Glacier Peak girls win district cross country title

LANGLEY — The Mountlake Terrace girls cross country team has been pushing the squad from Glacier Peak all season.

Saturday was no different.

The Hawks had three runners place in the top 10 and pushed the Grizzlies to the brink, but Glacier Peak was able to edge out Mountlake Terrace by three team points, 47-50, to win a 3A District 1 championship at the District 3A 1B, 2B, 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A Cross Country Championships Saturday afternoon at South Whidbey High School.

“It makes you better. They’re a good team. We knew they’d be coming at us hard,” said Glacier Peak head coach Dan Parker. “… But our girls stepped up. They knew that Mountlake Terrace was going to come after them and they got the job done.”

The Grizzlies got a major lift from sophomore Heidi Smith, who won the 3A girls race with a time of 19 minutes, six seconds.

“Heidi really crushed them today,” Parker said. “It’s been a close race but she stepped it up and she flew that last 800 (meters).”

Glacier Peak’s Natalie Church and Katherine Dittman finished fifth and sixth, respectively, with times of 19:25 and 19:32 to bolster the Grizzlies’ score, as they were able to hold off a charging Mountlake Terrace team.

“(Parker is) a grizzled veteran coach who knows how to get it done,” said Mountlake Terrace coach Todd Weber. “We threw out our best game today and he responded. It’s kind of exciting to watch, the back-and-forth. Our hope would be to one-up them at state but he’s a tough coach to coach against.”

Katherine Gustafson (19:17) finished third for Mountlake Terrace, which also had Ella Schroth, Katherine Walter and Jessica Ong finish seventh through ninth for the Hawks.

“I really feel like we’re arriving on time to the party,” Weber said. “I feel like we’re taking steps in the right direction. You sprinkle a little bit of magic dust in there at state and who knows where we could be? I really do believe all of our girls’ best races are going to come next week.”

Weber said that the Hawks’ “dream scenario” would be to win the 3A title next week in Pasco. However, the coach and his team are really hoping to place in the top four at the state meet — which the Hawks missed by one point a year ago.

“I think we’re one of the four or five teams that could win it,” Weber said. “I definitely think that our girls, if they run to the best of their ability, are going to be in the hunt. I definitely think that they’ve got a shot of being on the podium.”

Parker agrees.

“Mountlake Terrace, they’re going to be right up there on the podium,” Parker said. “Both of our teams should be top four.”

Smith, making her second trip to the state meet, said things are a bit easier in her second season of high school cross country.

“It’s the experience knowing how to race out there,” said Smith, who finished 17th at state last season to help Glacier Peak win the 3A championship. “It’s different coming in as a freshman when you don’t exactly know (what to expect). It helps having a year of experience but it’s still different every time.”

Joining Mountlake Terrace and Glacier Peak at the state tournament will be Arlington, which was the third team from the district to qualify for state. Arlington head coach Mike Shierk said its the first time in his 17 years of coaching at Arlington that both the girls and boys — who won a district championship — qualified for the state meet in the same year.

Arlington senior Shanell Shirey, who led Arlington with a 13th place finish (20:25), was excited about making her first trip to state.

“It’s a crazy feeling because this is something I worked so hard for since my freshman year,” Shirey said. “It’s been my dream to go to state and it’s such a great feeling that it’s not only me that qualified — that my whole team got to go as well. … I have no idea what to expect. I’ve never gone to state. It’s just going to be one of those surreal feelings because I’ll be there with my whole entire team. It’ll be fun.”

Oak Harbor’s Jonalynn Horn (second) and Laura Rodeheffer qualified for the state tournament individually with a top 15 finish, along with Mikayla Pivec (Lynnwood), Brianna McGrath (Shorewood), Drew Williams (Everett) and Caroline Dolan (Stanwood).

Snohomish, which finished fifth at last year’s 4A state meet, will have a chance to improve on that finish this season.

The Panthers placed fourth as a team, earning an automatic berth in next week’s state meet at Pasco.

Junior Kyla Shade led Snohomish with a 13th place finish, completing the course in 19:24, just ahead of teammate Bri Gibson (19:41). Katie Brandvold, Ciara Benson and Cassie Swartzell also scored for the Panthers.

Individually, Jackson senior Brooke Kingma qualified for her third state meet with a fourth-place overall finish in 18:34. Kingma’s teammates Cole Gross and Emily Hylland also finished in the top 20 to automatically qualify for state with times of 20:04 and 20:09, respectively.

Mariner’s Abbie Steinhauer (19:02) and Nicole Vijgen (Kamiak), also qualified.

Lakewood had two runners qualify for state in the 2A District meet. Sophomore Keely Hall (11th place) and junior Lilly Whitehead (13th) finished in the top 15 to earn a state berth at next week’s final meet in Pasco.

Shorecrest’s Gigi Vujovich finished third overall with a time of 19:50.

The King’s cross country team finished fifth in the standings to earn the final team berth in the 1A state tournament.

Krystal Brodsky led the Knights’ effort with a 16th place finish, just six seconds ahead of teammate Gillian Edgar.

Shorewood’s Mallorie Mitchem also qualified for state with a ninth place finish in 20:52

Top four teams, 20 individuals to state

Team scores:1. Issaquah 41, 2. Skyline 101, 3. Inglemoor 104, 4. Snohomish 130, 5. Eastlake 151, 6. Redmond 164, 7. Jackson 176, 8. Newport (Bellevue) 192, 9. Mt. Si 206, 10. Monroe 261, 11. Bothell 312, 12. Kamiak 312, 13. Lake Stevens 326, 14. Mariner 402, 15. Mount Vernon 463, 16. Cascade 487.

Snohomish–13. Kyla Shade 19:24, 14. Bri Gibson 19:41, 21. Katie Brandvold 20:14, 40. Ciara Benson 21:02, 42. Cassie Swartzell 21:04.

Other state qualifiers–4. Brooke Kingma (J) 18:34, 8. Abbie Steinhauer (Mar) 19:02, 17. Cole Gross (J) 20:04, 18. Emily Hylland (J) 20:09, 19. Nicole Vijgen (K) 20:09.

Top three teams, 15 individuals to state

Team scores: 1. Glacier Peak 47, 2. Mountlake Terrace 50, 3. Arlington 117, 4. Oak Harbor 124, 5. Shorewood 132, 6. Lynnwood 156, 7. Stanwood 174, 8. Edmonds-Woodway 194, 9. Everett 209, 10. Ferndale 244, 11. Marysville Getchell 308, 12. Marysville Pilchuck 369.

Glacier Peak–1. Heidi Smith 19:06, 5. Natalie Church 19:25, 6. Katherine Dittmann 19:32, 15. Erin Boyle 20:31, 20. Maiti Hunter 20:47.

Mountlake Terrace–3. Katherine Gustafson 19:17, 7. Ella Schroth 19:35, 8. Katherine Walter 19:42, 9. Jessica Ong 19:59, 23. Marika Jamtaas 20:52.

Arlington–13. Shanelle Shirey 20:25, 21. Cassidy Rude 20:48, 22. Marie Gaudin 20:51, 30. Mary Andrews 21:14, 31. Emma Janousek 21:19.

Other state qualifiers–2. Jonalynn Horn (OH) 19:15, 4. Mikayla Pivec (L) 19:19, 10. Brianna McGrath (SW) 20:08, 11. Drew Williams (E) 20:17, 12. Caroline Dolan (St) 20:19, 14. Laura Rodeheffer (OH) 20:29.

Top three teams, 15 individuals to state

Team scores: 1. Sehome 40, 2. Bellingham 63, 3. Sedro-Woolley 103, 4. Anacortes 110, 5. Lakewood 130, 6. Shorecrest 159, 7. Cedarcrest 168, 8. Squalicum 199, 9. Burlington-Edison 248.

State qualifiers–3. Gigi Vujovich (SC) 19:50, 11. Keely Hall (LW) 20:27, 13. Lilly Whitehead 20:28.

Top five teams, 25 individuals to state

Team scores: 1. Northwest 44, 2. Lynden Christian 58, 3. Meridian 102, 4. Mt. Baker 117, 5. King’s 123, 6. Nooksack Valley 163, 7. South Whidbey 169, 8. Overlake 197, 9. Bush 246, 10. Cedar Park Christian–Bothell 256, 11. Bear Creek 276.

King’s–16. Krystal Brodsky 21:15, 17. Gillian Edgar 21:21, 26. Rachel Mills 21:40, 31. Allison Perrow 22:01, 40. Sonja Barreto 23:00.

Other state qualifier–9. Mallorie Mitchem (SW) 20:52.