Closing in on lofty goal

The Cheney boys cross country team came into the 2024 season driven by both experience and history.

And on Saturday, Nov. 9 in Pasco they'll reach the finish line at the state 3A championships.

"They have aspirations to be the first (Cheney) state champion team since 1989," head coach Derek Slaughter said prior to the season.

The Blackhawks arrive with that goal within reach following what might be considered an upset team title Nov. 2 in the District 6 championships at Veterans Memorial Golf Course in Walla Walla.

Cheney had a relatively easy time of it topping their most recent nemesis, Mt. Spokane 52 to 67.

"I think the significance of the race kind of helped push a lot of our guys to lifetime PRs," Slaughter said. Among them was sophomore Sam Hilton with a 15 minute, 37.88 second sixth-place and the top Blackhawk.

"He just shows up for us in big races," Slaughter said of Hilton, whose brother Calvin has been sidelined all season by injury. Their father, Dan, was a key performer on that 1989 title team.

Hilton was followed across the line by Cameron Frenk and Holland Hurd all in the top 10.

That triumph over Mt. Spokane adds to an impressive resume for Cheney in the Greater Spokane League where they sometimes otherwise struggle.

"Earlier it was Mead, then it was North Central and now Mt. Spokane," Slaughter said. "We only have one team left that we've never beaten in Lewis and Clark."

The next goals would be to challenge and maybe surpass the state's current top 3A team, Mercer Island and other westside challengers, Seattle Prep and South Kitsap.

"I think that on a good day we're on the podium, on a great day we win and I think that that's kind of what we're hoping for," Slaughter said.

Slaughter considers it not at all out of the realm of possibilities to have Cheney stand on that top spot of the Pasco podium.

"I think Sam showed you his colors, I think Cameron showed his colors and Holland and Brayden," Slaughter said of the regional results.

"But I think if you look at the next three guys back, I think that we could make up some serious ground in those next three spots," that include freshman Andrew Ward, Lucas Matos, a senior, and junior Liam Frantzich.

"I know they can do and how they train every day," Slaughter said.

Cheney's win was fueled by a fast start.

"They weren't afraid to go out with the big dogs and be in that front pack," and leading the way was Hurd. He "Wanted to give a morale boost to the team," Slaughter said.

And Slaughter can't help but wonder where things might have been - and might be - had Sam Hilton's older brother Calvin been part of things. Slaughter's saving Calvin for track season after trying to ease him into the cross country lineup after injury.

"He was about to race and then just aggravated his injury," Slaughter said. "And the more we tried to rehab, the more struggle, the worse it was getting."

Calvin Hilton is getting healthier, "So his story is being written still," Slaughter said.

While the fine focus rests on the boys, the Cheney's girls' team will also be chasing their own notoriety. This following their third-place with 89 points and trailing Greater Spokane League rivals Mt. Spokane (45) and University (67).

"They had been struggling all season to put a race together," Slaughter said. "It was like each one of them was never 100%." Various ailments throughout the regular season hampered them, "And then Saturday everyone was 100%."

"And when Hannah (Ward) throws down the second fastest time in school history, it helps," Slaughter said of the senior's 18:53.83.

In both girls and boys, five of seven runners had PRs last Saturday.

"They were supposed to be on the outside looking in so to get the girls team through, is to have that whole full bus again next week," Slaughter said, referencing both teams will travel together to Pasco.

Camille Moseley is Slaughter's coaching counterpart for the girls but in the Cheney cross country community they like to think as one family.

"We share our training, we share busses, we share in success," Slaughter said. "Most teams don't do that."

And there's an additional element Slaughter wonders how it might play into Saturday success at Sun Willows Golf Course.

"We had brand new white jerseys and I told the boys that we'd never lost in those jerseys, so why start now," Slaughter reminded.

- Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].