By Aaron Coe
Herald Writer
PASCO — The warm and sunny weather at Saturday’s state cross country meet in Pasco did not do anything to help the disposition of runners from Snohomish County schools.
Several boys teams were hoping to come away with a trophy — which requires no worse than a fourth place finish — but they all walked off the Sun Willows Golf Course empty-handed.
"We put high expectations on ourselves," said Snohomish’s Ryan Roache, whose team finished sixth. "We’re a little disappointed, but everyone gave it their best. That’s all you can do."
The Panthers have run as a pack all season, and that’s what they did Saturday on the 3.1-mile course.
Snohomish’s top five was led by Roache, a senior, who finished 22nd in the team standings and 31st overall with a time of 16 minutes, 30 seconds. Junior Steven Blackburn (26th team), junior Faraz Bala (36th), senior Jimmie Poier (40th) and junior Sam Scotchmer (51st) all completed the course in under 17 minutes.
"I don’t know, maybe it was lack of mental preparation," Snohomish coach Dan Parker said. "We didn’t believe in ourselves."
Putting four runners in the top 51 is generally enough for a trophy, but schools from Spokane make the task of earning hardware difficult. Mead, Mount Spokane and Joel Ferris finished 1-2-3.
Mead, led by the first place finish of Jesse Fayant (15:30), won for the second straight year and has claimed 11 of the last 14 state championships.
Shorecrest, which finished second to Snohomish at the Oct. 26 district meet, was fifth. Kevin Hansen led the Scots with a ninth place overall finish. Jackson’s team of Evan Wirkkala (18th team), Caleb Knox (29th), Corey Nuro (59th), Derek Haynes (61st) and Devin Paschke (65th) was 10th.
Northwest District champion Travis Boyd, a Kamiak runner who had his sights set on winning it all, placed 20th — 62 places better than a year ago.
The lone smile worn by a Snohomish County runner was worn by Meadowdale’s Adam Shimer, who finished eighth in the Class 3A competition with a time of 16:19. The junior, who was 50th as a sophomore led his team to a 14th place finish along with senior Daniel Stabbert and sophomores Brian Seeley, Duncan Hendrick and Kevin Myhre.
"The difference this year was having my team here," said Shimer, who passed at least five runners in the last 1/4 mile. "About halfway I thought I was going to die. I was about 20th and I didn’t really feel like going on. People started dropping and I started catching up. I guess they felt worse than I did."
Lynnwood’s Daniel Mayen finished 13th. Bishop Blanchet’s Steve Mull won 3A race in 15:50 to lead his team to the championship.
Lakewood was another team hoping for a trophy. The Cougars were close. Their 150 points earned them a fifth place finish and was only 10 points away from third-place East Valley. Riverside put three runners in the top six to claim the team title. East Valley’s Matt Owens won his second-straight first-place medal by finishing in 15:43 — 36 seconds ahead of the field.
"We would’ve like to have been in the top four," said Lakewood senior Cameron Hartman, who finished 19th overall (17th team). "We had a good shot. We have a good, strong 1-2-3."
Senior twin brothers Andy Dewey and Marc Dewey finished 18th and 20th in the team standings. Ryan Thomas and Jeff Brown were 41st and 54th respectively.
"They ran as well as they could," Lakewood coach Jeff Sowards said. "Cameron had a great race and the Deweys ran a solid race."
South Whidbey’s team of James Sundquist (24th team), Brandon Bilyeu (25th), Joe Candelario (52nd), Drew Aernie (59th) and Jeff Strong placed 10th. Candelario is the team’s lone senior. The Falcons, who lost their top three runners from last year’s runnerup team, may be a factor next season.
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