Wesco girls make strong comeback in 4A meet

Published 10:51 pm Saturday, November 3, 2007

PASCO — A year after having no representatives in the individual awards ceremony, the Western Conference North Division made a strong comeback.

Four runners from three Wesco North high schools finished among the top 12 individuals in the Class 4A girls race Saturday during the 2007 high school cross country state championships.

“It was awesome,” said Monroe High School senior Lyndy Davis, who finished the 5-kilometer (3.1-mile) route at Sun Willows Golf Course in 19 minutes, 16 seconds and placed 11th. The top 12 individuals receive medals.

Davis completed the race two seconds ahead of Snohomish senior Ellie Bonner (12th). The other top-12 performers from Snohomish County were Lake Stevens freshmen Lacey Wagner (seventh, 19:03) and Cia Bywater (10th, 19:10).

“Those two Lake Stevens freshmen, they have a good (career) ahead of them,” Monroe’s Davis said.

“I wasn’t surprised that Lacey was up there. She’s a freshman (but) she’s a strong competitor,” said Bonner, who barely beat Wagner last weekend for the district title.

“But the second one (Bywater), she did surprise me,” Bonner added. “But then again, she is a Bywater and they have a tendency to come from out of nowhere.”

Bywater is the younger sister of Lake Stevens senior Joey Bywater, who as a sophomore quickly emerged as a cross county and track star despite getting a relatively late start in competitive running.

The Lake Stevens freshmen said they were both nervous but they ended up running close together and that helped settle them down.

“I almost felt like I had to prove to myself that I could do it, and it worked out,” said Wagner, a former soccer player who first tried cross country as an eighth-grader.

Bonner, freshman Sarah Whybark (31st) and junior Kristi Fairbanks (32nd) led Snohomish to third place in the team standings. Gig Harbor and Eastlake were first and second, respectively. It’s Gig Harbor’s third consecutive championship.

Wagner and Bywater headlined Lake Stevens’ seventh-place performance. Vikings co-head coach Cliff Chaffee said the youngsters’ impressive runs were no fluke.

“They’re that good and they’ve trained. It’s not like this came out of nowhere,” Chaffee said.

The coach praised the leadership and dedication of sophomore Samantha Minor (59th), who Chaffee said was the driving force behind the squad’s success.

The other top local individuals were Oak Harbor’s Mietra Smollack (16th, 19:23) and Marysville-Pilchuck’s Haley Nemra (20th, 19:33).

3A girls

Like any truly determined runner, Mawa Ali kept moving on up.

Ali, a Lynnwood High sophomore, was in about 30th place after a mile but made steady progress and eventually placed 15th in the 3A girls race. A first-year cross country competitor, Ali completed the course in 20 minutes, thanks in part to assistance from an opponent.

“I had (verbal encouragement) from another girl. We were just helping each other,” Ali said.

Ali said she had never met the supportive foe until Saturday and couldn’t remember which team the girl ran for, only that the girl’s team colors were red and white. The encouragement worked as Ali beat her previous personal-record time on a 5K course by seven seconds.

Ali got better and better throughout the season and has exciting potential, Lynnwood coach Ryan Bartell said: “She’s still kind of untapped in terms of what her limits are.”

2A girls

Cara Strodel keeps exceeding her own modest expectations. The Cedacrest High freshman apparently isn’t a great judge of her own talent.

“She’s kind of a sandbagger. She’s awfully pessimistic sometimes about her abilities,” Cedarcrest coach Bruce McDowell said. “We just gotta keep giving her positive (reinforcement).”

Maybe placing 10th in the 2A girls state championships will convince Strodel. In her first appearance in the state meet, Strodel crossed the finish line in 19:51, making her the No. 2 freshman in the field. She was the top finisher for Cedacrest, which placed seventh in its first trip to state since the school took its current name 15 years ago.

Freshman Jessica Beam was 28th for the Red Wolves, who expect to return five of their top six runners next season.

The South Whidbey squad missed winning a top-four team trophy by four points. The Falcons scored 149 points, placing fifth behind fourth-place Riverside. Riverside would have won a tiebreaker with Whidbey because its No. 6 runner placed higher.

“Our top two were solid,” South Whidbey coach Doug Fulton said, referring to senior Erica Johnson (20th) and junior Caroline Habel (24th).

Contact Herald Writer Mike Cane at mcane@heraldnet.com. For more high school sports news, check out the prep sports blog Double Team at cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/heraldnet/doubleteam.