It’s taken awhile, but the King’s boys finally have a race on their hands.
Charles Wright Academy has caught up with the perennially powerful Knights and is threatening to overtake them on the home stretch of the season.
The Tarriers snapped King’s streak of five straight Tri-district cross country titles last weekend and will look to do the same at tomorrow’s Class 1A/B state meet at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco.
Charles Wright’s Tom Wyatt and Alex Crabill placed first and third to pace the Tarriers to the district championship Nov. 1 at Lake Spanaway Golf Course.
It was the first loss to a 1A school for the Knights in five years. With their victory, the Tarriers leapfrogged King’s for the top spot in the most recent coaches association state poll.
“They beat us pretty soundly,” King’s coach Rod Wilcox said. “That was no surprise.”
Wyatt’s winning time of 15 minutes, 25 seconds was more than a minute faster than runner-up Brian Wall of Tacoma Baptist.
Six Charles Wright runners finished in the top 20 for a team total of 51 points. King’s had three runners crack the top 10 and finished second with 66 points.
“Our pack did all right, but our leaders are going to need to step up,” Wilcox said. “They know that.”
Senior Steven Miller (17:11) placed fifth for King’s and teammates Brent Woodham (17:36), Alex Croutworst (17:37) and Jacob Burningham (17:58) took eighth, ninth and 18th.
Seattle Academy, Seattle Christian and Bellevue Christian secured the final three team berths to state.
Though Charles Wright has emerged as a serious title contender, Wilcox remains confident that the four-time defending state champs can extend their streak of team championships to five.
“If we can run our best race, it’s going to make it hard for anyone to beat us,” Wilcox said. “But this is going to be more of a challenge than we thought. To win this one, we’re going to have to really earn it.”
The same goes for the King’s girls, who captured their third consecutive district title and are going for a third straight state championship.
Despite their sizable team victory, the Knights dropped from first to third in this week’s coaches poll behind St. George’s and Freeman — the two teams expected to challenge King’s at the state meet.
Depth was the difference for the Knights at districts. Junior Laura Coghlan was King’s only top-10 finisher, placing seventh in 21:07.
Rachel Wagner (21:37), Melody Miles (21:40), Heidi Kieling (21:42) and Chelsea Snyder (21:50) swept 16th-19th places, Heidi Peterson (22:03) took 21st and Anneliese Fruhling (22:26) was 24th.
While King’s coasted to first place with 59 points, the real battle was for the remaining two state berths. Five points separated the next four teams, led by Cedar Park (100) and Bellevue Christian (103).
“We have good team depth this year instead of the strong individual runners we’ve had in the past,” Wilcox said. “If we win (state) again, it’s going to be because of our depth.”
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