WP’s Deal Pulls Ahead Of the Pack In Meets

WAITSBURG - Waitsburg- Prescott's Seth Deal continued his hot streak at the end of September and early November placing first twice in boys varsity races at recent cross county meets.

WP cross country Coach Joanna Lanning is happy with Deal's performance, and truly believes that she has more than one star on her team.

"I hope all three of the high school runners are going to state," Lanning said.

In addition to Deal, E.J. Meserve and Trent Hasen are gearing up for some tough competitions in the coming weeks. On Sept. 24 at a meet in Connell, Deal placed first out of 154 runners in the boy's race and really showed his skills, Lanning said. He kept up the good work by placing second in the District 9 League Meet Sept. 28 and first again in the Pasco Bulldog Invitational on Oct. 1.

Lanning said she was especially pleased with Meserve at the district meet. He took ninth at that meet after pushing himself really hard. For the Pasco Bulldog meet, he ran the course more like a practice run and came in 39th.

"It's really hard (on athletes) when you have two meets a week," Lanning said. "Some meets are just workouts."

Deal's hard work over the summer is paying off, Lanning said. Hasen has been injured, but she hopes he will be ready to race at a big meet in Richland this Saturday.

On the middle school team, Lanning said her true rising star is Emily Adams who has never competed in the sport before, but who is no. 1 in the state right now for the 1 mile race.

The Richland Invitational this weekend will bring out many more teams and more competition, Lanning said. She hopes it will be a faster course as well, because none of the races so far this season have really produced top speeds.

"It's going to be a great challenge and set them up well for the season," she said.

She's also happy that this Saturday's meet will be the last Saturday invitational so her athletes can get some relief from a 6-day running schedule.

Meserve got sick this summer and that meant a slower start this fall, but he's definitely kicking into a higher gear now that it's later in the season, she said.

The Dayton Bulldogs are seeing a tougher season than the Cardinals. Dayton cross country Coach Dan Nechodom said Micah Yeater and Samura Miller ran in the Connell meet on Sept. 24 and Yeater placed 110th and Miller placed 74th. Anita Jackson is still out with an injury, Nechodom said. At the District 9 League Meet, Jacob McCleary ran and placed 35th in the boy's race with a time of 21:05. Miller ran the girl's race that day and placed 26th with a time of 26:51.

"All of them are progressing well," Nechodom said. "The middle school runners are getting some more racing experience and are enjoying themselves and the progress they are making."