King’s girls capture fourth straight title
Published 12:06 am Sunday, November 8, 2009
PASCO — When the King’s Knights take a trip to the Tri-Cities, they always bring home a first-place trophy.
Spearheaded by seniors (and long-time pals) Adele Eslinger, Morgan Hamm and Makenzie Taylor, the King’s High School girls cross country team from Shoreline won its fourth straight Class 1A state team title on Saturday. The Knights scored 83 points to outlast runnerup La Center (110 points) during the state cross country championships at Sun Willows Golf Course.
Eslinger (eighth place), Hamm (ninth) and Taylor (13th) have been on the Knights’ past four first-place state squads. The King’s girls program has now won seven state championships (2001-2003 and 2006-2009), more than any other Washington girls program regardless of classification.
“As much as it’s fun to win it for a fourth year in a row, to have the three seniors go out on a big note is just beyond icing on the cake,” 14th-year King’s coach Rod Wilcox said. “They can truly have closure on their high school career.”
Eslinger, Hamm and Taylor joined an elite club. Going into Saturday’s state meet, just two other Washington girls had ever run on four state-title teams: East Valley of Spokane’s Cara Smith and AnnMarie from 1994 to 1997, according to coach Wilcox.
On a fairly nice but windy day, all three King’s seniors finished among the top 16 runners, earning a spot on the awards podium for individuals. A few minutes later they went back to the podium with the rest of their squad to receive yet another team championship.
“It was really special. I’m going to miss them like crazy,” said Eslinger, who completed the 3.1-mile (5,000-meter) course in 20 minutes, 10 seconds — 2 seconds faster than Hamm. Taylor finished in 20:31.
Eslinger and Taylor both live in Edmonds; Hamm lives in Shoreline. They have been friends and teammates for a long time.
“They’ve been (running) together since seventh grade, pushing each other, and that’s really the key,” coach Wilcox said. “They really keep each other accountable every day in practice, pushing and pushing and encouraging.”
The content, emotional King’s seniors shared several hugs after the race.
“We’ve been talking about (Saturday’s race) for a long time,” Eslinger said. “Coming back for our fourth time is an amazing feeling.”
The individual 1A girls race winner was Northwest School’s Maddie Meyers, a sophomore who won for the second straight year. Meyers finished an incredible 1:36 faster than runnerup Eliza Rice, her teammate.
In the 1A boys race, King’s sophomore Harris Hap Emmons placed ninth in 16:56.
Mike Cane: mcane@heraldnet.com. Check out the prep sports blog Double Team at cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/heraldnet/doubleteam.
