Headrick finishes with goal in grasp

PASCO – It has been quite a turnaround for Medical Lake cross country runner Reid Headrick.

From doubting his future with the sport as a sophomore to a state champion in his senior season, Headrick's efforts have opened the doors to extending his career into college.

"Sophomore year was definitely my worst year ever in cross country," Headrick said in an interview Monday. "I was struggling with not enjoying running at the time, not enjoying being out there and competing like I used to."

Some soul-searching was in order and after attending summer camps he emerged "More dedicated than ever, looking for great aspirations," Headrick said.

He delivered those "great aspirations" in the form of his school's first-ever individual cross country champion Saturday, Nov. 5, on a windy Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco in the 1A race.

Headrick came a tick of the clock from reaching into the cherished 15-minute bracket on the 5,000-meter course with a time of 16.01 minutes to best Andrew Luce of Lynden Christian at 16.10.

Headrick led wire-to-wire - as he has in most of his races in 2022 - with his foremost challenger being the gusty winds.

"It was honestly a pretty tough race with that wind, especially running it solo because you get you get huge gusts and there's not somebody up there in front of you to break that wind," Headrick said.

While in the lead throughout, Headrick was not invincible as Luce closed to within 20 meters - about 2-3 seconds – at the 2 ½ mile point or with 800 meters to go.

"I managed to get that gap back out to nine seconds," he said.

Race strategy called for a push in the first mile because the wind would be at his back. Houses that line later portions of the course would break up some of the wind.

"The goal was to maintain Mile 2 and 3, just push and finish off the race," Headrick said. "It was a struggle, but I managed to get there."

And as he crossed the finish line, Headrick thought, "Oh, my God, I just I just did that," referring to the goal he set from day-one this season, that being "Coming in as the top returner, it was I want to win a state title."

The Medical Lake boys team finished ninth, a bit of a personal disappointment considering it entered the state meet ranked No. 5 in the coaches' poll.

But the Cardinals' seven runners featured two seniors, four sophomores and a freshman.

Having them have what Headrick called "the state experience" will pay off in the next few years. "The amount of experience about running a race at state is so vastly important to just not your state race, but (all) races in the future."

Headrick knows all too well about the jitters that come from being on this big stage. He fell in his freshman year debut in the first mile, and it was certainly a shock.

"Oh shoot, I'm in a race, I gotta' get up and keep going," he told himself.

The state victory has elevated Headrick in the orbit of some colleges, which have recently come calling.

University of San Francisco, Boise State and Washington State have suddenly begun to "Look for the little runner in the middle of nowhere, Washington," as Headrick calls himself.

Paul Delaney is a retired Free Press Publishing reporter. Email him at pauldelaney53@comcast.net.