Christy was an unanticipated member of the team the first day she popped into a Panther XC practice. She showed up without any announcement or forecasting, but she had all of her paperwork in order and was ready to roll. The team needed some help, and she delivered big time! On day one, it was apparent that she was the class of the field when it came to the girls, and matched the efforts of all but two or three of the boys on the team. The coaching staff was suspicious that she may have cut the off campus run short, but it soon became obvious that this was not the case.

She was not a runner that would stay with the pack if the pace was not fast enough. More often than not, she would end up running by herself. Her first major test came from a Castle Rock girl who was touted as the best girl in the area. But Christy ran her own race at her own pace and ended up finishing over a minute ahead of her. This left opponents and spectators wondered if she had cut the course short. When they figured out that was not the case, they all seemed to realize that she was for real.

Christy should be labeled a true Pioneer in distance running in Washougal. In spite of her slight structure, she could not be easily intimidated. She was the first Panther to attend the Steens Mt. running camp. Back then, it was truly “old school” and campers experience much more intense challenges, extreme camp maintenance duties and more exposure to the elements. These obviously help form her bold character. She audaciously led the first mile of the race during the state meet her junior year. She was willing to blaze the trail as the course in Spokane was covered with snow since her race was the first one of the day.

Since the Burnetts lived out on Mabee Mines Road, much of Christy’s training was not on the sidewalks or flat streets in town. She devised her own training loop in the area and on their property. The rest of the team joined her once, and that was apparently enough! They were all overwhelmed by the difficulty due to the hilly terrain. She also had her own “indoor” circuit she developed; rumor has it she would do as many as 100 continuous loops inside her house, which included two sets of stairs.

Her signature race came her senior year during the 1986 State Championships in Port Townsend, where Washougal competed as a contending team at the 1A level. Prior to the race, the team was corralled with all the other teams in a small staging area. Being the team leader she was, Christy gathered her team and had them run in a continuous small circle, probably not unlike the circuit she had in her house. She placed third as an individual, but the fostering of her teammates to being fully prepared was a factor regarding the team’s success; they brought home gold, beating the second place team by a massive 44 points. Her 3 mile time that day of 18:24 converts to just a few seconds over 19 minutes for the modern era 5K distance.

Christy held three school records upon graduating and moving on to run for West Point. Her Cross Country, 1600 Meter and 3200 Meter efforts were unmatched at Washougal High School for essentially 30 years!

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