By bob mortenson
Herald Writer
It was a slippery slope of a start and a satisfying upright finish.
Everett’s Matthew Kaftanski overcame a difficult start and placed 12th in a field of 261 runners to earn All-American designation and lead the Rain City Flyers 13- and 14-year-old boys to a fourth-place finish at the USA Track and Field Junior Olympic Cross Country National meet at Lincoln, Neb., last Saturday.
Kaftanski, an eighth grader at Immaculate Conception grade school in Everett, covered the 4,000-meter course in a time of 13:54.
Flyers coach Jim Neff described the course as “deceptively hilly” and the slippery downhill start nearly cost Kaftanski.
“Matt did not get a very good start which is tough in a large field like that. You can really get swallowed up,” Neff said. “But he really came back and finished strong.”
Keith Bjella, an eighth grader at North Middle School, was the Flyers’ No. 6 runner and finished in 14:55 to place 105th overall.
The Valley Striders, from California, earned the team title. YMCA Team Idaho placed second, followed by the Indiana All-Stars.
The Flyers’ Gabrielle Fraley, an eighth grade student at Heatherwood Middle School in Mill Creek, placed 197th in the girls 13-14 division with a time of 18:35.
“Matt had a great race and it was just a great team effort,” Neff said of his harriers.
Soccer
Strikers ride out Wave: The FC Silver Lake Strikers boys U13 blanked the CPSC Wave 3-0 Sunday. Erik Olsoy, Tyson Rickman and Dirk Snel each scored a goal and the Striker defense combined to stymie the Wave offense. The Strikers ended their season at 11-3, finishing second in the Washington State Youth League.
Compiled by Bob Mortenson
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