Medical Lake's fall 2016 All-Northeast A League selections included (L-R) for girls' soccer: Taylor Cannon, Makayla Geiger and Jaxyn Farmen. Mariah Pena and Riley Olmstead represented girls' cross country. Boys' cross country choices were Tanner Henry, Tyler Pena, Mason Williams and Brandon McCoy. The Cardinals' all-league representative for football, Ben Wells, is not pictured. .
Medical Lake High School had 10 student athletes who were selected to the 2016 fall All Northeast A League teams. Athletes and some of their highlights are listed below.
In addition, the Cardinals' Zane Higgins was voted coach of the year for girls' soccer after helping guide his team to a playoff berth.
Cross Country
Girls:
Mariah Pena, a senior, was team captain for two years. She was one of only two girls at ML to make it to the state meet all four years.
Riley Olmstead was the team's No. 1 runner all year as a freshman. She had a good season and the team is looking forward to three more years of her being a top competitor.
Boys:
Tanner Henry, a junior and team co-captain earned his first trip to state as a runner after serving as an alternate in 2015. He's described as an "exceptional leader."
Tyler Pena, also a junior was the solid No. 2 man by end of season. Finished in the top 16 at state.
Mason Williams is the third junior to represent the Cards. He was a team co-captain, a member of the state champion team in 2014, and was number one man on two runner-up teams at state in 2015 and 2016.
Brandon McCoy, a junior and No. 2 runner for the first half of the season. He had his best races at state the last two years and is a 4.0 student.
Football
Ben Wells was selected to the NEA second team on the offensive line. Wells started every game on both the offensive and defensive lines and even had one carry for two yards. He's a great leader, his coach, Mo Owen said, as not only was Wells named a team captain by the coach, but the team voted him that honor at end of year.
Soccer
Makayla Geiger was a first team forward. She led the league in goals with 14 and also broke the school record for overall goals in a season (including non league) with 21. She was also the team offensive MVP.
Taylor Cannon, only in her second year playing keeper was named as the first team goalkeeper. Cannon had several games with 20 plus saves that the Cards ended up winning due to her strong play. She was the overall team MVP.
Jaxyn Farmen was a first team defender and in coach Zane Higgins' opinion "Was easily the best defender in the league." Farmen was the Cardinals' team defensive MVP. All three girls were also all-academic players.
. "What's always been good about Zane is his experience, he understands the game at a high level and this year he had a bunch of athletes on the field that he was able to put in motion," Medical Lake athletics director, Justin Blayne said.
The combination of those things worked out well, Blayne added. In the last three seasons, the Cardinals improved from 0-14 in 2014 to 3-13 in 2015 and finally 9-8 overall and a playoff berth.
Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].
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