CATCHING UP

SNOHOMISH — It’s easy to get overlooked when you are a male cross country runner at Snohomish High School.

Snohomish’s girls cross country team gets loads of attention for consistently ranking among Washington’s top programs. The girls squad won state championships in 1995, 1996, 2002 and 2003, and no matter who comes and who goes, the Panthers seem to develop into a state-title contender every year.

The Snohomish boys haven’t exactly struggled. They’ve earned plenty of top-10 finishes at state under coach Dan Parker, who also guides the girls team.

But even when the Snohomish boys reached a major achievement, such as placing fourth at the Class 4A state meet in 2002, they were overshadowed — that year the girls won the first of back-to-back state crowns.

This season, the trend appears to be shifting. For the first time in several years the surprising Snohomish boys are receiving at least as much attention as their female counterparts. In this week’s Washington State Cross Country Coaches Association 4A poll, the teams are ranked fifth in their respective categories.

The Snohomish boys, led by senior co-captains Chris Goodman and Taylor Wolfe, were not ranked in the preseason coaches’ poll but have proven themselves this fall at several prestigious invites.

“We’re getting recognized more and more. It’s an uplifting feeling to have,” Goodman said before a race last week at McCollum Park.

“They’ve always been ahead of us,” Wolfe said of his team’s traditional status in relation to the girls team. “It’s nice. Now we can actually relate to ‘em.”

Two key factors in the Snohomish boys’ success are senior leadership and the rapid rise of talented underclassmen.

“We’ve got good leadership. Taylor and Goodman — you couldn’t ask for a better work ethic out of those guys,” said Parker, who is in his 20th season coaching cross country at Snohomish.

Wolfe, the vocally reserved hard-worker, and Goodman, the outgoing commander, have tutored freshman Jeff Bastian and Chase Byrd, among other youngsters, to help Snohomish progress faster than Parker expected.

“We knew they had potential but we didn’t know they’d develop (so) quickly,” Parker said. “It’s unusual (for freshmen) to make such a quick impact.”

Snohomish’s top runners stayed committed during the offseason and were well-prepared for competition this fall, Goodman said. Inexperience hasn’t hampered the Panthers’ young contributors, who in addition to Bastian and Byrd include sophomores Levi Hinson and Ryan Weed.

“They have obvious talent that we can utilize very well, but you need some senior leadership and Taylor and I both provide some,” Goodman said.

Snohomish made a major breakthrough Sept. 22 when it placed second at the Pepperdine Invitational in Malibu, Calif. Despite having just two runners place in the top 20 (Wolfe was 18th and Goodman 19th), the team’s Nos. 1-5 runners maintained a tight pack.

The performance greatly exceeded the squad’s expectations.

“That was an eye-opener,” Goodman said. “It showed us what we can achieve.”

Snohomish has mostly dominated its Western Conference meets. The Panthers also fared well at the South Whidbey Invite (second place behind third-ranked Gig Harbor) and they won last week’s Puma Invite in Bend, Ore.

The effective leadership of Goodman and Wolfe is remarkable considering they didn’t start competing in cross country until they were sophomores. Wolfe used to focus mainly on baseball, while Goodman preferred football and basketball.

Eventually, though, they decided running was the best fit for their abilities and their personalities. The unique social atmosphere of cross country hooked them, they said.

Now Wolfe and Goodman are leading a talented team out of the shadows and possibly to new heights.

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