Medical Lake cruises to boys' cross country title

Medical Lake concluded its return to the top of the Northeast A League boys’ cross country standings with decisive wins over Colville and Newport on Oct. 17.

Medical Lake cruised over host Colville, 15-53 and 15-58 versus Newport. Colville did win the girls’ portion 19-37. Medical Lake’s girls did beat Newport who fielded an incomplete team and did not earn points.

“Other than being blown away by the wind, it was a good day for us,” head coach Gene Blankenship wrote in an email. The 1A top-ranked Cardinals also won in the JV race, securing twin titles. The ML boys finished a perfect 7-0 in league competition.

Brandon McCoy’s 17 minute, 16 second time, a season record for the senior, led a sweep for the Cardinals of the top-five spots in the boys’ race. Evan Peterson was second at 17:23 with Tanner Henry (17:53), Nicholas Henry (18:04) and Zach Lewis (18:05) rounding out the lead group. Mason Williams was 10th at 20:22.

As dominant as Medical Lake was on the boys’ side, Colville was in girls’ races. However, Blankenship said his team performed better than expected against the No. 2 ranked Colville girls’ team. Medical Lake’s girls finished 5-2 in the NEA.

Alaina Stone’s 19:50 led a 1-2-3 sweep for Colville on the 5,000-meter course at Dominion Meadows Golf Course. Riley Olmstead was fourth at 21:12, followed by Maris Tuck’s 21:16 to pace the Medical Lake finish.

Notable were the efforts of both Medical Lake JV squads where the boys finished a perfect 7-0 and girls 4-3. “Both the girls teams and the boys JV are comprised mostly of freshmen and sophomores, so the future looks bright,” Blankenship said. Sophomore Victor Long ran an 18:18 and Quintin Collins, a freshman an 18:41 to lead a Cardinal sweep that went 13-deep.

The next, and most important step for Medical Lake in their effort to regain a state title, takes place today, Oct. 26, at the Chewelah Golf and Country Club where NEA teams meet again for the District 7 championships and berths for the state meet in Pasco on Nov. 4. The girls’ varsity race is at 1:30 p.m. with the boys set for 2:45.

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