Headrick's first is a first for ML

In his 13 years as head cross country coach at Medical Lake there have been few things Gene Blankenship’s teams have not been able accomplish.

But Reid Headrick checked off one of those boxes Nov. 5 at Sun Willows Golf Course in in windy Pasco at the WIAA 1A state championships when raced across the finish line first to win the Cardinals’ first-ever individual championship.

Headrick led all the way, clocking a 16 minute, .01 second time to turn back a late challenge from Andrew Luce of Lynden Christian (16:10.40).

“Reid led from the start, went to the mile in first place, went to the second mile in first place, went to the third mile first place plus the finish line in first place,” Blankenship said. “The guy (Luce) was closing on him towards the end, but he (Headrick) crossed the finish line first and that’s what really counts.”

The Medical Lake girls were a very pleasant surprise with a third-place finish (122 points) behind Northeast A League rival Lakeside (94) and Overlake from Redmond (101). Kayla Ramsey was once again the leading Cardinal runner, finishing fifth at 19:10.4 on the 5,000-meter course.

“A great day, that’s all there is to it,” Blankenship said. “Kayla finished fifth, which she predicted by the way.”

Ramsey did the same thing she’s done all season, running with eventual runner-up, Lakeside’s Sadie Meyring, for most of the race. “But she was closer to her this time than she’s been for a while and just got just got out kicked,” Blankenship said.

Add another bit of history to this state outing according to Blankenship. With Jenna Castro finishing 13th (20:03.7), the Cardinals added to their accomplishments. While he’s not certain of older past-history, “It’s the first time in my history at Medical Lake that we’ve had any girl on the on the individual medal platform — and we got two.”

Kaylee Dennler (33/21:22.3), Jasmine Cruz (47/21:56.0), Hazel Grubaugh (68/22:24.5), Kaitlyn Wiley (79/22:45.3) and Michalyn McCollough (148/26:55.7) were the remainder of the Cardinal finishers and four of them are set to return in 2023.

The Cardinal boys landed in ninth place as a team with 234 points, and trailed champ Bush (95). NEA Lakeside finished third with 129 points.

Nakai Ornelas (56/18:16.9), Hector Gomez (67/18:25.7), Garrett Montney (105/18:57.9), Sam Ornelas (118/19:13.6), Milan Contreras (139/19:50.3) and Laban Kumenda (151/22:17.2) were the rest of ML’s finishers. And the good news for the future is all but Sam Ornelas can return.

“My original thing at the start of the season is we want to get the team to state,” Blankenship said. That way the young kids can have another experience of running in state when they’re juniors and seniors; maybe we have a chance to do something pretty good?” Blankenship added.

After state titles for the boys in 2013, 2014 and 2017, Blankenship, a hall-of-fame cross country coach in California before arriving in the Northwest, just needs girls’ team and individual titles to complete his Medical Lake to-do list. His 2021 ML girls were runners-up.

Paul Delaney is a retired Free Press Publishing reporter and can be reached at [email protected].