Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Competitors in last week's Dayton meet launch from the starting line. On the far left are Bulldogs Jacob McCleary (left) and Micah Yeater, who placed 14th in 5-kilometer run. Next to McCleary are WP's Trent Hafen, E.J. Meserve and Seth Deal, who won the Seaport Invite this weekend.
WAITSBURG - The first few weeks of WP's cross country running season have gone well for the Cardinals, particularly for Waitsburg High School junior Seth Deal.
Deal won the Seaport Invite hosted by Clarkston High School at Beachview Park this weekend, finishing the 5,000-meter course in 15:43. That's an improvement over last year, when he placed second with a time of 16:29.
"Seth took a commanding lead in the first part of the race and never looked back," head cross country running coach Joanna Lanning said.
Dayton hosted a cross country meet on Sept. 14 and senior Micah Yeater took 14th in the boy's varsity race, with a time of 20:48. In Clarkston at the Seaport invite, the Bulldogs didn't fare as well, coming in the 51st place and above. Yeater took 52nd with a time of 29:20, Jacob Mc- Cleary shaved a minute off his time from the previous meet and was 64th at 22:24. Samura Miller came in 51st in the girls race with 27:41.
Dayton Coach Dan Nechodom was proud of his athletes for doing better than before, even though they didn't finish in the top percentile.
"All of them improved and ran faster minutes per mile than before," Nechodom said.
He said Yeater was fun to watch because he didn't feel well before the race, and after about a mile he decided to push himself and get in and really compete.
Lanning said E.J. Meserve also had "a terrific race," almost breaking into the 17s, finishing third with a time of 18:20. Trent Hafen didn't run because of an injury.
In the shorter middle school race, Emily Adams finished second, fighting off a Clarkston runner who attempted to push her into a wall while Adams passed her on the steep hill near the finish line, Lanning said.
The Potts brothers ran the largest race of the day with more than 90 runners. Trey Potts placed 13th, while Andre came in 71st. Thirteen 4A-2B schools from Washington and Idaho were represented in the Seaport Invite.
Last week, Seth coasted to victory during the league meet in Dayton. Meserve placed 9th after recovering from a bee sting and Hafen, who battled a hip injury, placed 10th. In the 1.3-mile school race, Trey Potts won with a time of 11:39. Adams, who ran her first race, was the first girl in and the third runner overall with a time of 12:06. Andre Potts placed fifth in the boys' race with a time of 14:18.
In WP's first meet, the Brooks Runner's Soul X_ C Fest in Hermiston on Sept. 10, Deal placed 6th, shaving 39 seconds off last year's time on the same course and moving up a place.
"By the time the varsity boys ran at 12:50 p.m., it was about 98 degrees on the 5K course," Lanning said. "The WP varsity athletes came prepared to compete at a high level and they did so admirably in spite of the high heat."
Hafen, who competed in his first high school race, was the second freshman over the finish line, placing 35th with a time of 18:29.
A third of the way into the race, Meserve had a setback when he was stung in the face. But he persevered and finished with a personal record time. Ninety-six varsity boys runners from Oregon and Washington competed in Hermiston.
The Potts brothers ran the middle school race with Trey Potts placing 8th on the 1.5- mile course with 10:14 and Andre, running in his firstever meet, placed 34th..
The WP runners will be at Connell for an invite on Saturday.
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