Cardinals find out Stags' cross country is pretty good

Medical Lake High School head cross country coach Gene Blankenship knew there was likely a big gap separating his team from fellow Northeast A League rival, Deer Park.

Blankenship and his Cardinals found out just how big a distance that is and what it will take to close it after they opened the season last Saturday at the Moses Lake Invitational at Blue Heron Park’s 5,000-meter course.

There, the Stags rolled to easy wins in both boys’ and girls’ competition. Deer Park’s boys topped the 15-team event beating out 4A schools, scoring 42 points. Southridge from the Tri Cities had 53 and Spokane’s University, 65. Medical Lake was fourth with 123.

In the girls’ competition it was a somewhat similar finish with Deer Park on top with 30 points followed by Southridge (70), University (79) and Moses Lake (100). Fellow 1A school, Royal scored 140 and was fifth while Medical Lake’s 177 was good for sixth.

“They hammered us pretty bad,” Blankenship said. “They’re a lot stronger than I thought they’d be, they’re very good.”

Deer Park’s Cody Bollum was the top boys’ finisher in a time of 16 minutes, 47.04 seconds, easily ahead of Kennewick’s Johan Correa’s 17:00.15. The Stags put four runners ahead of Medical Lake’s top finisher, Mason Williams, who clocked an 18:02.09 and finished 14th. Brandon McCoy (18:09.91/18th) and Zachary Lewis (18:27.84/24th) rounded out the top-25.

“They are legitimately No. 1 in the state, there’s no doubt about it,” Blankenship said of Deer Park, the defending 1A boys champions.

Mariah Pena was the only Medical Lake girl’s runner to finish in the top-25 with her 23-minute time, good for 15th behind Deer Park’s Moriah Duenich (19:11.) and Libby Michael (19:48.7).

“Our kids competed OK, we probably went out too hard through the first mile,“ he said. “They beat us up in the next two.”

Blankenship said his runners need to change their strategy.

“We’re used to going out hard and pushing,” he said. “I think maybe this team has to be a little more conservative at the start.”

Medical Lake will know quickly if that helps as they face Deer Park again Saturday, Sept. 17 in the Seaport Classic in Clarkston, Wash.

While the race this weekend will offer an indication of what the future may hold, the true test comes Oct. 18 when the teams square off in the final league meet.

And though it’s not official at this point, Blankenship said he’s learned there will likely be no regional competition and that state berths will be determined Oct. 27 at the District 7 championships at Chewelah.

Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.