Neale leads Glacier Peak’s girls to district title

Published 8:17 pm Saturday, October 30, 2010

LANGLEY — It’s rare when a cross country course gets the best of Amy-Eloise Neale.

But going into this weekend, Neale — Glacier Peak High School’s nationally recognized sophomore distance runner — had memories of two straight mediocre performances on the challenging 3.1-mile (5-kilometer) course at South Whidbey High.

On Saturday, Neale got another shot on the course. This time she conquered it.

Stepping up with an impressive race going into the Nov. 6 state meet, Neale placed first and tied the course record with a time of 18 minutes, 5 seconds in the Class 3A District 1 Cross Country Championships Saturday.

Earlier this season, Neale ran the same course in 18:50.78 at the South Whidbey Invite. Her winning time at the 2009 district meet was 18:49.19. Now those performances, far below Neale’s meteoric expectations, are distant memories.

“Really, what it was about today,” Neale said after the race, “was just me going out there and actually having a good race on this course in a time that I can feel good about before state.”

Based on her satisfied grin, Neale definitely felt good about her run on the tough, often mushy route in Langley, which is notoriously slow. She tied the course record set by Gig Harbor’s Alyssa Andrews in 2008.

Neale had another huge reason to be happy: Glacier Peak’s No. 1 state-ranked and nationally rated team won its third straight district team title. The speedy Grizzlies didn’t pull off a perfect 1-2-3-4-5 sweep like they did a week earlier at the league championships, but they still impressed.

The top three 3A teams and top 15 placing individuals advanced to the state championships Nov. 6 at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco. Including Neale (the defending 3A state individual champ), Glacier Peak runners finished 1-2-3-5-9, tallying 20 points. Oak Harbor, led by eighth-place individual finisher Allison Duvenez, took second place in the team standings with 66 points. Oak Harbor’s tightly packed group finished 8-13-14-15-16. Shorewood (91 points) was third.

Everett senior Chelsea Dowdell qualified for state by placing seventh in a time of 19:43.

Heading into the 3A championships in Pasco, Glacier Peak feels great about its chances to win the state title. The Grizzlies, who finished second at state last year, are right where they want to be.

“Overall, we just wanted better times on this course especially since this is a more difficult course,” said Glacier Peak senior Sarah Whybark, who placed fifth in 19:30. “We knew if we could improve our times from last week (it shows) the constant improvement that we’ve been wanting to see.”

Grizzlies coach Dan Parker was relatively pleased.

“We did good. We did fine,” he said.

Glacier Peak wanted another sweep and actually hoped to have the top six individuals at district but the challenging venue made that a tall order.

“This is a tougher course,” said Parker.

The top five runners per team score points in cross country. Besides Neale (first) and Whybark (fifth), Glacier Peak’s scoring runners were sophomore Katie Bianchini (second), junior Marren Haneberg (third) and freshman Megan Davis (ninth).

Shorewood junior Charlee Linton finished fourth.

4A girls: Spartans win again

Stanwood captured its third straight district crown, but the first competing against a combined field of teams representing Districts 1 and 2.

Senior Minna Fields, who finished second at the state meet in 2009, was Stanwood’s top runner with a fifth-place time of 19:10.

Fields headed a contingent of Spartans runners that helped Stanwood edge Eastlake and Redmond for the top spot to state.

“That was a nail-biter,” Stanwood head coach Jordan Sneva said. “I don’t think they (Stanwood) really understood how many teams were going to be here, how many individuals were going to be here. They all ran really well.”

Fields’ team-leading time was followed by sophomore Jordin Stephenson (19:38) in eighth place and junior Jade Borseth (19:41) in 11th.

“It’s a new district meet now, KingCo and Wesco combined,” Fields said. “It’s going to prepare me better for state, but it’s not what I wanted. I wanted to win.”

2A girls: Cedarcrest and Lakewood qualify for state

Cedarcrest and Lakewood both earned berths to the state meet on Saturday in the 2A District 1 race.

Cara Strodel, a Cedarcrest senior, placed second in the meet with a time of 19:19, and Lakewood’s Rachel Cundy (19:37) and Chelsea Stokes (19:45) earned fourth and sixth place, respectively.

The girls’ familiarity with the South Whidbey course — the teams took part in the South Whidbey Invitational in September — helped fuel the Cascade Conference squads.

“Normally, on this course we always take the first mile pretty easy and then people start gapping in the forest,” Strodel said. “It definitely helps to know how to run this course.”

“I think our kids feel like this is a second home course for them,” Lakewood associate head coach Jon Murray said. “They come in with confidence and that’s a key for them. They ran with confidence.”

Cedarcrest, which earned its first state berth in program history three years ago, came in third overall behind No. 1-ranked Sehome and Bellingham.

“The last two years we knew we were going to get first or second here,” Cedarcrest head coach Bruce McDowell said. “These girls, some of them are still carryovers (from years earlier), but the other ones they’re still trying to figure out how to run. It’s definitely a different experience.”

Three of the Red Wolves’ scoring runners were freshmen.

“At this point I’m just glad we’re going (to state),” McDowell said. “This is like it was three years ago when the girls got to state for the first time.”

Host school South Whidbey was edged out of the final state spot by Lakewood. South Whidbey placed fifth overall with 136 points.

“They ran really hard today, too,” Lakewood co-head coach Jeff Sowards said. “I wish that more teams could go because they may be a top five or six team and there will be teams at state that they would easily beat. I feel for them.”

At South Whidbey H.S.

3.1 miles (5 kilometers)

2A girls

State qualifiers: Top four teams and top 20 placing individuals

Team scores: 1. Sehome 56, 2. Bellingham 75, 3. Cedarcrest 121, 4. Lakewood 127, 5. South Whidbey 136, 6. Squalicum 155, 7. Burlington-Edison 157, 8. Archbishop Murphy 193, 9. Granite Falls 243, 10. Mt. Baker 245, 11. Lynden 320, 12. Anacortes 323.

Top five runners for top four teams

Sehome: 7. Hannah 19:53, 9. Wu 20:00, 12. Delahunt 20:05, 15. Huffman 20:07, 16. Vigh 20:08.

Bellingham: 3. Leischner 19:28, 5. Reynolds 19:41, 13. Jensen 20:05, 24. Norton 20:24, 33. Walker 20:40.

Cedarcrest: 2. Strodel 19:19, 26. Carr 20:26, 28. Anderson 20:29, 32. Beam 20:34, 37. Brimley 20:55.

Lakewood: 4. Cundy 19:37, 6. Stokes 19:45, 35. Anderson 20:52, 38. Sowards 20:58, 47. Newman 21:49.

Other individual qualifiers: 1. Gappa (Squalicum) 19:15, 8. Rider (Squalicum) 19:59, 10. Sigfusson (Blaine) 20:01, 11. Alexander (Granite Falls) 20:02, 14. White (South Whidbey) 20:06, 17. Bartz (Archbishop Murphy) 20:09, 18. Brown (Burlington-Edison) 20:09, 19. Mow (Granite Falls) 20:10, 20. Stelling (South Whidbey) 20:11.

3A girls

State qualifiers: Top three teams and top 15 placing individuals

Team scores: 1. Glacier Peak 20 points, 2. Oak Harbor 66, 3. Shorewood 91, 4. Sedro-Woolley 124, 5. Mountlake Terrace 166, 6. Meadowdale 199, 7. Ferndale 205, 8. Everett 205, 9. Mount Vernon 213, 10. Shorecrest 217, 11. Lynnwood 287.

Top five runners for top three teams

Glacier Peak: 1. Neale 18:05*, 2. Bianchini 18:32, 3. Haneberg 19:13, 5. Whybark 19:30, 9. Davis 19:54.

Oak Harbor: 8. Duvenez 19:52, 13. Royal 20:13, 14. Leete 20:16, 15. Wicker 20:23, 16. Bressler 20:28.

Shorewood: 4. Linton 19:28, 11. Johnson 20:01, 19. Lewis 20:43, 25. Throolin 21:39, 32. Yehdego 21:50.

Other top-15 individuals: 6. Oudman (S-W) 19:38, 7. Dowdell (Everett) 19:43, 10. Condon (GP) 19:55, 12. Stiles (S-W) 20:06.

*Tied girls course record.

4A girls

State qualifiers: Top five teams and top 25 placing individuals

Team scores: 1. Stanwood 95, 2. Eastlake 112, 3. Redmond 117, 4. Jackson 152, 5. Roosevelt 172, 6. Skyline 175, 7. Inglemoor 182, 8. Woodinville 188, 9. Snohomish 220, 10. Newport-Bellevue 248, 11. Edmonds-Woodway 262, 12. Lake Stevens 274, 13. Arlington 275, 14. Kamiak 312, 15. Monroe 321, 16. Ballard 377.

Top five runners for top five teams

Stanwood: 5. Fields 19:10, 8. Stephenson 19:38, 12. Borseth 19:41, 35. Swartz 20:25, 39. Bodle 20:31.

Eastlake: 1. Kosykh 18:05*, 7. H. O’Connor 19:22, 23. M. O’Connor 19:57, 36. Batty 20:27, 49. Dwyer 20:44.

Redmond: 9. Young 19:38, 11. Dunn 19:40, 28. Rice 20:07, 29. Nichols 20:16, 44. Sanders 20:41.

Jackson: 17. Fruland 19:47, 19. Rawlins 19:49, 33. Wilson 20:20, 38. Briggs 20:30, 50. Todd 20:44.

Roosevelt: 4. Cheadle 18:36, 21. Swanson 19:53, 40. Mancl 20:34, 42. Shearer 20:37, 73. Senter 21:23.

Other individual qualifiers: 2. Olson (Woodinville) 18:07, 3. Lystad (Inglemoor)18:16, 6. Smith (Skyline) 19:22, 10. Ohlsen (Monroe) 19:39, 13. Bywater (Lake Stevens) 19:41, 14. Spray (Newport-Bellevue) 19:41, 15. Burke (Inglemoor) 19:42, 16. Nash (Edmonds-Woodway) 19:45, 18. Branch (Skyline) 19:47, 20. Hill (Woodinville) 19:51, 22. Nyquist (Snohomish) 19:53, 24. Berntson (Snohomish) 19:58, 25. Wadey (Arlington) 20:02.

*Tied girls course record.

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