BOTHELL — One Pivec on the Lynnwood girls cross country team is already a household name from another sport.
But another Pivec is quickly catching up to her.
Mikayla Pivec, a star on the basketball court for Lynnwood, and her sister Malia are looking to lead the Royals to the state tournament in their final year together. The sisters are talented, competitive and driven to work hard and succeed on, and off, the course.
“You can definitely tell they’re sisters,” said Lynnwood cross country coach Stephanie Tastad. “They’re very close, first of all. As teammates, they’re very respectful of each other. … Malia’s a bit more open where Mikayla’s a bit more reserved. But as far as work ethic, they’re pretty in tune to each other.”
Mikayla, a senior who is ranked No. 49 in the espnW HoopGurlz Top 100 for the Class of 2016, began running cross country in middle school to stay in shape for basketball. She has dominated as much on the course as she does on the court finishing eighth overall at last year’s 3A state cross country meet with a time of 18 minutes, 41.33 seconds.
Mikayla also participated at the state track and field meet, finishing fourth in the 800-meter run and participating in Lynnwood’s state champion 1,600 relay team after leading the Royals basketball team to a 3A state title in the winter.
“It’s tough when you are so focused on another sport to perform at this level,” Tastad said. “She is so incredible at basketball. To see her perform as well as she does in cross country and track, people are so blown away. People just see her as a basketball player until they watch her run.”
Malia, a junior who is also a standout soccer player for a select club, missed last year’s cross country season because of an inflammation inside her hip that caused her pain all season. Tastad said the injury just “would not heal.”
However, Malia was able to compete at the state track and field meet with Mikayla in May and place second in the 3,200 run.
“I think Malia has a lot of adrenaline for the sport right now,” Tastad said. “All she wanted to do last year was compete, compete, compete. All she wanted to do was be part of the team. She was there every single day with our team last year, even though she wasn’t able to step on the course and compete with them. It’s pretty incredible to see the motivation. She’s completely determined to get out there and run.”
Tastad said when Malia started running at Lynnwood, she already had a role model to look up to.
“Malia came into her freshman year really not knowing what to do, except that she was going to hang on her big sister’s shoulder. And she did,” Tastad said. “She ran right at her sister’s shoulder, followed her work ethic and really, whatever Mikayla did, Malia did.”
The sisters enjoy spending time with each other and training together. Both also admit to being a little competitive.
“It’s nice having a really talented training partner,” Mikayla said. “We can be competitive but also know what’s best for each other and don’t push each other too hard. We’re competitive but we’re happy if we both do our best. We’re always rooting for each other to be as successful as possible.”
“It’s friendly competition. It’s not a heated rivalry,” Malia added. “She’s not so much another person that I need to beat, but a person that, if she’s ahead of me, I know I can get to that pace because that’s who I train with. It’s nice to have that.”
For Tastad, the pair have been a joy to work with.
“They’re very coachable kids,” she said. “They listen to criticism and adjust themselves when they need to. They’re really good. Mikayla listens more and understands tactics and Malia is just raring to go.”
The older Pivec has noticed how hard her younger sister works, and tries to match that to keep up.
“Malia works really hard, so I know that I’ve got to keep working to try to match her work ethic,” Mikayla said. “She’s a fitness animal. She works really, really hard and will cross-train with soccer, biking and swimming. Even though she’s not a big fan of swimming, she’ll work on it to improve her cardio.”
Malia and her older sister disagree on how much fun swimming is — the younger Pivec isn’t a huge fan while Mikayla exclaims “I like swimming!” — but the pair agree on a goal for the Royals this season.
“I’d like to see our team go to state, because Lynnwood has been successful the past few years, individually,” Malia said. “I know we’ve had one person get to state. But everybody’s been training hard and I think we can get that third spot out of district to go to state.”
“I hope our team makes it to state this year,” Mikayla agreed. “I think we’ll have a good shot if everybody’s healthy and ready to compete.”
Lynnwood has a tough path out of districts with Glacier Peak, Mountlake Terrace and Arlington all hoping to return to state.
But the competition is aware of the Pivecs.
“Lynnwood has the Pivec sisters and they’re incredible,” said Glacier Peak head coach Dan Parker. “… I love having those kids. First of all, it draws attention to Wesco, especially, on the girls side. I would say there’s four of the top teams in the state (in our district). When you get competitors like that it definitely makes you better.”
Tastad, who was a state champion runner for Lynnwood in the late 80s, hopes that Mikayla caps her senior year with a “storybook ending” at the 3A state meet.
And, like the Pivecs, she hopes the Lynnwood team is there to run with her.
“No matter the outcome of this season, Mikayla and Malia are two of the most gregarious and fun kids to be out there with,” Tastad said. “Watching them with their teammates, they really bring a special feeling to the team and make everybody out there step up their game. I think just the fact that they’re able to run together is pretty special and I hope that this forever remains one of their favorite memories growing up together. It’s one of mine, as far as coaching.”
Even though Mikayla is graduating soon and will head off to college to play basketball, Malia envisions the pair may still race from time to time.
“Running’s a lifelong sport,” Malia said. “I’ll probably still motivate her to run and get her out there even though she’s going to play basketball.”
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