Through the mud, grass, woodlands, and rain, cross-country has ran close in both times, and in bonds. 4A is a tough league to run in, especially for a team with such similar times. In the 5,000-meter race for WesCo South, senior runners Jacob Howell and Brandon Hines, had times within 1 second of each other.
The varsity team, consisting of all seniors, has been running together all four years of high school so it is no wonder how they have progressed.
“We’ve got a tight pack when competing [and training].” Howell said. “The top four runners are close in times for the most part, which makes it difficult to race other teams because we get going at the same speed.”
But keeping the pack on each others flanks has not exactly hurt the team. The individual runners, senior top-four pack runner Michael O’Neill and sophomore Nina Penner, placed for the WIAA 4A state championships, which is a 5,000-meter race on the Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco, Washington this Saturday. The women’s varsity race begins at 1:00 p.m., and the men’s varsity race begins at 2:30 p.m.
Though after this season there will be a very small cross-country team if at all because it now consists of mostly seniors, there will still be forces to be reckoned with from the JV team.
Among the contenders are Sophomores Justin Frazier, Matt Black, and Ben Pierson, and Juniors Tyler Baker and Abdi Jama.
