By Chris Trujillo
Herald Writer
LAKEWOOD – Kamiak coach Charlie LeWarne has the whole coaching thing figured out – positive encouragement, friendly, yet stern demeanor and of course, the ability to snap his players from an occasional lull.
It worked splendidly Thursday with Amanda Costello, whose sixth-place finish helped guide the Knights to a Western Conference South Division championship victory at Lakewood High School’s 3.07-mile course.
Keely Kaligis, whose time of 21:01 landed her ninth, was the second top-10 finisher for Kamiak as it edged out Jackson, 57-75. Shorewood came in third (94) with Mountlake Terrace (97) and Edmonds-Woodway (102) rounding out the top five teams.
“It’s a super group of girls and it’s great to win this event,” LeWarne said. “It is a good warm up for next week’s district meet. It’s nice to start gradually, because there will be so many more runners at district.”
After jumping out to a quick start, Costello (20:13) couldn’t maintain the pace set by the eventual Wesco South champion, Shorewood’s Celia Maclean (18:44), and fell out of the top 10. She rallied with a little more than 1,000 meters remaining, after hearing LeWarne’s familiar yell urging her to pick up the pace.
“She is too good of a runner to be in 10th or 11th,” LeWarne said. “It was my hope to rattle the cage to get her to go, and it did.”
Kamiak’s Brittany Hart (20:31) finished 11th, while teammates Kelly Ronan (20:44) and Kristy Mathes (20:45) finished 15th and 16th respectively.
Lynnwood’s Sarah Revoyr (19:02), who eventually finished second, and E-W’s Kelsey McCallum (19:13) battled for first place for the majority of the race until Maclean distanced herself around the quarter-mile mark.
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