Marysville-Pilchuck boys win cross country race

Herald staff

MOUNT BAKER – Marysville-Pilchuck’s boys cross country team had five runners finish in the top 40 of the Mount Baker Invitational at Silver Lake Park on Saturday, and that proved to be enough for the Tomahawks to take first place in the 35-team race.

“This was a pleasant surprise and I feel great for our guys,” said Marysville-Pilchuck coach Craig Bowen. “Basically everybody ran well and stayed together. I felt like we supported one another as a team during the course of the race.”

Brandon Whitaker was Marysville-Pilchuck’s top finisher, taking 10th place with a time of16:09.15.

Tim Tenbrink finished 27th for the Tomahawks, and freshman Bryan Christensen finished 31st.

“I don’t want to single anyone out since they all did such a good job,” said Bowen, “but Bryan really stepped up and had a great race for us.”

Bowen commented that his team has come a long way this season. “We didn’t necessarily start off like gangbusters,” he said, “but we’ve had steady improvement all season and today our hard work really paid off in a big way.”

Marysville-Pilchuck was not the only local team that had a strong day at the invitational.

Oak Harbor had two runners in the top five, with Scott Sebens finishing second and Eric Rooney fifth to help their team to a fourth-place finish.

Kamiak’s Travis Boyd finished third to pace his team’s fifth-place finish. Stanwood finished eighth behind Nick Cairus’ 15th-place finish and Cascade finished eighth behind Andy Fader’s fourth-place finish.

GIRLS

Mt. Baker Invitational: .Paced by three runners in the top 14, Mount Baker won its invitational with a team score of 79, 11 ahead of second-place Sehome. Stanwood finished highest among local teams, earning third place as Chenoea Urness finished 16th and Trina Dutton finished 22nd. The best individual finish by an area runner was provided by Cascade’s Katie Sadler, who finished ninth with a time of 19:30.71. The meet consisted of runners from 35 schools, and area teams fared well as eight of the top 14 scores were posted by local teams.

At Silver Lake Park, Mt. Baker

3 miles

Team scores

Mt. Baker 79, Sehome 94, Stanwood 94, Mountlake Terrace 155, Woodinville 164, Kamiak 173, Lynden 181, Oak Harbor 209, Squalicum 230, Omak 233, Lynnwood 267, Arlington 310, Lake Stevens 311, Bellevue 379

1. Vincent (Squalicum) 18:22.96, 2. Coulter (Blaine), 3. Thon (Squalicum), 4, Krishnek (Mt. Baker), .5. Lia (Bothell), 6. Gordon (Woodinville), 7. Saulie-Rohman (Lynden), 8. Rohde (Mt. Baker), 9. Sadler (Cascade), 10. Turner (Omak). Local Top Thirty Finishers: 12. Hansen (Kings), 13. Watkins (Kings), 15. Pickett (Arlington), 16. C. Urness (Stanwood), 21. Lee (Mountlake Terrace), 22. Dutton (Stanwood), 23. Scwerdtfeger (Mountlake Terrace), 24. Cullen (Oak Harbor), 26. Zoe Urness (Stanwood), 27. Roark (Stanwood).

Wesco 4A Zone Diving: At Marysville-Pilchuck Pool, Snohomish senior Mariah Berry earned first place in the competition with a state-qualifying score of 303.1. Snohomish sophomore Emily Enders was not far off the pace, finishing second and also qualifying for state with a score of 301.

1. Berry (Snohomish) 303.1, 2. Enders (Snohomish) 301. 3., Bernhard (Shorewood) 279.4, Davis (M-P) 241.95, 5. Langlee (M-P) 228.65, 6. Tracy (Cascade) 224.95, 7. Dobler (Cascade) 224.7, 8. Dahlgren (Sehome) 220.4

Mt. Vernon 3, Snohomish County Christian 2: At Mt. Vernon, Snohomish County Christian (1-2, 4-2) was defeated 6-15, 15-6, 15-12, 14-16, 6-15 in a Northwest B League match. Megan Lang led Snohomish County Christian with 15 kills, six aces and nine blocks, while Krysta Farnham added six kills and 14 assists and Melissa Kesgen finished with 12 kills, 10 aces and 11 digs.