North Central’s Janke, Moscow’s Ruck race to Richland Invite elite titles
Saturday’s elite race champions at the 47th annual Richland Invitational cross country meet used similar strategies to beat their competition.
North Central’s Justin Janke and Katherine Ruck of Moscow, Idaho, pulled away from the field after getting to the top of the steep hill at Carmichael Middle School while completing the second mile of the 3-mile run.
Janke, part of the national-powerhouse Indians of the Greater Spokane League, knew exactly when to make his move.
Runners came up the hill the first time bunched with Janke for the first mile. But after getting to the top, Janke started to pull away as the course slowly went downhill after that.
“The whole plan was to go uphill, then go big downhill,” Janke said. “It’s hard to tell when you’re running if you have a gap. It’s all opinionated. I could hear someone say I had a 30-yard lead, someone telling me I had 50 yards, another saying 20. Do I average those out?”
No. So Janke just kept running, pulling away for the victory in 15 minutes, 6.18 seconds. He finished 16 seconds ahead of runner-up Jack Yearian of Tacoma’s Bellarmine Prep.
Eisenhower — led by Spencer Stewart (fifth place) and Ronan Price (seventh) — won the team title, edging North Central 77-81.
Richland freshman Riley Moore was the top Mid-Columbia placer at 11th.
Ruck, meanwhile, had Brittany Aquino of East Valley-Yakima shadowing her for the first 2 miles.
It wasn’t until Ruck, the defending Class 4A state champion from Idaho, got to the top of the hill for the second time that she started making some space for herself. She kicked it in on the downhill slope and pulled away from Aquino for the victory.
“Downhills are my favorite part of the race,” Ruck said. “This is definitely a fun course. I usually don’t get this much grass to run on.”
Ruck, a junior, last ran in Richland as a freshman in 2013, when she clocked in at 19:17.69. This time, Ruck finished the race in an impressive 18:07.16.
Kamiakin, led by freshman McKinzi Teeples’ 10th-place finish, was second in the team scoring with 134 points. Only Bellarmine Prep was better at 111 points.
Hanford’s Hailey Cleavenger was the top Mid-Columbia finisher, taking sixth.
At Carmichael Middle School, Richland
3 miles
Division 1 boys team scores: 1. Eisenhower 77; 2. North Central 81; 3. Bellarmine Prep 130. Also: 9. Richland 276; 10. Walla Walla 284; 14. Hermiston 373; 15. Hanford 407; 20. Southridge 512.
Top 10 finishers: 1. Justin Janke (NC) 15:06.18; 2. Jack Yearian (BP) 15:22.32; 3. Hayden Dressel (Mt. Spokane) 15:42.56; 4. Peter Hogan (Bishop Blanchet) 15:50.80; 5. Spencer Stewart (Eis) 16:01.11; 6. Josh Corgatelli (Moscow, Idaho) 16:01.45; 7. Ronan Price (Eis) 16:01.73; 8. Matthew Watkins (Henry Jackson) 16:02.01; 9. Gabriel Meek (NC) 16:11.94; 10. Turlan Morlan (Gonzaga Prep) 16:14.90.
Chiawana: 129. Juan Mojica 18:30.63.
DeSales: 48. Daniel Ness 17:08.64.
Hanford: 26. Porter McMichael 16:43.12; 31. Jared Wright 16:48.41; 120. Sam Parkman 18:17.81; 121. Brendan Mitchell 18:19.55; 161. Nic Fraga 19:07.91.
Hermiston: 40. Josiah Niederwerfer 17:01.15; 47. Hayden Earl 17:08.04; 76. Donell Rome 17:17:25.41; 117. Graydon Fritz 18:14.26; 141. Trysten Seavert 18:42.94.
Pasco: 91. Ismael Castaneda 17:40.54.
Richland: 11. Riley Moore 16:16.86; 37. Jonah Sandoval 16:57.69; 50. Jacob Gill 17:09.09; 99. Jess Todd 17:47.86; 114. Mark McDuffie 18:08.88.
Southridge: 92. Keanu Daos 17:42.65; 106. Tristan Robinson 18:00.00; 109. Crew Morris 18:01.65; 130. Antonio Garcilazo 18:32.92; 136. Wade Yocom 18:38.56.
Walla Walla: 22. Alex Iben 16:39.42; 53. Andrew Feistner 17:10.80; 67. John Peters 17:22.44; 84. Grayson Gillin 17:32.98; 94. C Reid Reinninger 17:44.48.
Division 1 girls team scores: 1. Bellarmine Prep 111; 2. Kamiakin 134; 3. Mt. Spokane 138. Also: 9. Hanford 252; 17. Southridge 393.
Top 10 finishers: 1. Katherine Ruck (Moscow, Idaho) 18:07.16; 2. Brittany Aquino (East Valley-Yakima) 18:30.50; 3. Moriah Duenich (Deer Park) 19:09.83; 4. Micaela Kostecka (Mt. Spokane) 19:13.71; 5. Libby Michael (Deer Park) 19:16.93; 6. Hailey Cleavenger (Hanford) 19:27.22; 7. Natalie Schwartzenberger (Gonzaga Prep) 19:27.49; 8. Madison Ward (St. George’s) 19:27.73; 9. Claire Dingus (University) 19:29.03; 10. McKinzi Teeples (Kamiakin) 19:33.51.
Chiawana: 72. Samantha Schmidt 21:49.88.
DeSales: 74. Anna Ruthven 21:52.29.
Hanford: 40. Grace Arnold 20:39.42; 66. Amber Skouson 21:39.51; 70. Rachel Schmidt 21:46.68; 104. Kristin Pilgrim 22:48.94.
Kamiakin: 17. Lindsey Lowe 19:46.89; 35. Brooke Moon 20:34.26; 37. Mirannda Shulman 20:35.62; 57. Julia Almaguer 21:18.20.
Richland: 34. Katie Andrus 20:33.43; 38. Isabel Silva 20:36.60.
Southridge: 51. Brooke Hansen 21:08.92; 79. Lindsey Wooley 22:02.60; 92. Lizzie Stites 22:24.44; 110. Allie Stites 23:02.72; 115. Kila Vopat 23:20.07.
Walla Walla: 102. Natalie Hartford 22:39.45; 113. Elizabeth Young 23:08.48; 145. Kiana Newcomb 24:43.24; 147. Sage Kline 26:11.71.
Division 2 boys team scores: 1. Selah 68; 2. Central Valley 102; 3. Lakeside 121. Also: 8. Tri-Cities Prep 243; 12. Sunnyside 314; 14. Othello 381; 17. Kennewick 428; 18. Prosser 437.
Top 3 — 1. Tim Pendry (Pullman) 16:36.44; 2. Cameron Wyman (Bellarmine Prep) 16:40.42; 3. Joey Perez (Lewiston) 16:43.72.
Chiawana: 91. Connor Woodward 19:05.97.
DeSales: 90. Maxwell Vandersloot 19:04.85.
Kennewick: 64. Johan Correa 18:31.93; 89. Wyatt Fiander 19:00.92; 100. Kyler Markland 19:14.92; 111. Simplicio Hernandez 19:21.13; 135. Issa Musa 20:22.16.
Othello: 62. Ulises Neponuceno 18:31.37; 69. Doriel Arreola-Vargas 18:40.72; 85. Ethan Besherse 18:59.74; 94. Ryan Gonzalez 19:11.31; 134. Pedro Ramirez 20:20.68.
Prosser: 73. Jacob Torres 18:44.68; 97. Christopher Lane 19:12.91; 101. Harrison Moore 19:15.39; 117. Tito Torres 19:35.49; 121. Briston Stone 19:47.01.
Sunnyside: 32. Griffey Sarmiento 17:40.81; 53. Emmanuel Ocampo 18:20.52; 92. Boshyar Madera 19:07.63; 93. Luis Ramos 19:08.91; 98. Anthony Moyer 19:13.31.
Tri-Cities Prep: 10. Phillip Geist 17:04.73; 42. Cesar Robles 18:02.66; 67. Thomas Mercer 18:37.82; 78. Sam Vanhoudt 18:52.93; 87. Justin Moon 19:00.31.
Waitsburg-Prescott: 41. Landon Callas 18:02.42; 144. Skylar Wood 20:49.20.
Division 2 girls team scores — 1. Pullman 89; 2. Selah 95; 3. Bellarmine Prep 141. Also: 6. Hermiston 158; 11. Prosser 241; 14. Wahluke 313; 15. Othello 386.
Top 3 — 1. Emily Adams (Waitsburg-Prescott) 19:48.03; 2. Elyria Kabasenche (Pullman) 19:59.61; 3. Madeline Walker (Pullman) 20:01.83.
Chiawana: 54. Hailey Bullis 23:08.05; 71. Katie Thien 24:07.48.
Hermiston: 17. Sofia Gispert 21:26.59; 25. Melany Solorio 21:46.07; 34. Morgan Hancock 22:18.72; 35. Laura Zepeda 22:19.03; 59. Sidney Tovey 23:19.93.
Othello: 64. Michelle Murillo 23:49.47; 69. Maria Larios 24:01.73; 95. Olivia Giles 25:11.92; 108. Elizabeth Giles 26:38.69; 116. Silvia Rodriguez-Garcilazo 27:34.18.
Prosser: 23. Hana VerMulm 21:44.18; 49. Hailey Buttars 22:54.83; 53. Jennifer Torres 23:04.62; 67. Justice Newhouse 23:55.95; 78. Eliza Buttars 24:22.98.
Richland: 60. Rylie Jundt 23:23.49; 73. Ada Poulson 24:08.22; 101. Ashley Hammond 25:38.51.
Wahluke: 44. Alma Velasco 22:42.89; 61. Jessica Arellano 23:26.20; 62. Lupe Abarca 23:33.37; 89. Stephanie Valdespino 24:51.87; 105. Jennifer Navarette 26:25.18.
Jeff Morrow: 509-582-1508; jmorrow@tricityherald.com; Twitter: @morrow_jeff
This story was originally published October 10, 2015 at 10:49 PM with the headline "North Central’s Janke, Moscow’s Ruck race to Richland Invite elite titles."