores--Selah 49 (winner using 6 runners), Seattle Christian 49, East Valley 74, Ephrata 90, King's 117, Cashmere 132, Quincy 192, Prosser 236. Top 3--1, Michael Cross (SeaC) 16:34; 2, Brad Kahn (Sel) 16:49; 3, Mason Yates (EV) 17:07. Prosser--49, William Lane 19:56; 51, Kippy brown 20:37; 58, Frank Ramirez 21:49; 61, Ernesto Cruz 23:15; 63, Kennen Pilot 24:30. Grandview--24, Koty Kollmar 18:37; 25, Jordan Sanchez 18:40; 35, Javier Neri 19:13. Warden--54, Martin Aguilar 21:07; 60, Kenny Sullivan 23:02; 62, Fernando Capetillo 23:18. Riverside Christian--32, Justin Odman 18:55; 40, Dusty Bender 19:23; 59, Christian Vimont 22:54; 64, David Spring 24:57.
Girls
Team scores--King's 37, Ephrata 51, East Valley 93, Cashmere 110, Quincy 146, Prosser 155, Selah 161, Riverside Christian 189. Top 3--1, Kea Paton (Cash) 20:06; 2, Danielle Friend (Eph) 20:23; 3, Adele Eslinger (King) 20:33. Prosser--24, Kalie Federwisch 22:46; 25, Kolby Childers 22:50; 31, Kenzie Koch 23:30; 36, Chelsie Price 23:57; 59, Mackenzie Davis 25:20. Riverside Christian--6, April Soelberg 20:52; 46, Amanda Cowin 24:27; 56, Sarah St. Hilaire 25:11; 64, Brianna Yager 26:21.03; 65, Emily Conradi 26:21.73.
