The "Run-Down": Hood River Valley ("Skip Sparks" Invite)

For our second meet of the year, the Middle Schoolers got a jumps start on us as we went to Hood River. They raced at 3:00; we took the scenic route (SR-14 all the way to the Hood River Bridge), nearly delayed big time by a road side fire (a few more minutes and we might have been stuck there for a while) and we arrived half way through the MS girls race.

Even though the race as marred by many taking wrong turns, our Washougal girls did us proud. 8^th Grader Allison Warta's winning time is a bit deceiving as she was one of many that did not negotiate the course property due to poor course monitoring, but that did not stop the officials to awarding her the opportunity to stand on the top podium. Her close friends and classmates Amelia Pullen and Annabelle Palmer joined her on the podium with 2^nd and 7^th placings, and Brooklyn Bausch competed well in her first XC race in style and Olivia Ringo completed her first race without losing any shoes. 7^th grader Baleigh Bacon-Hampton seemed to thoroughly enjoy her first race ever as well. All the Washougal MS girls that raced today ROCK!

The MS boys race was less chaotic, but still had some race course/instruction issues. But that did not stop the Panthers from easily going 1-2-3 with 8^th Graders Gabriel Dinnel, Troy Prince-Butterfield and Koy Chaston. Other 8^th graders finishing in the top dozen were Ian Palmer, 6^th, Andrew McElhaney, 10^th (both seemed to race much better than last week), and Warren Henderson, 11^th. Three 7^th Graders that turned our heads with solid performances or significant improvements were Hayden Stinchfield, Dillon Tuite and Casey Rappe. Nice job by these Panther boys as they stole the show in this race.

The next race on tap was the Varsity Girls. Although we did not manage to get a full team across the line, we had two speedy Sophomores sneak up on the awards podium: Courtney Owens, setting a new Sophomore Record of 20:59.9 in 3^rd place, and Hannah Lintala, cracking the 22 minute barrier while capturing 8^th place. Senior Karina Miller continues to improve her standard 30 seconds a week in the early season. An hour later, our two Future Varsity Girls put on a fine showing as they moved up the ranks in a field of 34 runners. Sophomore Abby Lees sprinted across the finish line in 19^th place while Freshman Jeannine Jones places a solid 23^rd while crushing the 30 minute barrier, one of our important pre-race goals.

Our boys finally were a pre-race "Dark Horse", hoping to get 4 individuals in the top 12 or so. Sophomore Aiden Pullen managed to move up through the pack the first mile and found himself as high as 6^th midway through the race. He finished in the tail end of pack of four fast runners (in less than that many seconds apart). His New P.R. of 17:17.4 was enough to hold on to a top 10 placing. Junior Bailey Duncan started closed the gap on his teammate, moving up to runner #2 this week (17:44 - 14^th place). Freshman standout Kyle Cooper was right on his heels in 16^th spot. His time of 17:52.9 is undoubtedly the fast freshman Debut 5K time in Panther history. Senior Nicolas Velardi just missed the 18 minute barrier by 3 seconds to place 19^th while Junior Luke Belzer posted on of his finest efforts (18:47) to round out our scoring five. The boy's team score landed them in a solid third place, impressing the larger schools ahead of them.

The Future Varsity Panther Boys put a full team on the starting line. There were conflicting results for our top two placers, Sophomores Gabe Groom and Freshman Tanner Lees. We are not sure if they were 8^th and 9^th, or 10^th and 11^th. Either way, with 82 runners in the race, they were impressive. For freshman Jamison Wright, 21^st place was enough to put a smile on his face and his fathers, as Jamison shows potential for greatness in years to come. Competing in their first XC race ever were Sophomores Nicholas Wolfe and Miles (Smiles) Roberts. Miles' nickname was established as we found out what he does best when he races.

Next week, we head north, to Longview, to face Ridgefield and RA Long at Lake Sacagawea.

Coach Terry L. Howard

Here are the line scores:

Varsity Boys		5000 M
Aiden	10^th	17:17.4	P.R.
Bailey	14^th	17:44.7
Kyle	16^th	17:52.9
Nicolas	19^th	18:03.6
Luke	27^th	18:47.0
Collin	32^nd	20:00.2
	of 38

Future Varsity Boys
Gabe	10^th	19:38.4
Tanner	11^th	19:29.3
Jamison	21^st	20:23.1
Nicholas	34^th	21:29.9
Evan	48^th	22:02.0	P.R.
Smiles	65^th	23:19.0
	of 82

Varsity Girls
Courtney	3^rd	20:59.9
Hannah	8^th	21:47.5	P.R.
Karina	23^rd	23:30.3
Meredith	28^th	25:05.8
	of 29

Future Varsity Girls
Abby	19^th	27:36.9
Jeannine	23^rd	29:06.8	P.R.
	of 34