Blackhawks' runners edged at Pullman

CHENEY – One thing is for certain when it comes to this Saturday's District 7 cross country meet at Mead - and that is it will be a dog fight.

Evidence of this was on tap last Wednesday down in Pullman as both Cheney High School varsity squads lost to the host Greyhounds - barely. The Blackhawks boys fell 27-30 while the girls were edged 27-28, making for some interesting competition Saturday when one factors in Cheney and Pullman's narrow wins over West Valley earlier in the season.

Samantha Habegger led the Blackhawks girls with Cheney's highest finish of the day, crossing the 5,000 meter line in first with a time of 21 minutes, 12.13 seconds. She was followed by Marion Mager-Reeser in fourth in 21:52.09, Megan Habegger in sixth in 22:16.53 and Tenaya Belsby in seventh in 22:19.51, with Jaela Thornburg wrapping up Cheney's scoring by placing 10th in 22:35.51.

Seniors Ryleigh Bowes and Caelyn Foster were 11th and 12th respectively.

Bas Holland led the boys, who showed some good grouping in their top-three but were missing a key runner in No. 4 scorer Kyle Peabody, who is out with an undisclosed injury. Holland was second, finishing 3.17 seconds behind reigning 2A state champion Eliason Kabasenche, with a time of 17:10.

Fellow senior JT Gaspar was third in 17:31.77 with junior Beckett Schoenleber fourth in 17:50.86, but Pullman followed Cheney's trio by placing runners in the next five slots, four of which provided scoring. Cheney's Andres Margraf was 10th with a time of 19:00.32, followed by Dylan Thornburg, who rounded out the Blackhawks scoring by placing 11th in 19:08.

Trae Babcock was 12th and Finnegan Syrie finished 13th.

Cheney did get an indication of its future possibilities next year in the Greater Spokane League as a 3A school as both junior varsity teams won their respective races, 28-31 for the boys and 18-45 for the girls.

"Boys and girls JV went 4-0 this year for the first time ever since I have been coaching so that made me very happy," head coach Derek Slaughter said in an email.

Next up for Cheney is district competition at Mead, with the top two teams and 14 individuals advancing to regional action Nov. 2 with the Central Washington Athletic Conference. While difficult, Slaughter thinks the Blackhawks have solid chances for both squads to move on.

"Just need to shore up our five man to get through," Slaughter said of the boys' team. "1-3 is really helping us out this year. The girls just need to show up. We have three teams of seven competing for those 14 spots since EV and Clarkston have no girls ahead of our groups."

John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.