Pack mentality

Published 4:48 pm Monday, October 6, 2008

It was a peaceful afternoon at McCollum Park. Other than the distant drone of traffic in South Everett and the relaxing flow of a nearby stream, one couldn’t hear much.

But then the Timberwolves emerged. Traveling in a pack of four, the runners from Jackson High burst out of the forest and quickly proceeded toward their prey: The finish line.

Within a few minutes they were sharing the glory of another dominant cross country victory. Jackson boys swept the first four places Thursday in a 3.1-mile race. The time gap between the No. 1 runner, Ben Lance, and the fourth-place runner, Mitchell Briggs, was merely a second.

In a sport where traveling fast and staying in a tight herd is the ultimate team goal, the Jackson Timberwolves appear difficult to stop.

“If we stay together and work together we can do our best,” said Briggs, a junior who placed seventh last year at the Class 4A state cross country meet.

And what, exactly, is Jackson’s best? Last season the squad tied a program record by taking fifth at the 4A championships. This fall its aspirations are much bigger.

“We want to go beyond that and hopefully go top three and get a trophy,” said Lance, a senior.

Just the top four squads receive trophies. In 2007 Briggs, Lance and the other T-wolves missed getting hardware by one spot. They watched the top four teams (Mead, Gig Harbor, Tahoma and Central Valley) celebrate.

“We were so close. I just really want to get a trophy this year,” Lance said.

It’s an attainable goal, based on Jackson’s performance so far. For the second consecutive week the T-wolves are ranked No. 1 in the Washington State Cross Country Coaches Association 4A poll.

It’s the first No. 1 state ranking in team history, Jackson coach Eric Hruschka said. It also represents a potential shift in Washington’s cross country power sources. Since 1988 Spokane schools have won every big-school state team title.

Thirteen of the championships belong to Mead, last year’s champ. But on Sept. 27 Jackson displayed its potential at the Stanford Invitational in California, finishing higher than any other team from Washington, including Mead as well as other state-ranked squads Southridge, Gig Harbor and Seattle Prep. Jackson placed second overall. Mead was eighth.

“It was probably the biggest race we’ve had in our high school careers ever,” said Briggs, who placed 37th overall at the Stanford Invite. “I think we all realized that there are a lot of good teams out there and we still need to work hard. I think we all really matured from it.”

Jackson’s three fastest finishers in the 5K run were Lance (16 minutes, two seconds; 14th place overall), junior Connor Frederickson (16:13; 18th) and Briggs (16:30).

The California trip was a great experience for Jackson, Hruschka said: “Performance-wise, we ran very well: B-plus, A-minus. For where we’re at in the season probably an A, but we’ve got some big-gun guys that are just getting back in there.”

One of those recovering “big guns” is Briggs. He hurt his hip in early August and it led to a quadriceps problem. But here’s good news for the top-ranked T-wolves.

“It’s finally coming around now,” Briggs said. “The last two weeks I’ve been running and getting a lot better.”

In cross country the team with the lowest combined score wins, and the top five finishers from each qualifying squad earn team points. When Jackson runners placed first through fourth and seventh last week at McCollum Park, they scored 17 points — nearly a perfect score (15 points).

And get this: Hruschka said Jackson could have run better — possibly a first- through seventh-place sweep — but he rested two runners who were tired from the Stanford Invite trip.

Jackson’s 4-1 football team may be getting most of the sports-related attention at the school these days. But the boys cross country crew is providing plenty of other reasons to celebrate. Jackson runners said they enjoy the accolades, including the No. 1 state ranking, yet remain zoned in on the ultimate prize.

“It’s nice to be recognized,” Lance said, “but we still have to keep the intensity up (and) keep working hard because the rankings really don’t mean much. That’s why they run the race, to find out who’s the best.”

Lance’s attitude meshes with an observation made by Hruschka, who hopes to see his team keep racing to new heights.

“Coaches all the time talk about, ‘Wow. That kid has a lot of talent but they don’t use it.’ This is a group of (Jackson) kids that has talent that’s using it,” Hruschka said, “and they’re working hard to try to find out how far they can take it.”

Writer Mike Cane: mcane@heraldnet.com. Check out the prep sports blog Double Team at cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/heraldnet/doubleteam.