CHENEY – The Blackhawks cross country teams notched their first dual meet wins on the road last week, sweeping East Valley on Tuesday at the Knights course at Liberty Lake Regional Park.
The Cheney boys breezed to a 17-46 win, landing all seven varsity runners in the top eight slots while the girls repeated the performance in their 15-48 victory. The wins moved the boys’ record to 3-0 in Great Northern League meet action while the girls improved to 2-1.
Freshman Samantha Habegger led the Blackhawk girls to a 1-5 finish, crossing the line first with a time of 20 minutes, 52 seconds. Marion Mager-Reeser was second in 21:28, with Ryleigh Bowes third in 21:29, Mayah Spakousky fourth in 21:39 and Jaela Thornburg fifth in 22:02.
Seniors Caelyn Foster and Riley Potter rounded out Cheney’s finish, placing seventh and eighth.
Senior Bas Holland led the boys scoring, taking first in 16:16 with fellow senior JT Gaspar 30 seconds back in second and junior Becket Schoenleber third in 17:08. Trae Babcock was fifth in 18:09 and Dylan Thorburg completed Cheney’s scoring by placing sixth in 18:12.
Seniors Andres Margraf and Kyle Peabody rounded out the varsity placings by finishing seventh and eighth.
The Blackhawks traveled to Carmichael Middle School in Richland on Saturday for the 51st annual Max Jensen Richland Invitational, getting a multi-team, large meet tune up prior to District 7 competition Oct. 26 at Mead High School. Competing at the three-mile distance instead of the usual 3.1 miles/5,000 meters, the boys varsity team placed sixth in Division I, with Holland leading the way by placing fourth in 14:56.82.
Gasper was17th in 15:33.38 with Schoenleber 26th in 15:47.66, followed by Margraf in 80th, Thornburg in 89th and Peabody in 102nd. Led by sophomore Finnegan Syrie, the Blackhawks freshman/sophomore squad secured the highest team finish of the day, coming in third overall with 90 points, well back of meet winner Kamiakin.
Syrie turned in a time of 17:04.17 for 10th, with sophomore Garrett Roettger 17th in 17:26.70 and freshman Noah Hinton 21st in 17:30.13. The Blackhawks junior/senior boys were fifth, with Steven Johnson placing 15th in 17:17.27 and Addison Hinton 24th in 17:38.11.
The Blackhawks varsity girls competed in the Division I race, placing 14th overall. Habegger was 28th in 18:55.50, with Mager-Reeser 54th, Thornburg 63rd, Spakousky 77th, Foster 84th and Potter 88th. Cheney’s junior varsity team finished fifth, with freshman Tenaya Belsby placing third in 19:55.24 and senior Megan Habegger seventh in 20:33.56.
The Blackhawks have one meet remaining in GNL action, traveling to Pullman on Wednesday, Oct. 16, to take on the Greyhounds. Both boys and girls teams are 3-0, so for the Cheney boys it will be a showdown for the regular-season league title.
Both Cheney squads enjoy a week off before heading to Mead for the District 7 meet on Oct. 26. Four teams will advance out of Mead to regional action with the Central Washington Athletic Conference on Nov. 2 for a shot at state in Pasco on Nov. 9.
John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].
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