PASCO – Medical Lake varsity cross-country teams shattered expectations Nov. 6 as both boys and girls brought home state championship trophies from Sun Willows Golf Course.
The girls team took second place and the boys fourth.
“No coach could have asked for a better effort, a team effort,” Coach Gene Blankenship said, adding it was the second consecutive year that the girls won second place as a team.
Grace Grubaugh was the first varsity girl to cross the finish line for the Cardinals and she was closely trailed by her teammates.
“Our girls were League and District Champs in both Varsity and JV with perfect 12-0 records,” Blankenship said.
“In this year of trying to return to normal, we had 30 athletes working hard to rebuild a team that was devastated by the loss of its top seniors of 2020,” he said. “In doing so, they created the best girls cross-country team in the history of Medical Lake.”
The boys varsity team finished fourth place at the state championships after being unranked during the pre-season, the coach said.
“The boys have placed nine times in the last 10 years,” Blankenship said. “Reid Headrick, running a superb race, finished third overall. He is our highest individual finisher ever at state.”
The boys varsity finished the season, 12-0, and the junior-varsity team finished 10-2.
Blankenship was also awarded with coach of the year this season.
He said it was due in part to being surrounded by a supportive staff.
He also said the “competitors make the program, and the kids have worked extremely hard to earn this accomplishment.”
Kim Headrick, a team parent who volunteers with the program, said the results this year were a bit unexpected because the program graduated a lot of seniors last year.
She said a lot of the runners had been putting in extra practices since June, adding unique features that would keep the practices challenging and interesting.
Headrick said the freshmen runners stepped up to the challenge and helped bring the surprising success.
She said the accomplishment is in part due to the positive culture that has been built surrounding the program.
“The level of support the program has received this year has been absolutely amazing,” she said. “And it has fueled a lot of the camaraderie that helped build the culture in which everyone in the program is seen as family.”
Headrick said Blankenship backed by assistant coaches David McNeill and Sarah Collins put extra attention in “getting the kids to listen to their bodies” in terms of preventing injuries which was an issue last year.
Blankenship said he owes a lot of thanks to the staff and volunteers that helped.
“I believe this is the best coaching staff in the state,” he said.
Reporter Matthew O. Stephens can be reached at reporter2@cheneyfreepress.com.
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