Members of the Spokane Mercury 11-12-year-old cross country team advancing to regionals are Beckett Schoenleber (second from right), Aaron Bruce, Evan Bruce, Matthew Leeds, Jacob McIntyre, Ashton Hannum and Marc Dugenet. Coach Carol Lewis is also pictured in the middle of the back row.
Cheney Middle School student Beckett Schoenleber is getting a chance at something few cross country runners ever achieve - competing at a national meet.
Schoenleber led his Spokane Mercury Athletics 11-12-year-old team to a second-place finish at Region 13 competition Nov. 21 in Pasco, Wash., becoming part of the group of 16 Mercury runners who will compete at nationals Dec. 12 in Albuquerque, N.M. Schoenleber finished fourth overall with a time of 10 minutes, 37.96 seconds, just over 3 seconds behind Bowerman Track's Jeffery Rogers.
While the rest of the runners are from Spokane, two of Schoenleber's teammates, Marc and James Dugenet, do share a Cheney connection. Mercury head coach, and Betz Elementary School principal, Carol Lewis said the Dugenet twins' mother, Holly Dittetoe, is a teacher at Cheney Middle School.
Lewis said 16 Mercury runners would travel to competite in Albuquerque as the top 30 individuals and top five teams advance. Individuals hoping to make the trip are Cooper Haney (17-18), Graham Cleveland and Abraham Little (9-10) and Jonas Bears (13-14) for the boys and Carsyn Gildehaus (8 and under), Jennifer-Kate Nachos and Madeline Rawlins (9-10), and Erinn Hill (13-14) for the girls.
Cheney Middle School student Megan Habegger also competed at regionals, finishing 67th with a time of 17:37.69.
Lewis said the challenge now is getting the athletes to New Mexico. The club charges a minimal fee to join, "just enough to keep running" so that families with limited resources can afford their kids who love to run the opportunity to compete.
Lewis estimated it would "conservatively" cost about $800 per athlete to attend nationals, most of which is airfare and hotel expenses.
"Sixteen qualified and we hope to get all or almost all of them there," Lewis said.
Individuals who wish to donate can go to a GoFundMe link set up on the club's website, http://www.spokaneyouthdistance.org. Lewis said they have also put on a couple of meets to raise some money, and are offering some incentives to businesses that might want to help out as well.
"We are an official non-profit organization, so all donations are a tax write off," club volunteer Rochelle Schoenleber wrote in an email.
John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].
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