'Hawks end GNL season with losses
Cheney boys, girls each fall to Pullman
Last updated 10/18/2018 at 6:50pm
For now, Cheney High's boys cross country team will have to be content to wait for another shot at dethroning reigning Great Northern League champion Pullman. The visiting Greyhounds knocked off the Blackhawks 25-31 last Wednesday to remain league champions, handing Cheney its only dual meet loss of the season.
Bas Holland led Cheney, keeping pace with Pullman's Eliason Kabasenche for most of the race before falling off down the stretch to finish second with a time of 16 minutes, 26.72 seconds. Julian Torres, Beckett Schoenleber and Dillon Newbry went 5-6-7 for the Blackhawks with times of 17:25.60, 17:30.21 and 17:46.00, with Andres Margraf rounding out Cheney's scoring in 11th with a time of 18:18.11.
Kyle Peabody was 12th in 18:23.78 and Tucker Cunningham was 14th in 20:15.22.
For head coach Derek Slaughter, the loss was "disappointing," to say the least. He chalked up the set back to a lack of focus from his team, partly attributable to a sort of hangover from Homecoming activities the week prior.
"I wasn't happy with it; we should have beat Pullman," he said. "On paper, it should've been a lot closer than it was. Their effort didn't match the body of work they put in over the summer. They worked hard."
The Blackhawk girls found themselves a bit further than their male counterparts from competing with Pullman - who have improved immensely since their third-place finish last year, losing only to GNL champion West Valley this season. The Greyhounds placed all five of their scoring runners in the top six slots on the 5,000-meter Salnave Park course - a spread interrupted only by Cheney's Marion Mager-Reeser's third-place finish in 20:54.50 - to down the Blackhawks 18-43.
Alexia Batchelor and Caelyn Foster finished eighth and ninth in 21:54.78 and 21:56.30, with Ryleigh Bowes 12th in 22:07.25 and Mayah Spakousky completing Cheney's scoring in 13th in 22:29.88. Anna Richardson was 14th in 22:36.44, with Camber Moad wrapping up the varsity in 16th in 22:55.30.
Slaughter said the girls knew Pullman was "super strong," and tried to compensate by going out fast in order to stay with the Greyhounds - who feature three seniors and two freshmen among their top-five scorers. Slaughter thinks they may have gone out too fast.
"We're going to adjust that for districts," he said. "Instead of trying to beat them at the beginning, let's try to beat them at the end."
The Blackhawks now turn their attention to Saturday's District 7 competition at Beachview Park in Clarkston. The top two teams and top-10 individuals move on to regional competition with Districts 5 and 6 at Apple Ridge Golf Course in Cowiche near Yakima, with the top three teams and 21 individuals advancing from there to state in Pasco Nov. 3.
Hypothetical meet scoring for districts through Athletic.net has Cheney's boys in second place, four points behind Pullman, while the girls will have some work to do to overcome the 27 points that separates them from runner-up West Valley. Slaughter expects the boys race to be a "dogfight" between Cheney, Pullman and West Valley while the Blackhawks girls will need to run more as a team in order to advance.
Even so, he thinks Cheney's best effort hasn't been seen yet.
"I think we've still got a surprise in hand," Slaughter said.
John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.
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