PASCO — Arlington cross country head coach Mike Shierk is thinking about writing a book about the Eagles’ run the past few seasons.
Unfortunately, not all tales have storybook endings.
The Eagles fell short of their goal of winning the 3A team title at the Washington Cross Country Championship Saturday afternoon. But Arlington, which surprised many when it placed fourth at last year’s meet, improved on that finish and brought a third-place trophy back to Arlington.
“This is an exclamation point on the end of a pretty fun journey of those boys on the hill,” Shierk said. “Maybe I’ll write a book someday about them. It’s been a journey from when they were these little freshmen kids to their sophomore year when I’d hear them singing ‘Livin’ on a Prayer’ out there. To last year, taking fourth and then this year they improved to take third. That’s quite a journey.”
North Central (75 points) won its 10th consecutive team title, well ahead of second-place Kamiakin (121) and Arlington (124). Topping the defending champs was a goal the Eagles had since arriving at the Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco last year.
It only intensified after placing fourth last year behind the Indians.
“We come in believing that we can do it, asking our guys to go to the wire and give us everything they’ve got and they did,” Shierk said. “North Central had a better day. And we congratulate them. Does it hurt? Yeah. But if you had asked me five or six years ago, ‘Hey, what would your feeling be after you just placed third at the state cross country meet?’ I would have been elated.”
Nathan Beamer finished second overall in the 3A boys race with a time of 15 minutes, 18.8 seconds. It was a personal best time for Beamer and the third-fastest time at the boys state meet in all classifications.
Justin Jenke of North Central won the 3A boys race with a time of 15:02.0.
“That was two seconds off (his personal record),” Shierk said. “Nate’s just been an incredible kid and he’s just supremely confident. He believed he was going to win it all along, and he came darn close. But, North Central — it’s very difficult to gauge where those guys are going to be.”
“I didn’t feel too great out there but I ran the best I could today,” Beamer said. “I think, we gave a pretty solid effort. It was a good day for us. I think if we would have ran our best it would have been a little different. North Central was good. I think even on our best day they would have got us. But that’s just how it is.”
Beamer and fellow senior Zachary Cushman led the Eagles. Cushman finished 17th with a time of 15:50.6. Not far behind was teammate Michael Barene in 28th place. Barene, another senior, finished with a time of 16:05.3.
“A lot of these guys are seniors and they’re going to graduate,” Shierk said. “To see them come here and perform really, really well and to show that improvement, it is a very satisfying job. We feel they’ve made the proper steps toward getting better. We have improved. We took third. I’m proud of the guys. They all stepped up and got after it.
“We didn’t achieve our goal. Came darn close.”
Shierk said being a little disappointed with the third-place finish is “a measure of success for where we are as a program.” With a few impressive freshmen ready to make the jump to varsity next season the Eagles hope to keep the success and improvement continuing.
“We’ve got some stud freshmen coming in,” Cushman said. “Hopefully, they can carry on the torch. I think they will. It’s all about the program.”
Boys roundup
Elsewhere in the boys 3A race, Glacier Peak (194 points) edged out Juanita (195) by one for eighth place overall. The Grizzlies were led by seniors Sawyer Carter (32nd) with a time of 16:11.4 and Garren Arnold (38th) who finished in 16:18.5. Chris Bianchini also placed 43rd for the Grizzlies (16:22.8).
Shorewood’s Aaron Raiboth finished 53rd with a time of 16:29.6 and Meadowdale had a pair finish in the top 60: 41st-place Cameron Sanders (16:21.3) and Colin Knechtel (56th) with a time of 16:30.2.
Sam McCloughan of Edmonds-Woodway finished 55th (16:30.0).
Kamiak junior Cullen McEachern placed 12th overall in the 4A race with a time of 15:41.3. Lake Stevens, which finished eighth overall in the team standings, was bolstered by Blake Braaten (16:00.0) and Trevor Allen (16:00.8), who finished 32nd and 33rd, respectively.
Luca Strand of Cascade was 36th with a time of 16:01.6. Jackson’s Matthew Watkins (16:10.9), also finished in the top 50, placing 49th.
In the 2A race, Ian Fay of Cedarcrest finished 18th overall with a time of 16:15.9 to lead the Red Wolves to a sixth-place finish. Grant Van Valkenburg (28th), Cameron Hammontree (43rd) and Ben Benson (53rd) were the other top runners for Cedarcrest.
Archbishop Murphy’s Josh Rauvola finished 26th overall (16:28.0).
King’s took a trophy home, placing fourth overall in the 1A championship race. Matt Jackson (16:29.3) finished eighth overall for the Knights, who also got strong showings from Cameron Chew (42nd), Jonathan Billing (43rd) and Lewi Hagos (51st).
Sultan had a pair finish in the top 60: McCrea Black was 32nd with a time of 17:21.6 and Foster Frame (17:51.3) finished 58th.
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