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By PAUL DELANEY
Staff Reporter 

Cardinals return to state cross country

Defending state 1A champs face long odds to make it two in a row

 

Last updated 11/1/2018 at 7:25pm

Paul Delaney

Medical Lake's Jeremiah Windle put on a push over the final 50 yards of last Thursday's District 7 Cross Country championship at Chewelah to finish sixth for his team and 21st overall to help the Cardinals earn a berth at the state championships in Pasco. This will be the seventh year in a row the Cardinals have sent a team to state where they have won three titles, including the 2017 1A boys crown.

The Medical Lake program that began by getting a couple of feet inside the door nine years ago, and over the last half-dozen seasons has become a dominant force in high school cross country in Washington state, will try to defend their 2017 crown this Saturday, Nov. 3 at Pasco.

Using a gut-check finish where key runners overtook their opposition in the final 100 yards, the Cardinals earned a runner-up finish on the rainy fairways of the Chewelah Golf and Country Club and once again qualify a team to compete in the 1A state championships on yet another 5,000-meter golf layout, Sun Willows.

The state's top-ranked 1A team, Lakeside, literally ran away with the overall title with four out of the top six finishers for a 26-57 win over Medical Lake. The Cardinals edged Riverside's 60 points to earn the Northeast A League's second team berth.

It was the Riverside coach who actually apprised Cards head coach Gene Blankenship of the fact that they edged his team by a mere three points. "I don't keep track, I don't even try," Blankenship admitted.

Lakeside's Gideon Swanson was the top individual boys finisher in a time of 16 minutes, 42.34 seconds over the tree-lined course where the race was run amidst sprinkles of rain.

But it was a collection of Cardinals runners, led by junior Victor Long's 17:15.53 in eighth-place, that got his team to state for the seventh year in a row. Besides last year, Medical Lake won titles, back-to-back in 2013 and 2014, were runners-up 2015 and 2106 and fourth in 2012.

"We outkicked a couple of the Riverside kids at the end to make the swing," Blankenship said.

Long finished just ahead of senior Nick Henry (9th/17:17.23) and freshman Angel Mendez, 11th in 17:18.04. Henry won a key battle with Riverside's Jamar Distel, winning by 1.5 seconds. "That was the big kick there," Blankenship said.

Blankenship was told it was his fourth and fifth place finishers - senior Zach Lewis and sophomore Quintin Collins - that delivered the swing that rallied their team. Lewis, 14th overall in 17:20.11, was six seconds ahead of his teammate, the ailing Collins at 17:26.88.

Junior Jeremiah Windle broke up a potential block of Riverside runners, finishing sixth for his team, 21st overall in 17:48.96. Ben Henry completed the Cardinal contingent with a time of 17:51.40 and was 23rd.

"I said all along if we were going to qualify (for state) our seniors were going to have to step it up, especially Nicholas," Blankenship said. "That was the biggest step up that we made were those two senior guys."

Collins has run in the past several weeks with an undisclosed injury. "This is his first hard effort for kinda' about three weeks," Blankenship said. Most of the season Collins was the No. 1 runner for Medical Lake. "Lately it's been Victor (Long)."

Medical Lake briefly toyed with an upset at the meet. "I also had an interesting conversation with the Lakeside coach who said at 2 1/2 miles we had them beat," Blankenship said. "We got outkicked by them."

The Cardinal girls send one runner, freshman Alison Payne, to state and another - sophomore Paige Headrick - agonized over another razor-thin near miss.

Payne was 10th in a time of 20:11.93 with Colville's Alaina Stone the top individual at 18:21.83. No. 2-ranked Lakeside won the team title 46-60 over Colville, the other team qualifier.

"She's an incredible talent, that's all there is to it," Blankenship said of Payne. "I just think she's going to just keep getting better."

Headrick finished 15th, one spot out of going to state for the second straight year, a mere 3/10ths of a second away. "She tried really hard," Blankenship said.

Hypothetically speaking and according to Athletic.net, the online cross country and track results website, Medical Lake is ranked No. 9, "But our goal is to finish fourth (at state)," Blankenship said. The computer model is based on previous finishes throughout the season.

But polls and models cannot account for motivation on the big stage, on which the Cardinals are quite familiar. Plus, they have exceeded their coach's expectations.

"I think I've said this before, this group has outworked any team I've ever coached at Medical Lake," Blankenship said.

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

 

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