Medical Lake runners know what lies ahead Medical Lake runners know what job lies ahead

Medical Lake cross country now knows who to have in their sights next week at the District 7 championships in Chewelah.

For the boys, the defending 1A state champions, it will be both Lakeside and Riverside after the Rams edged the Cardinals 23-26 last Wednesday at Deer Park. The boys did come away with a 23-33 victory over the host Stags in a Northeast A League meet on Oct. 10.

And the girls, well they will be watching and making sure they are at their best to compete with both Lakeside and Deer Park, the latter being 19-36 winners. Riverside failed to field a full girls team and thus no score was recorded.

Careful not to uses it as an excuse, head coach Gene Blankenship said the course, complete with some new elements not seen before, was a challenge, especially for the boys and particularly for his normal No. 1 runner, sophomore Quintin Collins.

“It wasn’t particularly tough, but it was really rough and uneven surfaces,” Blankenship said. “We have to learn as a team, especially the young kids, that we run on different courses all the time and we should be ready to race.”

That was particularly hard on Collins who has been running recently with a nagging injury. “We couldn’t run him all out,” Blankenship said. But it still was a close race and decided over the final 150 meters where after leading, “We got outkicked,” Blankenship added.

Riverside took the top three spots with Zach Pace finishing in the lead at 17 minutes, 45 seconds, Jamar Distel right behind in 17:48 and Deer Park’s Grant Avila’s clocked a 17:50 in a one-two-three finish separated by just five seconds.

The top Cardinal runner was junior Victor Long, fourth at 18:16. Freshman Angel Mendez (6th/18:21) and Jeremiah Windle (7th/18:24) rounded out the top seven finishers on the 5,000-meter course. Collins who was running carefully so as not to exacerbate his injury was ninth in 18:29.

In girls competition for the 1A, No. 6-ranked Cardinals, it was Deer Park’s turn to sweep the top-three spots with Marion George the individual champ at 20:36 as the Stags topped the Cardinals 19-36.

“We had five girls run really, really good,” Blankenship said, led once again by freshmen Allison Payne’s 21:22.5 time.

Junior Riley Olmstead was fifth in 22:07. “Riley ran a real good race, she’s coming on strong,” her coach said. Olmstead’s improvement is impressive considering she missed some recent invitational meets due to work commitments and could not train during the summer.

Sophomores Maris Tuck (9th/22:40), Paige Headrick (10th/22:44) and senior Jenavieve Cogswell all finished together for the Cardinals.

The Cardinals ran a final NEA meet at Newport, also featuring Colville, on Oct. 17 but set their sights on the district championships Oct. 25 at the Chewelah Golf Club.

“Lakeside is the team to beat, then it comes down to us and Riverside,” for the other team berth to state, Nov. 3 at Pasco, Blankenship said. “Whomever runs the best race on district day is going to state; the other team is going to take individuals and that’s it.”

Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].