Eastlake girls cross country takes state
November 10, 2008
By Christopher Huber
After finishing with its tightest time spread of the year Saturday, the Eastlake girls cross country team is the Class 4A state champion.
Eastlake's state champion cross country team takes to the podium.
The Lady Wolves beat the three-time defending champion Gig Harbor runners by one point, 96-97.
“That’s one runner catching one person that makes a difference,” he said. “We, basically, won by one second.”
Eastlake’s top five runners finished an impressive 29 seconds apart, which is what the team had hoped for coming into the meet in Pasco, said Anderson, who before the meet was announced as the Washington State Cross Country Coaches Association 4A Girls Coach of the Year.
He said they knew Gig Harbor was going to come out strong. If they were going to win, the Wolves had to keep the pack tight. Points are scored based on a team’s top five times and the lowest point total wins.
Gig Harbor had them beat half way through the race, Anderson said.
“Our plan was to get as many girls in front of their number four and number two as they could,” Anderson said. “Megan (Batty) chased down their number two in the last 100 meters. We knew we had a chance and had contention, but the strategy came down to supporting each other during the race.”
Although no one from Eastlake placed in the top 19, its top five finished among the top 39 overall. Gig Harbor’s Alyssa Andrews placed first individually with a finish of 18 minutes flat.
Chelsea Orr finished first for Eastlake with a time of 19:13 for 20th place overall. Teammates Megan Batty (22nd place) and Tasha Lingenbrink (26th place) came in with times of 19:19 and 19:25 respectively. And Katelyn Steen and Erin Blodnick finished in 19:39 and 19:41 respectively, for 38th and 39th place overall.
“It is the purest team sport because every single person’s performance counts,” Anderson said.
Skyline boys are fifth
The Skyline boys’ team came just two points short of a trophy Saturday, finishing fifth in Class 4A competition. Finishing the meet with 174 points, the Spartans didn’t quite beat out Redmond, which had 172.
“They did great,” Skyline coach Brendan Hyland. “It’s obviously heart breaking to lose the trophy by two points, but they did well. Simon (Sorensen) ran lights-out and it was great to see him finish his cross country season on a real solid note.”
Sorensen finished fifth overall with a time of 15 minutes 30 seconds in the 3.1-mile course. Teammate Kyle Branch came in 17th in 15:58, Mark Frerker and Travis Lund each finished in 16:33, and Ben Ressler ran it in 17:14.
Both Sorensen and Branch qualified for the Border Clash meet in Beaverton, Ore., Hyland said.
Mead High School won the 4A boys title with 98 points.
Reporter Christopher Huber can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 242, or at chuber@isspress.com.
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