Cross Country team takes fourth place
Published 8:27 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008
After finishing last in Kingco in 2003, the seven varsity boys got together before last week’s league race to renew the commitment they all had to each other. Everyone would have to perform their best if the team was to go on, and verbally stating that to each other held everyone accountable and ready to go to work when they toed the line. The boys left it all out on the course last week, and walked away with a fourth- place finish, and a trip to districts.
Once again, Rob Jepson got out fast. This time, though, Colin Parsons decided to join him. About 10 runners back was Brad Allen followed closely by Drake da Ponte, Thomas Goble and Owen Strom. Their teammate, Robby Pekara, also was running strong, challenging himself to stay with the pack of runners.
Jepson continued to do his thing up front, while Parsons mustered up everything he had to stay with him for as long as possible. Meanwhile, behind them, da Ponte had caught up to Allen, and they were picking off runners one by one. Goble and Strom dropped back a little, but were still right in the mix and running strong. Pekara was leading his pack of runners, letting them know that they would have to work to stay with him. As the runners crossed the finish line their times gave them a fourth place finish with a trip to the district meet.
The Mount Si girls’ team was just as pumped and ready to go. They had prepared all season for this meet, and their last few workouts had told them they were fit. They had run the course for practice to get every inch of it ingrained in their heads.
Devan Paulus and Katie Hogan both got out very fast, and immersed themselves in the large chase pack. Not far behind were Meaghan Dunklee, Ariane Barr, Eleisha Davis, Barb Holm, and Rebecca Coffey. As the race unfolded, Hogan moved up to take over for the team. Her game face was on, and she was sticking to her plan. Hogan pushed as hard as she could all the way to the line, and secured a place for herself at the district meet. Paulus finished second for the team in 28th place, just missing the qualifying spot by three places. Behind her, two impressive performances came from Barr and Davis. They knew what they had to do, and both followed through. Teammate, Dunklee, finished right behind Davis. Finishing up the race were Coffey and Holm.
The district meet will be held at Lower Woodland Park in Seattle on Thursday, Oct. 28. at 2:30 p.m.
