The Cedarcrest Cross Country girls’ squad and Logan Orndorf competed at the state championships, held Saturday, Nov. 3, at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco.
The course at Sun Willows has a little bit of everything, says Cedarcrest head coach Bruce McClellan: Ups and downs, long straightaways and corners. It can be a fast course but it also has its challenges.
The girls finished sixth in the team race. This makes the fourth time out of the six years of this squad’s state streak that the girls’ squad has finished sixth or higher.
The squad was led up front by Olivia Waterman.
Waterman finished 18th, just two places off from the podium. Her time of 19:46 will put her at sixth on the team’s state course top-10 list as well as make her the seventh Red Wolf girl to break 20 minutes on the state course.
Diana Carr (40th) and Amelia Anderson (41st) came in together as the team’s number two and three placers. Megan Brimley (66th) and Molly Hammontree (98th) finished up the top five. Madison Smith (110th) and Cassidy Krawiec (117th) competed, and alternates Kayla Nelson and Noelle Viger had the experience of being at the state meet.
Orndorf was the Red Wolves’ lone boy competitor and finished 10th overall with a time of 15:53. It was his second podium appearance.
“Not that it is proper to compare times from different cross country courses because they are all so different, but that is the fastest time by any Cedarcrest boy on any 5K course,” stated McClellan.
James Conrick ran 15:55 at the Bellevue Invite in 2000. Mitchell Montgomery ran 15:56 at Carnation Golf Course in 2011.Orndorf ran faster than both of those times on a course that is most certainly more challenging than those two courses.
“For the past couple years, we talk a lot about the strength of our district at the 2A state level. This year was no different. There are 16 teams competing with four girls squads and three boys squads from our bi-district setup. So just going by percentages, our district 1/4 or less of the competition.
“Here are the stats. Our girls finished 6th overall and were the fourth squad out of our district (1st, 2nd, 5th and 6th). Olivia was 18th overall and the 8th girl from our district. Diana was 40th overall and 17th from our district. Amelia was 41st overall and 18th from our district.
We were unable to qualify a boys team to state this year. Well, the three boys’ teams from our district that qualified for state simply went 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Logan was 10th overall and 5th from our district. Our district is tough. Qualifying for state from our district is tough.”
