Cardinals XC a 'cut above' the rest

It is a good thing Medical Lake's boy's cross country team runs better than they cut hair.

One of the Cardinals rewards for winning a third 1A state championship, which they did in dominant fashion Nov. 4 in Pasco, was to be able to apply the shears to head coach Gene Blankenship's lengthy mane of salt and pepper locks.

And to add a welcome injury to Blankenship's pride came the kids' desire to make the veteran coach have hair that resembled that of the current president of the United States, a poke at his personal political preferences.

Suffice to say they didn't come close, but neither did any of the competition on the 5,000 meter Sun Willows Golf Course where the Cardinals won a third state title in five years, following the last two as runner's up.

He makes some kind of deal with the athletes each season, but this time, Blankenship said, "It had to be a win," which they obliged, running away from the nearest team, Northeast A League rival Riverside, 78–130 - a whopping 52 points. It was the largest margin of victory in any division Saturday.

"The last two years, all they had to do was make it to the finals, and place," Blankenship said. "This time it was either you win or you're not touching my hair."

Hence, "We ran the best race of the year, without a doubt," Blankenship said.

Medical Lake had two runners land among the top-10, Mason Williams in eighth at 16 minutes, 6.10 seconds with Tyler Pena right behind in 16:10.30. Kenneth Rooks of College Place High School won easily with a 15:18.80 and Riverside's Ben Shaw well back at 15:35.70.

Furthermore, "It's the best team race we've run all year," Blankenship said. "We had two together in the top-10, then we had Tanner (Henry in 23rd/16:37.60)," he explained, followed by Brandon McCoy (34th/16.55.10) and Evan Peterson (36th/16.56.10) which was as close to back-to-back as could be.

The Cardinals sixth and seventh finishers, Quintin Collins (77th/17:32.30) and Zach Lewis (80th/17:35.20) were also right together, just seconds apart. Collins is just a freshman.

"We put five guys under 17 (minutes) and eight guys under 18," Blankenship said. "We have not done that all year long."

For Williams, finishing tops among his team made Blankenship marvel, especially in light of the senior enduring - and showing in his face - some serious pain during districts the previous week.

Asked if the senior had any of those issues Saturday? "If he did he didn't complain about it," Blankenship said. "He had to be hurting but he did not say one word this time."

Concluding a stellar high school career, Williams improved upon 2016 where he was sixth, running faster last Saturday. He bettered his time by 14 seconds, but was two places back of the previous year. "He was just faster this year, that's all there is to it," Blankenship said.

"It made me have to change my most valuable runner to a tie," Blankenship said. Beforehand Blankenship thought that honor would go to Pena but with Williams' performance it will be a co-award.

"We had three PRs (personal records)," Blankenship said. Henry had what his coach termed "A major PR," slicing nearly 20 seconds off his 2016 time and climbing two spots in his finish from 25th a year ago.

McCoy ran 21 second faster and nine places better than 2016 when the Cardinals recorded their second runner-up finish in as many years. Collins also had a PR with the seventh man, Lewis, having a season best run.

Running truly as a team as the race wound to a conclusion, Blankenship sensed the return to the top step of the state podium.

"I was standing at the 3-mile mark watching and (thinking), 'Hey, we had to have won this thing," Blankenship said. "I'm really proud of my kids, we really came together at the right time."

And while there was much celebration with individual efforts, it was coming together that rewarded Medical Lake.

"Most of all I'm so happy we ran as a team and not as a group of individuals," Blankenship said. "People don't realize it but it's a team sport."

This title by the boys could be the end of the five-year run that has seen so much success, Blankenship cautioned. "We've got our work cut out for us in the next couple of years; our first five finishers are seniors," he said.

But there appears to be a bright future for the girls.

Freshman Maris Tuck was the lone Cardinal girls and nearly PR'd with a 20:40.90 in 56th place. Alyce Harlan from Nooksack Valley won in 18:06.90. Lizzy Shaw from Riverside was third at 18:20.90.

"She had a real courageous first mile, struggled through the second mile and did OK in the third," Blankenship said.

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