Centralia senior Devin Harrison took first at a four-team 2A EvCo meet at Aberdeen on Wednesday, beating out Shelton’s Jacob Miller by a second and a half with a time of 17:22.7.
The Highclimbers put five scoring runners in the top nine finishers to take first as a team. Aberdeen came in behind them, a point ahead of Black Hills, and Centralia brought up the rear.
Behind Harrison, Evan Thummel finished 14th for the Tigers with a time of 20:23.68. Adam Leon was 23rd at 21:58.05, Aiden Cox took 26th in 22:25.40, and Eli Baldwin was 27th in 22:26.30.
Luke Grunenfelder led Black Hills at 17:45.56 to finish fifth. Over a minute later, freshman Mason Burke became the next runner across the line in sixth at 18:50.93. Wyatt Johnson (20:22.55) finished 13thd, Maack Hendricksen (20:37.43) was 16th, and Jason Hughes (23:59.45) rounded out the Wolves’ team score with a 32nd-place finish.
Black Hills took first in the girls team event, beating Centralia 26-29, with Shelton running incomplete.
Tiger freshman Elyse O’Dell finished second overall to lead all area runners in 22:32.23, but the Black Hills duo of Taelor Woo (22:50.56) and Zania Robinson (22:55.23) came in together in third and fourth, respectively. Loralei Upton (25:17.16), Adeline Rice (26:14.17), and Emma Hughes (26:30.18) came in eighth, ninth, and 10th, respectively for the Wolves.
Behind O’Dell, Keira Jones finished sixth for Centralia at 24:40.65, and Ruth Gonzalez was seventh with a time of 24:53.44. Riley Meade (26:59.98) was 11th, and Summer Holmes (28:27.57) finished 13th.
Tumwater Takes 2A EvCo Meet Over W.F. West, Rochester
Tumwater put five finishers in the top seven in the boys race, and five in the top six in the girls Wednesday in Rochester, winning both sides of a three-team 2A EvCo meetup with the Warriors and W.F. West.
The boys race had an even split at the top. Tumwater senior John Hoffer dominated the field with a first-place time of 16:04.29, but when another two runners came across the line nearly two minutes later, they were Rochester’s Gunnar Morgan (18:02.94) and W.F. West’s Jaysen Miles (18:03.65).
After that, though, it was all T-Birds. Brenden Hamilton (18:40.65), Mason Ball (18:44.05), Reis Howell (18:44.44), and Nathan Klingelhoffer (18:46.03) all came in together as part of a large group to take fourth through eighth place, respectively.
Jude Furubotten (18:50.27) placed 10th for Rochester, while Reece Calica (19:38.19) was 15th, Hunter Young (20:18.82) was 20th, and Hunter Morgan (21:04.97) was 23rd. The Warriors took second as a team.
For W.F. West, Ezra Birchard followed Miles with a 12th-place time of 19:08.29. Andrew Scheer (20:01.16) finished 19th, David Moeckel (23:041.11) was 28th, and Elijah Annonen (24:41.44) took 31st.
Tumwater’s Olivia Ahrens won the girls race with a time of 22:41.97, with Annabelle Clapp coming in behind her at 23:09.09, Jesse Brumbaugh taking third at 23:25.66, and Ashley Yourkoski coming in fourth at 23:26.67. W.F. West sophomore Mercedes Ricks was the first runner not wearing green and white to cross the line when she placed fifth in 23:35.61, but Tumwater’s Audrey Strand kicked off another string of three T-Birds to finish with a time of 23:56.04.
With only four Bearcats on the course in the girls race – and nobody from Rochester – Tumwater won the team victory unopposed.