RAINIER – Komaire Robles is piling up more in-season miles than ever before as a freshman and Jazzlyn Shumate is a first-time cross country runner after years of focusing on sprints.
Those two, coupled with underclassmen Rayanna Wisner, Kinsley Barlow and Alexis Myers, have formed a high-motor bunch behind senior Madison Ingram.
For all the youth and varsity inexperience, Rainier High School’s girls cross country team has not fallen off. Rather, the Mountaineers have piled on wins after wins.
Saturday afternoon was no different.
Robles captured her first individual district title in 20 minutes, 1.88 seconds and Rainier won the Class 1B/2B District 4 title for the fourth consecutive season with a perfect 15 points, dominating the rest of the field.
“It is not something I thought I was going to experience,” Robles said. “I didn’t feel too good most of the race, I didn’t wake up feeling the best mentally.”
It marked the second win of the season for Robles and fourth straight top-five finish. She was running in a pack alongside Shumate and Ingram for the first half of the race, then started to break away.
Robles upended her teammates by seven and 29 seconds, respectively. Fellow freshman Alexis Myers was fourth in 21:41.66, Barlow nabbed sixth and Wisner crossed the finish line in eighth.
“It doesn’t really feel like beating one person,” Robles said. “Even in middle school, all these girls were really good. The coaches thought we could rise.”
Shumate took a spill early in the race, but rebounded and finished with a new lifetime best of 20:08.49, a 13-second improvement from the C2BL championships last week.
“I want to do better and that’s what I strive for every single time,” Shumate said.
Now, the stakes have increased dramatically with the state meet looming in a week at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco. The Mountaineers will be alongside Pope John Paul and Saint George’s as the favorites for the 1B/2B state championship held at Sun Willows Golf Course.
Currently, the Dragons have the top-two fastest runners in Regan Thomas and Josie McLaughlin, the only two that have broken 19 minutes this season. The Eagles have three of the top-20 fastest times, led by Ruby Henry at 19:03.08.
Rainier’s trio of Ingram, Robles and Shumate are inside the top-14.
“Going into it, I didn’t know much about it,” Shumate said. “As the season went on, I was like ‘Wow, we have a really good team.’ We can do it, I have faith in us.”
Coach Rob Henry is far from worried about his girls and how they’ll handle the biggest atmosphere they’ll be in.
“Our top-three have got to show up and our four and five, we need them to run PRs,” Henry said. “They’re really, really competitive. I don’t think the moment will be too big.”
The C2BL will be well-represented at state outside of Rainier.
Winlock’s duo of Victoria Sancho (11th) and Natalie Cardenas Hernandez (12th) qualified as individuals as did Toledo’s lone two girls runners, Lilly Cooper (15th) and Audrey Cooper (23rd).
Morton-White Pass’ Gemma Jakubowski (24th) and Isabella Mcarthy (30th) also placed inside the top-35 to qualify for state.
Joan Wedam (Mossyrock) and Megan Price (Adna) will trek east as well.
The repeat state qualifiers amongst that contingent are Sancho and Wedam.
“Couldn’t ask for two better female athletes to represent us at the state level,” Winlock head coach Tony Quezada said.
The Mountaineers have put up the perfect number of 15 a handful of times over the last two months. Next Saturday will be the first time, potentially, neither of their top-three will lead much of a race.
And it won’t be registering a perfect score. Still, they understand what is at play and none of them are taking it for granted.
“We’re all hoping for it to happen,” Robles said. “It is the next thing.”
