Lakewood boys dominate meet

LAKEWOOD – There’s no place like home for the Lakewood Cougars boys cross country team.

Running on their home course the Cougars dominated the Cascade Conference championship Saturday finishing with 23 points, 32 fewer than second-place King’s.

The Cougars first five runners all finished in the top 10, led by James Ervin and freshman Taylor Guske, who finished second and third, respectively.

“I was very pleased at how the boys raced. Tactically they raced very well,” Lakewood coach Jeff Sowards said.

Ervin, Guske and King’s Jeff Dull, who took first in the race, were clumped together for the first two miles of the 3.1-mile race.

Dull took control of the race in the final stages before finishing with a time of 16:50.

“I just threw in a couple late surges and tried to pick up the pace in the late mile,” Dull said.

Guske finished a second behind Ervin at 17:16, and Terrence Ordonez, Trevor Walker and Nick Devier went five through seven to clinch the Lakewood victory.

“We want to be as close to each other and as close to the front as possible.

They know to run together. They’re not running for themselves they’re running for each other,” Sowards said.

Cross country has long been a tradition at Lakewood High School and they hope to continue that tradition next weekend at the 2A Northwest District meet at Langley.

S. Whidbey girls win again

Let’s see, strep throat on Monday, leading my team to a third consecutive championship on Saturday.

It was that kind of week for South Whidbey cross country runner Katy Gordon.

Despite feeling a little ill, Gordon finished second in the Cascade Conference championships, leading the Falcons to 38 points and their third straight league title Saturday at Lakewood High School.

It was the second straight year that Gordon, who led through most of the 3.1-mile course, finished second in the conference championships.

“It’s good. This is my senior year so this is it,” Gordon said.

Gordon was neck-and-neck with King’s Olivia Thomas on the final mile of the race. But once the two entered the stadium, Thomas turned on the jets and sped to the win, finishing in 19 minutes, 45 seconds.

“She’s a really good 800 (meter) runner. I’ve raced against her before and knew she’d out sprint me on the track,” said Gordon, who bettered her last year’s time by 16 seconds, finishing at 19:51.

Ranked No. 4 in the recent Washington State Cross Country Coaches Poll, the Falcons had four runners in the top 10 and look prepared heading into next weekend’s 2A Northwest District meet.

“We have a real solid team. Katy Gordon had a rough week but we ran real solid,” South Whidbey coach Doug Fulton said.

The Falcons host next weekend’s 2A District 1 meet and look to improve on last year’s finish.

It was the first year in 17 seasons that the team did not qualify for the state championships.

At Lakewood H.S.

3.1 miles

Boys

Team scores-1. Lakewood 23, 2. King’s 55, 3. South Whidbey 83, 4. Granite Falls 118, 5. Archbishop Murphy 131, 6. Cedarcrest 137, 7. Sultan 189.

Lakewood-2. Ervin 17:15, 3. Guske 17:16, 5. Ordonez 17:53, 6. Walker 17:53, 7. Devier 17:56.

King’s-1. J. Dull 16:50, 11. Dean 18:07, 12. McMahon 18:09, 13. E. Dull 18:11, 18. McGinley 18:23.

South Whidbey-4. Fitz 17:48, 10. Warwick 18:06, 17. E. Stallman 18:23, 25. Rovang 18:44, 27. S. Stallman 18:54.

Other top 15 finishers-9. Kettler (Granite Falls) 18:05, 14. Ryan (AM) 18:13.

Girls

Team scores-1. South Whidbey 38, 2. King’s 68, 3. Lakewood 71, 4. Granite Falls 96, 5. Archbishop Murphy 111, 6. Cedarcrest 117.

South Whidbey-2. Gordon 19:51, 5. Co. Bosman 20:37, 8. Habel 20:41, 10. Johnson 20:51, 13. Ca. Bosman 20:58.

King’s-1. Thomas 19:45, 7. Eslinger 20:37, 16. Hamm 21:16, 20. Taylor 21:47, 24. Smith 22:10.

Lakewood-6. Gogert 20:41, 11. Dunn 20:52, 17. Osti 21:22, 18. Sowards 21:25, 19. Nation 21:44.

Other top 15 finishers-3. Moran (AM) 20:17, 4. Ramirez (Cedarcrest) 20:33, 9. Lyman (AM) 20:48, 12. Costigan (GF) 20:57, 14. Anderson (GF) 20:59, 15. Foster (GF) 21:08.