Red Wolves’ cross country ready to hit the trails

Published 10:13 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008

With six years under his belt as cross country coach at

Cedarcrest High School, Bruce McDowell thinks the time has come

for his thinclads to make a move up the KingCo ladder.

Last year, the Red Wolves boys finished fourth in the league

and tenth at districts, while standout James Conrich qualified

for the state championship. The girls’ team finished ninth in the

final league standings.

“We have four strong returnees on the boys’ squad,”

said McDowell. &”They’re eager to be better than last year.

We’re shooting for the top three in the league, and top six at

districts.

“As for the girls, this year we’ll be competing with a

complete team for only the second time. I’d say they’re young and

healthy, but they might be held back by their inexperience.”

Inexperience with both squads – and an injury-free season –

are what concern the coach the most. Therefore, he intends to

rely on his strong core of veteran runners to lead the way for

the others.

Returning on the men’s side of the house are senior Eric

Pedeferri and juniors James Conrick, Chris Lee and Danny Abell.

They’ll be bolstered by key freshmen Pat Conrick and Chris

Martin.

The women will look to returning sophomores Yingxuan Law and

Michelle Whyman. Freshmen Kelly Ramirez, Maggie Diaz and Sarah

Green will also be expected to play a big part in the team’s

success.

Notably, the men’s squad has three brother “teams”

besides the Conricks, consisting of Chris and Brian Lee, Eric and

Aaron Pedeferri and Jarod and Chris Martin. Coach McDowell said

it’s kind of “weird,” but added he’s glad to have the

freshman representatives from the Conrick, Lee, Pedeferri and

Martin families.

The Red Wolves’ season will kick off – or perhaps more

accurately, run off – this Saturday with competition at two

invitational tournaments. The girls are traveling to Shoreline

for their annual meet, while the boys will head up Sound a bit

for the Edmonds Invitational.

“They’re both big invitationals, with anywhere from 30 to

40 teams,” said McDowell. “Last year’s meets had all

the great teams from places like the Tri-Cities, the Spokane

area, and other schools.

“They usually involve a lot of the big 4A schools, so

it’s actually a good preview for us in KingCo.”

As for the conference schedule, it will start on Thursday,

Sept. 16, when the two squads travel to Issaquah to take on

Liberty and Sammamish High Schools. The last regular season

cross-country event is Oct. 14, when the Wolves host Mount Si

High.

In the meantime, Coach McDowell and assistant coach Lisa

Windle hope to get the most out of their runners, with hopefully

a good outcome for all concerned.

“We’re looking for some experience, and we’ll work

towards the future,” said McDowell.