WP, Dogs Keep Busy At XC Meets

WAITSBURG - The WP Cardinals fared better at home than in Pasco this past week, placing third as a team in Waits­burg last Wednesday and 15th as a team at the larger meet on Saturday.

At the Pasco Bulldog Invite on Sept. 29, senior Seth Deal placed second with a time of 16:29.1.

Tewedros McDowell was 41st, with a time of 18:26.7, fol­lowed by E.J. Meserve in 85th, with a time of 19:59.0, Jacob Dingfield in 115th, with a time of 21:20.6, and Kevin Kamel in 117th, with a time of 21:28.9.

Kamiakin's men's team won overall out of about 30 teams.

"Seth had a terrific day lay­ing down a personal record for the season on a hot, humid day on a tough course," said WP coach Joanna Lanning. "It was a huge meet with nine separate races. I was extremely proud of his efforts. His teammates have some work to do, and we are still without Trent Hafen, but we'll keep working hard and the improvements will come."

For the Bulldogs, Austin Krekula placed 62nd, with a time of 21:52.4 and Tim Ihle placed 121st, with a time of 24:17.3. In the women's race, Bulldog Kiara Biggar placed 46th, with a time of 29:05.7.

Zech Bryan competed for Dayton in the boy's middle school race and placed sixth, with a time of 13:45.3.

The WP middle school boys placed in the top 20. Kyle Grad­wohl placed third, with a time of 13:37.2, followed by Dylan Knowles in 12th, 14:37.3, Jared Farley in 13th, 14:46.7, Andre Potts in 14th, 15:04.4 and Korben Duffy in 16th, 15:20.5.

Emily Adams won the mid­dle school girl's race with a time of 13:26.2. Maribel Mendoza also ran for the WP girls and earned 11th place with a time of 22:18.8.

Last Wednesday at the Waits­burg Cross Country Meet, Deal ran course and meet records and earned first place. How­ever, Lanning said there was too much space between her runners and the men's team placed third overall.

"We've got some work to do as a team," Lanning said.

The meet was a warm one and all of the District 9 schools were in attendance. Tri Cities Prep won the meet for the men.

Deal crossed the finish line first with a time of 16:49.17. McDowell followed him in sixth place, with a time of 18:20.99. Meserve came in 14th with a time of 18:57.39. Dingfield was in 25th with a time of 20:06.09. Kamel placed 36th with a time of 21:30.01

Dayton attended the meet last Wednesday as well. Bulldog Krekula came in 45th with a time of 22:20.82 and Ihle placed 62nd with a time of 26:30.81. Biggar won the women's race Wednes­day and placed 24th with a time of 28:51.2.

Dayton coach Dan Necho­dom said he was proud of how his runners performed. Biggar's goal for the meet was to finish in less than 30 minutes, he said. And she did.

"She's pushing herself hard," Nechodom said. "It's fun to watch."

Krekula, a freshman, is still working on developing his run­ning and racing skills, he said.

Ihle didn't run to his full po­tential Wednesday because the Monday before, he took a spill on a team workout, Nechodom said.

"He was pretty sore," he said. "He really didn't push hard."

Lanning said the meet went off without a hitch because of all of her volunteers who signed up to be helping hands. She was happy that all of the district teams could attend so she could get a great snapshot of the com­petition.

Lanning noted the allocation recently changed as to who will compete in the state meet at the end of the season. District 7 and District 9 will now be grouped together, she said, sending six men's teams to state and 30 individuals.

Lanning's team is also hurt­ing because Trent Hafen is still out with an injury. And when he returns, she said he'll be a little behind. Also, Corey Braxton didn't compete at the meet on Wednesday. Lanning said these two missing runners hurt the overall score.

Her middle school runners competed well on Wednesday and she was very proud of them. She said Emily Adams, who has a lot of "natural abilities," won the middle school boys and girls races. She also liked how her middle school boys stayed as a pack in the race.