LANGLEY — Yukino Parle refused to let a late-race tumble keep her from victory.
The Edmonds-Woodway junior fell on a tight, slippery turn with about 300 meters to go, just before reaching the rain-soaked course’s final three-quarter lap around the track. But as Lynnwood senior Malia Pivec passed her to take the lead, Parle thought back to an interview she’d heard about a college runner who recovered from a fall to win a race.
“Her mindset after she fell wasn’t ‘I’m going to give up,’” Parle said. “It was ‘now I have to win.’ So that’s kind of what I thought. I was like, ‘I have to have that mindset.’ So I pushed.”
Parle willed her way back in front and then held off Pivec down the stretch to capture her second consecutive District 1 Class 3A title on Saturday at South Whidbey High School.
Pivec made a late push with about 100 meters remaining, but Parle entered another gear to pull away and finish the 5,000-meter course with a winning time of 19 minutes, 0.17 seconds. Pivec crossed the line just more than a second later in 19:01.32.
“I was going 100 pecent around the (final) corner,” Parle said. “But usually if someone comes (close) to me, I have this competitive kick that comes out. So I was able to out-kick her, but it was really tough.”
It wasn’t the first time that the two Wesco runners have battled it out down the final stretch of a big race. Parle, the reigning Class 3A cross country state runner-up, edged Pivec by just more than a second during track season last spring to claim the 3200-meter state title.
“There are very few people who can handle Yukino when she gets on a track,” E-W head coach Al Bonney added. “She’s just tougher than heck.”
Parle was one of four E-W girls to earn top-five finishes on Saturday, as the Warriors claimed the district title with 51 points. E-W sophomore Olivia Meader-Yetter placed third (19:04.33), senior Sydney Boland took fourth (19:12.41) and sophomore Stephanie Wroblewski came in fifth (19:19.85).
“Our first four were unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable,” Bonney said of his team, which figures to be one of the favorites heading into the Nov. 5 state meet at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco. “It was just a good day.”
Shorecrest earned a second-place team finish (51 points), Snohomish took third (115 points) and Shorewood placed fourth (116 points) to round out the 3A girls state-qualifying teams.
4A boys
Jackson senior Matthew Watkins cruised to a commanding victory in the 4A boys race, earning a winning time of 15:49.42 that was more than 25 seconds ahead of second-place Kamiak senior Cullen McEachern. Watkins’ win helped Jackson (48 points) edge Lake Stevens (50 points) for the second and final 4A boys team-qualifying berth into next week’s state meet.
“My coach and I had a plan going in and he just told me to execute it,” Watkins said. “I just tried my best to do it and I guess it worked out. From the start, I was in that front pack. And then I just kind of broke off.”
Glacier Peak captured the 4A boys team title with 36 points and had four runners finish in the top nine. The Grizzlies were led by sophomore Riley McDowell, who placed third in 16:31.14.
4A girls
Defending state champion and Lake Stevens sophomore Taylor Roe continued her dominance with a winning time of 18:23.35 in the 4A girls race.
Roe finished nearly 50 seconds ahead of Kamiak sophomore and former teammate Alicia Anderson, who placed second in 19:12.63. Roe won the 4A state title last fall as a member of Kamiak’s team before moving with her family to the Lake Stevens area last winter.
“Par for the course,” Vikings assistant coach Stuart Chaffee said of Roe’s performance. “That’s just kind of what she does. She runs that well pretty much week in and week out. But obviously it’s exciting when she does it at this level, because the competition’s getting fiercer and fiercer every week. Hopefully she’s able to go over next weekend at state and do the same thing.”
Glacier Peak sophomore Brooke Wallace took third place with a time of 19:34.42 as the Grizzlies claimed the team title with 42 points. Kamiak (63 points) edged Lake Stevens (65 points) for second place to advance to state as a team.
3A boys
Edmonds-Woodway senior Matthew Park claimed the 3A boys title with a winning time of 16:14.73 and helped the Warriors qualify for state with a third-place team finish (51 points). Park crossed the line 14 seconds ahead of Meadowdale senior Cameron Sanders, who edged E-W senior Sam McCloughan for second place.
Park said that he can’t wait for next week’s state meet after struggling in last year’s race due to breathing and cramping issues.
“I’m kind of thinking of this as redemption,” Park said. “This whole year, last year’s state (meet) has been in the back of my mind. So I’ve been really looking forward to this the whole season.”
Arlington had three top-nine finishers and won the team title with 68 points. Snohomish placed second with 74 points and Everett took fourth place with 128 points to round out the 3A state-qualifying teams.
2A boys
Archbishop Murphy junior Josh Rauvola was the area’s top 2A boys finisher, earning second place with a time of 16:37.78. Bellingham junior Cade Brown won the race in 16:33.24.
Cedarcrest senior Ian Fay placed fourth (16:46.06) and junior teammate Grant Van Valkenburg took fifth (16:50.49) to lead the state-bound Red Wolves to a second-place team finish with 79 points.
2A girls
Cedarcrest junior Alicia Krivanek led all local 2A girls runners with a ninth-place time of 20:12.54 to qualify for state.
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