My team is going to Pasco!" The District Meet could have been Caden Lowman's last high school XC meet. Right out of the gate, he boldly bolted into the top 25 spots (28 qualify for Pasco) as he was only 32nd last year, and this year's performances had been lacking. Late in the race, Caden slipped back to 35th place, but he knew he must carry on for the sake of the team. The Panthers were precariously positioned to qualify prior to start time. One of the Dark Horse teams to qualify (Hockinson) darted out to a fast start well ahead of the Panthers. By the two mile mark, the Panthers essentially pulled even with the Hawks. With the pressure on, Caden heroically kicked past three runners including one Hockinson boy to capture 32nd again, securing the whole team punching their ticket to Pasco.
If the "P.R." stands for "Public Relations," then this would probably be a true statement every day of the season. Clara Best has been phenomenal this year cultivating team unity, developing and distributing recruiting letters and has engaged in writing of our Run-Downs (Salt Creek) this year. But at the district meet, "P.R." stood for "Personal Record." Clara had the best and only Personal Record on our girls team. Her 28th place finish was instrumental in the securing of a team berth to the State Championships in Pasco next weekend. Clara stepped to the starting line ranked only 50th! It was her finest race of the season. But if this season ends up playing out like last year, she will perform even better next week at state, as we are well aware that she likes to save her "BEST" for Last!