ONALASKA — They all are close in age. They talk amongst themselves routinely. They all run quite often inside and outside of practice.
Head coach Ella Scott admitted she’s had to halt them from running more.
“They were extremely committed from the beginning. Their success has nothing to do with my coaching; they’re self-driven,” she said. “They have a great team spirit.”
It has been a banner season for the Morton-White Pass boys cross country team, either winning or finishing top-five in most meets this season. It captured its first C2BL Championship in at least a decade with 41 points, over double runner-up Adna on Thursday night at Carlisle Lape Park near Onalaska High School.
Winlock placed third in the team race with 92 points while Rainier clipped Toledo 116-124 for fifth.
MWP’s Vanson Armstrong, in his first year running cross country, was its highest finisher at third place with a time of 17 minutes, 38 seconds flat. After two years of playing football, plus a successful track season, led him to joining the fray.
In every 5,000-meter race this season, the junior has finished inside the top-10.
“I realized I could perform better in track and cross country if I made the switch,” Armstrong said. “It’s been doing good so far. I remember when I was training this summer that I was nervous.”
Scott stated that Armstrong has invigorated his teammates with how well he’s ran.
“He surprises me everyday,” she added.
Stalwarts Hunter Brackett, Aiden Kampa and Noah Gilstrap placed fifth, seventh and eighth respectively. Fifth runner Jevan Austin finished 20th to round out the scoring five. Brackett notched his second straight top-five league finish.
The Timberwolves are expected to be one of the favorites to qualify for state as a team at next week’s Class 1B/2B District meet held at Rainier Elementary School. From the start of the season, they had lofty goals and expectations.
Now, they’re nearing reality.
“It has been a big influence on how we train,” Armstrong said. “We’re trying to get our team to where we can win.”
Toledo’s Treyton Marty won his third consecutive league title with a 16:44.63 performance. Teammate and freshman Conner Hill was the runner-up in 17:37.61, becoming the first 1-2 finishers in three years at league.
Battling some sickness for the last seven days, Marty took a different approach. He used himself as the pacer for Hill, talking strategy and lending motivational thoughts.
Hill has broken under 18 minutes over the last five meets.
“His mindset really changed, especially halfway through the season,” Marty said. “He convinced himself and that’s what you need to do as a good runner to push through and be one of the best.”
It was roughly the two-mile mark where Marty separated himself from the rest of the field. He’s reset his lifetime personal record three times this fall, running under 16 minutes.
One of the last items on his resume is a district title, placing second the last two years. There is plenty of motivation to take home another first place performance.
“It just slipped by me and now, this is my best chance,” Marty said. “Just go for it and see if I can break away.”
“Instead of running for time, running strategically and it seems to be paying off,” Riverhawks head coach Kyle Askin added.
Winlock senior Xavier Sancho-Carrillo smashed his previous PR out of the water with a 18:34.40 showing at leagues, crossing the line in sixth place. He upped his placement by four spots from last year’s league meet.
The Cardinals had a lot of pack running early, but Sancho-Carrillo always was up front. He’s now separated himself as their prime No. 1 runner.
“I did pretty well,” Sancho-Carillo said.
Rainier’s James Meldrum was 10th while Adna’s highest finisher was junior Davonte Robinson in 11th. Onalaska’s Austin and Logan Sturza finished 16th and 17th while Napavine only runner Landon Engelbertson placed 21st.
