<< Previous   of   Next >> For the Enterprise/ELIZABETH ARMSTRONG  (click to enlarge) The Jackson boys team had a perfect race finishing 1st-5th in the Southern Divison championship race. Mitchell Briggs (left) was the overall winner with a time of 15:55. Running are Briggs (from left), Nathan Calacat (behind), Sean Roe, Blake Nelson and Connor Frederickson. For the Enterprise/ELIZABETH ARMSTRONG  (click to enlarge) Jackson's Sean Roe (336) and Meadowdale's Jon Hanson lead with their tongues at the start of the boys South Division race. For the Enterprise/ELIZABETH ARMSTRONG  (click to enlarge) Jackson's Kelsey Fruland (from left) and Edmonds-Woodway's Betsie Hopper and Amia Nash run stride for stride during the girls south division 5k race. For the Enterprise/ELIZABETH ARMSTRONG  (click to enlarge) Shorewood's Erin Johnson leads a pack of Glacier Peak runners as she finishes 2nd in the South Division Race.

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CONTACT THE ENTERPRISE Jocelyn Robinson, News editor jrobinson@heraldnet.com

Jackson achieves perfection

By Mike Cane
For The Enterprise

MARYSVILLE

Few teams can truthfully say they are perfect, but the Jackson High School boys cross country team is part of the prestigious club.

Runners for nationally-ranked Jackson placed first through fifth in the Wesco South championships Oct. 24 at Lakewood High School, achieving a perfect team score of 15 points.

In yet another outstanding performance by Jackson — No. 1 in the Oct. 13 Milesplit Fab-15 National Rankings — the Timberwolves stuck close together for much of the race and ended with an impressive 27-second gap between No. 1 finisher Mitchell Briggs and No. 5 finisher Nathan Calacat.

“That was our goal ... to come into this and really try hard to get that perfect score, and it worked out,” said Briggs, a senior who won the 3.1-mile race in 15 minutes, 55 seconds, leading Jackson to its fourth straight South title.

Jackson's perfection was easily the most buzzed-about performance among three varsity boys races during the 2009 Cascade Conference and Western Conference Divisional Cross Country Championships.

Coming in second through fifth for Jackson were Sean Roe (16:04), Connor Frederickson (16:08), Blake Nelson (16:11) and Calacat (16:22). Being part of such a strong team is “awesome,” Briggs said. “You know you can go into the race and you can really just pack up pretty much ... and seeing all of your guys next to you is amazing.”

The Class 2A, 3A and 4A Northwest District Championships are Oct. 31 at South Whidbey High in Langley. Runners will try to qualify for the state meet, set for Nov. 7 at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco.

Three of the South's best runners — Kamiak's Bryton Reim (sick), Glacier Peak's Jeff Bastian (ankle) and Shorecrest's Joe McConaughy — did not compete, which helped Jackson complete its mission.

“Those were the three guys we were going to worry about in the race,” said Briggs, “and when we heard at the line that they weren't running we were like, ‘Well, our perfect score (is) possible.'”

In the girls race, Jackson's Juliette Becker and Kesley Fruland took ninth and 10th, respectively.

BOYS RESULTS: Meadowdale's Jon Hanson finished sixth, while Shorewood's Alex Brock took 10th overall in the Western Conference South Division championships. In the team competition, Shorecrest finished third and Shorewood was fourth.

GIRLS RESULTS: Shorewood's Erin Johnson placed second in the Western Conference South Division championships. Edmonds-Woodway's Betsie Hopper took seventh. Lakewood's Guske wins second straight title

It was all about desire. With time running out and a persistent rival by his side, Taylor Guske pushed harder.

Guske, a Lakewood High senior, pulled away late in a back-and-forth race to win his second straight Cascade Conference individual championship. He prevailed in a meet-record tying time of 16:26, matching former Lakewood star Tyler Rapp's meet record from 2005. That's the year that Rapp, now a Lakewood assistant coach, won his state title.

Runnerup Conner Ballew of Archbishop Murphy finished in 16:31, five seconds behind Guske, who traded the lead with Ballew during the race. Guske said he and Ballew “fed off each other.” Highlighting his school's homecoming week (the dance was Saturday night), Guske pulled away in the final quarter-mile, sparked by his coach's inspiring words.

“Either you want it or you don't,” Guske said Lakewood co-head coach Jeff Sowards yelled at him during the race.

Guske did want it and he helped Lakewood, ranked No. 4 in the 2A state coaches' poll, win its sixth straight conference title and 21st overall. Chad Skiles placed third for Lakewood, which edged Archbishop Murphy by three points for the team crown.

King's Harris Emmons took fourth and was followed by Archbishop Murphy's Sam Holeman and Ryan Loutsis, who were fifth and sixth, respectively.

In the girls race, King's Adele Eslinger finished seventh and Makenzie Taylor was eighth.

Enterprise staff contributed to this story.