By Aaron Swaney
Herald Writer
MOUNT VERNON — Running in weather that was miserable at best, Kamiak’s Travis Boyd did a great job of not letting it faze him. In fact he didn’t even notice it.
"I can hardly even remember the rain," said Boyd, who was soaked to the bone after finishing first in the 4A Northwest District boys cross country meet Friday. "I guess I just blocked it out."
Merely blocking out the rain was an understatement. Compared to second-place finisher Kevin Hansen, who finished a full 17 seconds behind the winner, Boyd seemed to be running on a warm summer day, somewhere far, far away from the sloppy course at Skagit Valley Community College.
"I felt great and strong all through the race," said Boyd. "I kept my confidence up the entire time."
Despite Boyd’s showing and teammate Evan Garrett’s 10th-place finish, Kamiak ended the day fifth behind winner Snohomish. The Panthers finished with 58 points, 26 points better than second-place Shorecrest.
"We ran good and packed our runners together very well," said Snohomish coach Dan Parker.
In winning, the Panthers placed two runners in the top 10. Stevie Blackburn and Ryan Roache finished two seconds apart to take fifth and sixth places, respectively, to lead Snohomish. Faraz Bala, Jimmie Poier and Sam Scotchmer placed 12th, 16th and 19th, respectively, for the Panthers.
Bala, in particular, had an incredible race. After falling down during the race, Bala made a tremendous comeback to finish 12th to cement the Panthers victory.
Separated by only five points, Shorecrest and Jackson finished second and third respectively behind Snohomish.
The Scots were led by second-place finisher Kevin Hansen, who held off a late charge by Jackson’s Caleb Knox, as well as Tahoma Khalsa, Scott Eshom and Pat Hogan, who all finished in the top 20.
Knox, meanwhile, wasn’t the only Jackson runner to finish in the top 10. Evan Wirkala finished ninth to help lead the Timberwolves to their third-place finish.
Finishing fourth as a team, Stanwood peppered five runners throughout the top 40, including seventh-place finisher Sean Smith and Nick Cairus, who finished just outside the top 10 at 11th.
Rounding out the top 10 individual finishers, were Jon Skelton of Mount Vernon, who finished fourth, and Chris Goiney of Shorewood, who came in eighth.
Team scores (top three to state)—1. Snohomish 58, 2. Shorecrest 84, 3. Jackson 89, 4. Stanwood 96, 5. Kamiak 111, 6. Marysville-Pilchuck 146, 7. Edmonds-Woodway 170, 8. Mountlake Terrace 231, 9. Shorewood 263, 10. Everett 279, 11. Mount Vernon 320, 12. Cascade 328, 13. Oak Harbor 332, 14. Arlington 339, 15. Mariner 472, 16. Lake Stevens 483.
Individual state qualifiers—1. Boyd (Kam) 15:53, 2. Hansen (Sct), 3. Knox (Jack), 4. Skelton (MV), 5. Blackburn (Sno), 6. Roache (Sno), 7. Smith (Stan), 8. Goiney (Swd), 9. Wirkala (Jack), 10. Garrett (Kam), 11. Cairus (Stan), 12. Bala (Sno), 13. Khalsa (Sct), 14. Hayman (M-P), 15. Fekkes (Stan).
Class 3A district meet: Switching places throughout the entire race, Clayton Hemlock of Ferndale and Adam Shimer of Meadowdale finished first and second, respectively.
"Because of the rain I tried staying behind (Hemlock), but we ended up switching back and forth the entire race," said Shimer.
Hemlock’s showing along with four other Ferndale runners placing in the top 20 led to a Golden Eagles’ victory in the team competition. Meadowdale finished second, while Lynnwood placed sixth. The Royals were led by Daniel Mayen, who finished sixth.
Team scores (top two to state)—1. Ferndale 43, 2. Meadowdale 62, 3. Sehome 65, 4. Anacortes 127, 5. Bellingham 133, 6. Lynnwood 172, 7, Burlington-Edison 176, 8. Squalicum 178, 9. Lynden 196, 10. Sedro-Woolley 219. Individual state qualifiers—1. Hemlock (F) 16:06, 2. Shimer (M), 3. Tobey (A), 4. Harris (Sehome), 5. Grant (Sehome), 6. Mayen (Lynnwood), 7. Manthey (F), 8. Thorne (A), 9. Pearson (F), 10. Crabtree (Lynden). |
Class 2A district meet: Placing seven runners in the top 25, Lakewood finished first by a comfortable margin of 28 points. Andy and Marc Dewey and Ryan Thomas finished fourth, sixth, and 10th respectively to lead the Cougars to the team championship. Individual winner Tyler Mitchell led Mount Baker to a second-place finish, while third-place finisher James Sundquist led South Whidbey to a similar third-place team finish.
Team scores (top three to state)—1. Lakewood 48, 2. Mount Baker 76, 3. South Whidbey 79, 4. Lynden Christian 134, 5. Nooksack Valley 136, 6. Meridian 146, 7. Granite Falls 168, 8. Blaine 168, 9. Sultan 238. Individual state qualifiers—1. Mitchell (MB) 16:55, 2. Walcon (B), 3. Sundquist (SW), 4. A. Dewey (Lkwd), 5. Hollo (GF), 6. M. Dewey (Lkwd), 7. Anderson (MB), 8. McKay (Mer), 9. Lemay (LC), 10. Thomas (Lkwd), 11. Hartman (Lkwd), 12. Williams (MB), 13. Candelario (SW), 14. Matter (LC), 15. Haggren (LC). |
Class A/B district meet: Defending state champion Adam Roe, who recently recovered from mononucleosis, finished first again as he, and his school, King’s, cruised to victories. In addition to Roe, five other King’s runners finished in the top 10 to help give King’s the victory by an incredible 92 points. Snohomish County Christian finished fifth as a team, led by Jared Gwaltney and David Kendall, who placed 13th and 19th, respectively.
Team scores (top five to state)—1. King’s 25, 2. Bellevue Christian 117, 3. Seattle Christian 122, 4. Overlake 149, 5. Snohomish County Christian 151, 6. University Prep 178, 7. Cascade Christian 184, 8. Seattle Academy 193, 9. Bush 197, 10. Seattle Lutheran 234, 11. The Northwest School 262, 12. Charles Wright 280, 13. Life Christian 311, 14. Bear Creek School 352. Individual state qualifiers—1. Roe (K) 16:35, 2. Taft (SA), 3. Thompson (K), 4. Smith (BC), 5. Wyatt (CW), 6. Agnew (K), 7. Coghlan (K), 8. A. Woodham (K), 9. Hockema (BC), 10. B. Woodham (K), 11. Alkire (Archbishop Murphy), 12. Miller (K), 13. Gwaltney (SCC), 14. Loeffler (Bush), 15. Duecy-Gibbs (Bush), 16. Standley (SC), 17. Forin (O), 18. Harris (SC), 19. Kendall (SCC), 20. Rowley (SA), 21. Smith (O), 22. Teal (UP), 23. Pearson (CC), 24. Bell (TNS), 25. Mason (UP). |
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