The post season for the Cheney High cross country team continues.
The Blackhawks girls’ team nabbed one of four berths to state in this region with a third-place finish at last Saturday’s 2A District 5/7 meet against teams from the Central Washington Athletic Conference at a cold and windy but somewhat dry Apple Ridge Golf Course in Cowiche. The other Great Northern League school competing, Pullman, finished first, with CWAC teams Ephrata (second) and Ellensburg (fourth) also qualifying.
Blackhawks head coach Jay Martin said going in, he and his assistant coaches felt the girls could maybe be in the top five of teams, maybe the top four.
“We were just super excited,” Martin said. “They really competed for the entire race. Seven teenagers trying to be on at the same time — it was great.”
Hannah Spakousky and Mattie McNair turned in new season personal records to finish fourth and 11th overall with times of 19 minutes, 4.3 seconds and 19:50.1 respectively. Jolene Whiteley edged into the top 20 with a time of 20:14.9, with Alecia Brooks and Jessica Vietzke setting new seasonal PRs to finish 23rd and 35th respectively.
Shannon Gladden and Lexi Brooks also set new PRs in wrapping up the Blackhawks varsity runners appearances, placing 40th and 42nd. The only runner who didn’t PR, Whiteley, has been battling a nagging type of muscle cramp in her knee area, Martin said.
“That was just giving her heck,” Martin said. “We’re just really proud of her for how she raced, knowing she had that tight knee muscle. Every single girl did that, though.”
On the boys’ side, Steaven Zachman and Kameron Galm both earned a chance to wrap up their senior cross country careers with a trip to state competition Nov. 8 as individuals. Zachman finished fourth with a time of 15:58.4 while Galm set a season PR in finishing 12th in 16:19.
East Valley senior Scott Kopcynski led the Knights team back to state by finishing first in a time of 14:58.4 while teammate Chad Stevens was 6.4 seconds behind in second and West Valley-Spokane’s Skylar Ovnicek was third in 15:46.7.
Martin said both Zachman and Galm raced well. They talked to the senior duo before the race about having the courage to go out and race with the front of the pack, but not getting too excited, staying calm and reserving enough energy for a final kick at the end to finish well.
In other words — be patient.
“The hardest thing for a distance runner is to learn patience,” Martin said. “It doesn’t make a lot of sense to talk about patience when you’re trying to run as fast as you can.”
Also making the trip to state at Pasco is Isaiah Rigo. Rigo qualified in the wheelchair competition out of the District 7 meet held in Clarkston, Oct. 25, posting a time of 11:31 over the 1.8-mile course.
The wheelchair division competition at Sun Willows Golf Course begins at 9:30 a.m. The 2A girls’ race starts at 11 a.m. with the 2A boys kicking off at 1:30 p.m.
John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].
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