Jackson vying to be the best
Published 11:18 pm Wednesday, November 5, 2008
The past few months Ben Lance and his teammates have been putting together a challenging puzzle. Only one piece remains, but it’s the most difficult part to figure out.
Lance is a senior on the Jackson High School boys cross country team, which has a long list of season accomplishments that includes divisional and district championships. This week Jackson will finally chase its ultimate goal: A state title.
“We’re trying to put another piece of the puzzle together. We’re trying to run our best at the state meet and just improve something each week,” said Lance, the individual winner Nov. 1 at the Class 4A District 1 meet in Langley.
Jackson has been the top-ranked 4A team since late September, and the Timberwolves earned widespread acclaim with a No. 23 slot in the Oct. 16 Harrier Super 25 national rankings. But can Jackson keep rolling and win the 4A state meet Saturday at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco?
“We need luck and we need to stay healthy,” Jackson head boys cross country coach Eric Hruschka said after his team dominated the district meet. Seven Timberwolves were among the top 16 individual finishers, led by Lance. Jackson’s other top performers were Ian McLeod (third), Connor Frederickson (fourth), Sean Roe (10th), Mitchell Briggs (12th), Derek Woolsey (14th) and Nathan Calacat (16th). The time gap between Lance and Calacat was just 45 seconds.
In cross country a squad’s top five runners score team points based on placing. The lowest score wins.
Last year at state Jackson tallied 166 points and took fifth in the team standings, the best 4A performance in program history.
The 2007 team champion was Mead of Spokane, which extended a lengthy streak Jackson hopes to extinguish Saturday: Since 1988 the big-school boys state title has been won only by Spokane-area schools Mead, University and Ferris.
More than merely having a chance to prove its ability in Pasco, Jackson of Mill Creek can show runners west of the mountains are once again as good as — or better than — their Eastern Washington counterparts.
“If we’re the ones, the first team from the west side to win in (twenty) years, people will be talking about that for a long time. It makes it that much more exciting,” Lance said.
Jackson’s prime competition should come from Tahoma, Ferris and Eisenhower, teams ranked 2-4 in the 4A coaches’ poll. Mead, which has 13 state titles since 1988, is ranked No. 6.
“Teams have been getting better around the state,” McLeod said. “We’ve been ranked first (almost) all season. We just want to keep that going.”
In its final pre-state event Ferris beat Eisenhower and Mead Nov. 1 at the Greater Spokane League/Big 9 Regional Championships in Richland.
“We have some pressure on us,” said Lance, “because the east-side schools always run well at state.”
