Depth pays off for King’s ‘Battle Maidens’ in Pasco

PASCO — Three in a row for the Battle Maidens.

The King’s girls cross country runners, who prefer their own nickname to the school’s choice of Knights, won their third straight Class 1A/B team title Nov. 8 at Sun Willows Golf Course.

They ran not just for themselves, but for Merridy Stilwell, a Lake Stevens Middle School runner who passed away during a cross country meet in September.

“We dedicated our season to her,” said King’s coach Rod Wilcox, with tears forming in his eyes. “We told her family we’d finish the season for her.”

The Battle Maidens also ran with something to prove. Despite the fact that they’d claimed the last two state titles and won the previous week’s Tri-district meet, King’s fell from first to third in the final state coaches poll.

The Knights proved that poll wrong by placing five runners in the top 33 to compile 48 points. Fourth-ranked Warden finished second with 98 points. Top-ranked St. George’s (101) ended up third, followed by second-ranked Freeman (108).

“We were a little bit surprised (by the rankings),” said Rachel Wagner, the only senior in King’s varsity seven. “It gave us motivation to run faster. We couldn’t slack off.”

Junior Melody Miles placed fifth among runners who count in the team scores and 13th overall in a time of 20 minutes, 37 seconds.

Juniors Heidi Kieling (sixth/17th) and Laura Coghlan (seventh/19th), Wagner (14th/30th) and junior Heidi Peterson (16th/33rd) rounded out the top five for King’s.

Miles ran sporadically throughout the regular season due to a knee injury and Kieling has also been dealing with a series of setbacks dating back to track season.

“They’ve both really been struggling, so it was great that they came through with their best races of the year,” Wilcox said.

Sixth and seventh runners Chelsea Snyder (17th/35th) and Anneliese Fruhling (26th/49th) showed that the Knights will have little or no dropoff without Wagner next year.

“It was definitely a team effort,” Wilcox said. “It was nice to see all the girls running up near the front.”

A stellar race by Seattle Pacific-bound senior Steven Miller wasn’t quite enough to extend King’s streak of four straight boys team championships.

Top-ranked Charles Wright Academy and the second-ranked Knights both placed three runners in the overall top 20, but the Tarriers prevailed with 71 points to King’s 88. Highland (151) was a distant third.

“We ran faster than last year’s team, but we just ran into an even better team,” Wilcox said. “For us to beat them, I figured they’d have to have a lousy day and they didn’t”

Miller’s third-place time of 16:33 qualified him for next weekend’s Washington/Oregon Border Clash and took Wilcox by surprise.

Last year, Miller placed 12th in 17:24.

“He really ran over his ability level,” Wilcox said. “We were hoping for a big race from him, but I didn’t expect that at all.”

King’s juniors Brent Woodham and Alex Croutworst finished 15th and 16th, senior Jacob Burningham took 36th and freshman Jeff Dull was 49th.

Wilcox was voted girls coach of the year at the meet, joining Phil English and Tom Campbell as the only coaches to earn the distinction for both boys and girls.

Aaron Coe writes for The Herald in Everett. Enterprise writer Charlie Laughtland contributed to this story.