Deer Park might still be the team to beat in Northeast A League cross country, but Medical Lake seems to be figuring a way to make them look behind to see who’s catching up.
That’s what Cardinals’ head coach Gene Blankenship thought following his team’s fourth-place overall finish in last Saturday’s Seaport Invite at Clarkston, Wash. Medical Lake, with 107 points, finished second in the small-school division to Deer Park’s 61. Lewiston was the overall boys’ champ with 38.
“We lost to Deer Park again but we ran better,” Blankenship said. The Stags will continue to be the team to beat, he added.
Mason Williams was the top Medical Lake boys’ finisher with his 16-minute, 31.79 second time was good for 14th. Brandon McCoy (16:47.36/18th), Tyler Pena (17:07.44/24th), Tanner Henry (17:00/26th) and Zach Lewis (30th/17.17. 56) rounded out the top-six for the Cardinals. Lewiston’s Austin Byrer was the top boys’ finisher at 15:34.28.
“Those times came out pretty good, a lot better than last time (in 2014),” Blankenship said. “I don’t know what to say other than I was real pleased with the boys and girls.”
Freshman Riley Olmstead was the top ML finisher for the girls at 20:16.66, good for 14th. Mariah Pena’s 20:47.10 placed her No. 19. Deer Park’s Moriah Duenich won the race in a time of 18:29.14. Medical Lake scored 161 points, finished sixth and trailed winner Hanford’s 43 points. Deer Park was second with 60.
With the NEA regular season starting Sept. 28, when Medical Lake travels to Lakeside to meet the Eagles and Riverside, the Cardinal varsity has one more warm-up event this weekend at Portland, Ore. in the Nike Pre-Nationals.
The race is held at Portland Meadows horse racing track and has national implications as it attracts the cream of the crop of cross country teams. “The competition is usually really strong,” Blankenship said.
“We’ve done pretty good there in the past ,” he added. “We only go there about every two years.” The entire team went in the past, but now it’s just varsity, the top nine boys runners and seven in the girls.
The competition against runners from other schools is one reason to attend, but it’s also a reward for being a top runner.
One additional tune-up race, the Curtis Invite, takes place Saturday, Oct. 1 at Tacoma and will involve the entire team.
Then it’s the race to state in Pasco the first weekend in November and that’s against NEA teams. “Listen, there’s four teams in league that can qualify for state, Deer Park, us, Riverside and Lakeside,” Blankenship said.
Last year the Cardinals were beaten in their dual meet by Lakeside, but returned the favor when it counted at regionals, Blankenship said. “Riverside has really improved this year so it’s going to be interesting,” he added.
Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].
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