WP Boys Third at Big Cross League Meet

WAITSBURG - "It was another great day!" said WP cross country Coach Joanna Lanning, referring to Thurs­day's District 9 Big Cross League Meet in Pasco. The WP Men's team placed third behind Asotin and Tri- Cities Prep, and ahead of Pomeroy.

Freshman Emily Adams (20:28) was fourth among 38 runners in the women's 5000 Meter race, in spite of taking a spill on the course.

"Emily was running very strong in second place the last half of the meet," said Lanning. "Then she fell on the back side of the course, which has poor footing - grass clippings over sand. But she pulled herself up and finished fourth. She is looking very good as we go to Districts."

Adams followed Jordan Porubek and Heather Siegel of St. John-Endicott, and Lucy Eggleston of Asotin, who took first place with a time of 19:42.68.

"The boys did tremen­dous!" said Lanning. E.J. Meserve, Kyle Gradwohl and Skylar Wood all re­corded personal records on what Lanning referred to as a "relatively slow" course. "Skylar, in particular, had a big day, showing much improvement," said Lan­ning. E.J. Meserve placed seventh out of 60 runners with a time of 17:24.58. Kyle Gradwohl placed 25th (19:29.04) and Wood placed 29th (20:24.15). Ty­ler Shafer(20:43.69) and Jared Farley (20:48.26) placed 33rd and 34th respec­tively.

"The Men's team placed third as expected with As­otin and Tri-Cities Prep leading the way with their strength and depth," said Lanning. "But we increased our point margin over Pomeroy, beating them by nine points where last week it was two!" Lanning notes that her young team contin­ues to improve and is look­ing forward to the District Meet in Spokane on Nov. 2.

Illness and previous commitments left Levi Laib as the only Dayton runner competing in the meet. "He was a bit blown out from a tough workout we had done earlier, but he prepped will and was ready to go," said Coach Dan Nechedom. "We both felt that he ran a good race, running at a smart pace and gauging the terrain well so he'd have en­ergy to finish the race well." Laib set a personal record for the 5,000 meter with a time of 21:12.43, to place 38th overall.