Richland trio headed to state cross country
Richland’s Riley Moore, Anthony Stone and Katie Andrus placed in the top seven of their respective heats Saturday at the District 5/8 Class 4A regional cross country meet at Carmichael Middle School, advancing to the state meet next weekend at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco.
Moore was the top local finisher in either race. He was neck-and-neck with eventual race winner Amir Ado of Ferris until the 2-mile marker. Moore eventually slipped back into fourth with a time of 15 minutes, 19.75 seconds.
“I know the place wasn’t where he wanted to be, and in a meet like that, if you’re just a little bit off, things can kind of not happen the way you want them to,” Richland coach Jay Bartlett said. “But I had no issues with his race. I thought he ran really well today.”
Stone finished two spots behind Moore with a 15:24.72 — which bested his previous PR by more than 30 seconds — to help the Bombers to a fourth-place team finish. The top two teams — Central Valley and Ferris — advanced to state.
Andrus took seventh in the girls race (18:26.19) to lead a Bombers squad that finished eighth overall.
Bartlett said he was pleased with the performance he got from all of his runners, especially the boys.
“We haven’t been in the top four of that meet very often in the last 20 years, so it was a great day for all of those boys,” Bartlett said.
Hanford entered the meet with hopes of qualifying its entire girls team for state after winning a league title for the first time since 1992, but the seventh-ranked Falcons finished fourth behind Central Valley, Lewis & Clark and Mead.
Even though the Falcons as a whole failed to qualify, freshman Kendra Keller ran a blazing time of 18:43.58 to finish 12th and earn an individual berth to state.
“Kendra’s done a great job all year just learning from the other girls, and they’ve been awesome with her,” Hanford girls coach Sean Mars said. “She just kept pushing up the entire second half of the race.”
Hanford sophomore Caleb Olson ran a 15:27.97 to finish seventh in the boys race and advance to state. Walla Walla’s Alex Iben (15:31.93, 12th) and Erika Leinweber (18:47.63, 14th) also ran their way into state.
Central Valley swept the boys and girls team titles. CV’s Kearan Nelson won the girls race in 17:03.93, just ahead of Lewis & Clark’s Katie Thronson, to lead the Bears to a one-point victory over the Tigers.
At Carmichael Middle School
5,000 meters
BOYS
Team scores (Top 2 advance to state): 1, Central Valley 57; 2, Ferris 71; 3, Lewis & Clark 84; 4, Richland 125; 5, Gonzaga Prep 130; 6, University 149; 7, Mead 163; 8, Walla Walla 220; 9, Hanford 226; 10, Pasco 268; 11, Chiawana 288.
Top finishers (Top 14 advance to state): 1, Amir Ado (Fer) 14:54.30; 2, Ryan Kline (CV) 15:07.03; 3, Turlan Morlan (GP) 15:08.83; 4, Riley Moore (Rich) 15:19.75; 5, Gabe Romney (CV) 15:22.84; 6, Anthony Stone (Rich) 15:24.72; 7, Caleb Olson (Han) 15:27.97; 8, Spencer Swaim (LC) 15:29.73; 9, Zak Kindl (LC) 15:30.61; 10, Evan Peters (CV) 15:31.14; 11, Todd Bloom (Fer) 15:31.57; 12, Alex Iben (WW) 15:31.93; 13, Joe Hawkins (Uni) 15:34.99; 14, Alek Kvokov (Mea) 15:36.37.
Richland: 4, Moore; 6, Stone; 31, Jesse Todd 16:12.15; 35, Chris Nilsen 16:19.31; 49, Jacoby Sherman 16:50.65.
Walla Walla: 12, Iben; 46, Cannon Angotti 16:42.50; 50, William Lash 16:52.82; 54, Grayson Gillin 17:05.73; 58, Tyrese Thomas 17:12.28.
Hanford: 7, Olson; 24, Jared Wright 16:01.15; 63, Austin Blacketer 17:28.10; 64, Eric Anderson 17:31.26; 68, Preston Raab 17:43.63.
Pasco: 39, Ismael Castaneda 16:27.17; 51, Patrick Nairimo 16:57.07; 56, Kaden Daw 17:08.05; 60, Carlos Ramirez 17:16.24; 62, Ozieo Barraza 17:27.41.
Chiawana: 41, Austin Bachman 16:30.15; 57, Tucker Matson 17:08.41; 59, Gabriel Morales 17:14.41; 61, Carson Bates 17:20.34; 70, Spencer Johnson 18:01.07.
GIRLS
Team scores (Top 2 advance to state): 1, Central Valley 57; 2, Lewis & Clark 58; 3, Mead 73; 4, Hanford 114; 5, Gonzaga Prep 154; 6, University 169; 7, Ferris 182; 8, Richland 202; 9, Walla Walla 228; 10, Chiawana 267.
Top finishers (Top 14 advance to state): 1, Kearan Nelson (CV) 17:03.93; 2, Katie Thronson (LC) 17:05.69; 3, Abby Smith (LC) 18:05.95; 4, Hannah Barone (Mea) 18:10.68; 5, Claire Dingus (Uni) 18:16.99; 6, Jenna Rogers (Mea) 18:22.02; 7, Katie Andrus (Rich) 18:26.19; 8, Rebecca Lehman (Uni) 18:26.82; 9, Leah Carney (GP) 18:29.78; 10, Kenzie Gaines (LC) 18:32.33; 11, Gabrielle Ford (CV) 18:41.95; 12, Kendra Keller (Han) 18:43.58; 13, Olivia Sine (CV) 18:45.30; 14, Erika Leinweber (WW) 18:47.63.
Hanford: 12, Keller; 18, Kat Bushman 18:59.24; 22, Aayiana Fuller 19:20.92, 30, Grace Arnold 19:40.42; 32, Hailey Cleavenger 19:41.85.
Richland: 7, Andrus; 43, Sophia Fetrow 20:32.17; 44, Jill Essency 20:33.21; 49, Kara Lee Edvalson 20:52.96; 59, Courtney Storaci 22:12.58.
Walla Walla: 14, Leinweber; 37, Elizabeth Moore 20:00.67; 53, Erika Silva 21:26.27; 62, Emily Lux 22:29.14; 64, Katherine Thompson 22:34.56.
Chiawana: 36, Hailey Bullis 20:00.30; 50, Katie Thien 21:11.90; 57, Abigail Mathews 22:06.95; 61, Krysta McCance 22:23.21; 65, Anastasia Melkozerova 22:37.12.
Pasco: 60, Nancy Velasco Cruz 22:18.57; 66, Lisette Hernandez 22:45.07; 68, Heaven LaFollette 22:56.80; 72, Maggie McDuff 23:52.96.
This story was originally published October 29, 2016 at 7:02 PM with the headline "Richland trio headed to state cross country."