Slaughter sees good things for Cheney cross country.

CHENEY – The first rule when talking to Blackhawks cross country Coach Derek Slaughter is to not use the term “runners” when discussing his team.

They are athletes, he insists.

And those Blackhawks athletes have some lofty goals, particularly the boys.

For the guys, they graduated one notable varsity runner, Adam Estock, Slaughter said. “Out of our top 10, we lost two so eight are returning.”

In evaluating that group, Slaughter said “We added two extra guys that were part of that big group of eight that I think I had 10 guys train harder than anyone in the summer before.”

Slaughter loves the m...