State cross country: Richland’s Andrus shines in rough meet for local runners

For most local runners, Saturday’s state cross country championships at Sun Willows Golf Course were filled with disappointing finishes and unfulfilled expectations.

In the boys Class 4A race, Richland’s Riley Moore was expected to compete for the individual title, but fell twice before crossing the finish line. College Place’s Kenneth Rooks had similar designs in the 1A heat, but a blown race strategy caused him to settle for a fourth place finish.

While many of the local talents failed to hit their marks, Richland’s Katie Andrus surpassed the goals she set for herself.

4A GIRLS

Andrus was in the middle of the pack of state qualifiers from regionals last week, taking the Mid-Columbia Conference and Greater Spokane League’s seventh of 14 berths.

She headed to Sun Willows with the mindset that any improvement over her 76th place finish at last year’s state meet would be a great result. She did much more than that.

Andrus — a junior — crossed the finish line in 18 minutes, 43.5 seconds on the brutally slow course to come in 12th and earn a spot on the podium.

“It’s amazing, last year I was 76th, and so this year, improving so much, I wasn’t expecting this so it’s just so crazy,” Andrus said.

Even though her performance at last year’s state meet was far from extraordinary, the experience gained from racing against the state’s best was priceless, which she proved on Saturday.

“I think it helped because I was familiar with the course so I knew where I needed to push and where I could make up ground,” Andrus said. “I think that I ran a smart race, that I kind of took it easy the first mile or so and kind of picked it up. I think it’s important to not get stagnant and just keep moving up in the pack.”

Hanford freshman Kendra Keller finished 60th (19:53.8) and Walla Walla’s Erika Leinweber took 72nd (19:58.9).

4A BOYS

Moore passed the 1-mile marker behind a lead pack of about a dozen runners, but was only about four seconds off the leaders at the time, Ferris’ Amir Ado and Henry Jackson’s Matthew Watkins. Over the next two miles, he picked off the runners in front of him and was in fifth coming down the home stretch. That’s when the day started to sour for the sophomore.

With about 50 meters to go and Eisenhower’s Alfonso Cuevas bearing down on him, Moore stumbled and fell. After a few seconds, he struggled to get back on his feet and nearly made it to the finish line when he fell again just before crossing.

When Moore finally made it across the line, he had fallen to 13th with a time of 15:48.

He left the course in the back of an ambulance, and looked to be suffering from severe dehydration. Richland coach Jay Bartlett later said that Moore was feeling much better after getting some fluids in his system Saturday evening.

Moore finished tenth at the state meet last season and was the third seeded qualifier this year.

His teammate Anthony Stone finished 54th with a 16:37.3.

Walla Walla’s Alex Iben ran a 16:25.8 and finished 34th.

1A BOYS

Rooks won the Class 1B/2B state championship as a sophomore last year and was looking forward to contending with the reigning 1A state champion, Northwest’s Tibebu “Tibs” Proctor, who ran the fastest state qualifying time (14:56) at any classification this year.

But when Proctor opened up a hefty lead at the 1-mile mark, and went on to win the race uncontested in 15:22.4, Rooks got out of his game plan and fell back to a fourth place finish (15:59.6).

“I didn’t have a strategy for if I wasn’t running with Tibs,” Rooks said. “I mentally faded, and that’s why I physically faded. It’s all mental, and I just wasn’t very mentally tough.

“I’m not disappointed, I just know I could have done better.”

Sophomore Rodolfo Flores led the Royal team to a 13th place finish, as he took 31st with a 17:06.0. Connell, with top finisher Nolan Chase (53rd, 17:25.1), took 17th.

NOTES

Sophomore Taylor Roe —who transferred from Kamiak to Lake Stevens this year — defended her Class 4A individual title, winning the heat in 17:34.1. ... Sehome won its fourth consecutive 2A boys title. ... Northwest’s girls defended their 1A championship. ... Deer Park’s boys repeated as 1A champs. ... Northwest Christian (Lacey) won its third consecutive 1B/2B boys championship.

This story was originally published November 5, 2016 at 9:49 PM with the headline "State cross country: Richland’s Andrus shines in rough meet for local runners."