By JOHN McCALLUM
Editor
Cheney's cross country teams swept a double-dual meet last Thursday at the Fairways Golf Course, giving the Blackhawk boys their first Great Northern League wins and keeping the girls perfect.
The boys placed four of their five scoring runners in the top 10, and held off East Valley's fifth scorer to edge the Knights 26-31 while also knocking off host Medical Lake 18-40. The Cheney girls placed all seven of their varsity runners in the top 10 to easily down both East Valley and Medical Lake 19-42 and 15-48.
Nash Springberry finished second overall for the Cheney boys, breaking up East Valley's 1-2 punch of Cody Edwards and Jaren Novakovich with a time of 17 minutes, 14 seconds – eight seconds back of Edwards and nine ahead of Novakovich. Devon Poulsen led a nicely grouped trio of Blackhawk runners finishing fourth through sixth with a time of 17:42, followed by Jacob Mager at 17:46 and Aaron Brenton at 17:49.
Nick Steele, Corey Klotz-Brooks and Dakota Torkelson teamed to hold off East Valley's final scoring runner, with Steele providing Cheney's final scoring punch with 12th place at 19:09, followed by Klotz-Brooks in 13th at 19:27 and Torkelson in 15th at 19:38.
Sanne Holland, Kinsey Pease and Amie Zachman led the Blackhawk girls with top three finishes with Holland first in 20:30, followed by Pease at 20:49 and Zachman at 21:11. Kendall Dunn and Savannah Phelan completed Cheney's scoring with sixth and seventh place finishes in 22:03 and 22:16 while Anika Kuula and Amanda Batchelor finished ninth and 10th in 22:32 and 22:56.
The wins give the Cheney girls a 3-0 record in GNL competition, with the boys moving to 2-1. Head coach Jay Martin was pleased with how both teams ran. He wasn't certain if the times yielded any indicators of his teams' progress since the Blackhawks hadn't run the Fairways course in three years, but felt they were good times nonetheless.
“It was pretty quick for a 3.1 (mile),” Martin said. “I was proud of their effort. They were racing places and that's what we wanted.”
The Blackhawks continue a light schedule heading into the final portion of the regular season. Cheney's lone meet is the Quincy Invitational this Saturday, taking place on a 3.1-mile course at the Gorge Amphitheater.
Martin said it's the first time Cheney has taken part in the invitational and subsequently their first trip to the Gorge. It could prove advantageous for the Blackhawks since the 2A regional meet will also take place there later this month.
“That's what we're hoping for, to get some experience on the course,” Martin said.
John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].
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