WOODLAND — As soon as Rochester High School was officially dropping down from Class 2A to 1A, Gunnar Morgan scouted what his competition would be.
He was viewed as one of the best runners within District 4, but not the state. He finished fourth in the district race a season ago, then turned in a 60th place performance at the state meet in Pasco.
If the senior was in 1A last fall, his best time would have placed him inside the top-30.
“Everyone in the league stepped it up like crazy and I like to think I did too,” Morgan said. “I had to.”
Morgan pieced together a signature victory on Thursday afternoon.
Fueled by running with the front pack from the start and making his move with a mile-plus to go, Morgan triumphed in 16 minutes, 19 seconds to claim his first career district title at Lewis River Golf Course and become the first Rochester individual to win districts.
It marks the third fastest time ever in 1A District 4 and he upended two-time defending champ Sam Soto of Seton Catholic plus the Evergreen League winner Frank Roberts of Elma to do so.
“It is crazy, I cannot believe it,” Morgan said. “I couldn’t ask for anything more and I’m super excited for state.”
After triumphing on the football field in the Scatter Creek Showdown, Tenino clipped Rochester 116-122 to secure the fourth and final team spot for next week’s state meet. It came a week after the Warriors won the league meet over the Beavers.
Tenino had a team go to state in 2020, but the pandemic didn’t allow for an official meet. This year will be the first time since 1993 it will run along with the rest of Class 1A.
“At the beginning of the year, we told them ‘Hey, if you all run around 18:30, we have a shot at state,’” senior Tristan Von Bargen said. “They wanted it that bad.”
Frank Swenson coached at Centralia and broke a long hiatus for the girls cross country team. Now, he’s done it for Tenino.
“These kids put in the time,” Swenson said. “They worked hard and as I told them at the starting line, the hay is in the barn, now it is time to reap the benefits. It was going to be tight. Our guys stepped up.”
Only Von Bargen and Peter Hilton are seniors. The emergence of Carter Mounts and Josiah Marzolf has elevated the Beavers. Mounts’ last two races have been lifetime bests, sub-18 minutes and Marzolf was running mid-20s a season ago to sub-19 on Thursday.
Von Bargen and Mounts finished 10th and 11th while Hilton was 25th. Marzolf and Justin Schlesner rounded out the scoring five with 36th and 43rd place finishes.
“With Carter and Peter running so close to me, we could use each other to push ourselves to be better than we already are,” Von Bargen said.
Morgan wanted to be with most of his Evergreen colleagues when the gun went off. He admitted they discussed race strategy last week.
“We’re going to stick on (Soto) until he starts to get weak and 1.5 miles, we take it,” Morgan added. “I knew I could take it, I just had to be tough and have a kick.”
It will be Morgan’s third time running at state. He is one of the contenders to finish top-10 and earn an all-state nod.
Now, he’s ready to put everything on the line.
“The goal is chase pack, the goal is not leading,” Morgan said. “The last mile at state is going to make the difference between getting on the podium, getting top-10, top-5.”
Tumwater duo qualifies for state
The Thunderbirds will be the only local Evergreen Conference boys team with representation next week as Joshua Morgan and Zane McAferty finished inside the top-28 to reach Pasco.
Morgan was seventh overall and the second highest EvCo finisher in 16:48. It was just the second time this fall the junior has gone under 17 minutes.
“Live to fight another day,” Morgan said. “I just wanted to go out with the front (pack) and see if I can hold it and I held it for a little bit. Work needs to be done.”
McAferty was in a huge chase pack for much of the race and was hearing where he was amongst the swarm. To get into the top-28, he had to make some moves.
His time of 17:03 is a new lifetime best. The junior has gone from never breaking 18 minutes to doing it six times now this season.
“I had two goals in mind: Run a good PR or qualify for state and I did both,” McAferty said. “My coaches helped me along the way, where I need to move up.”
W.F. West’s Ezra Birchard was 36th, Centralia’s Ethan Weiher crossed the line in 39th and Black Hills’ Seth Thomasson placed 43rd.
