RAINIER — There are three guarantees every fall.
Trick or treating. Pumpkin spice lattes. The Rainier High School girls cross country team winning a district title.
Rainier’s dynasty through District 4 continued Saturday afternoon with its fourth straight District 4 1B/2B championship at Rainier Elementary School. The Mountaineers finished with 26 points to rank first out of seven full teams in attendance, with four runners placing in the top seven.
For the third straight year, a Mountaineer crossed the finish line to win the individual crown. Saturday’s race, however, marked the third different Mountaineer in three years to accomplish the feat, as senior Jazzlyn Shumate notched a new lifetime best time of 19 minutes and 54.85 seconds to place first despite battling multiple lower-body injuries and poor weather. But she knew as she was approaching the final 400 meters that a PR was possible.
“Today wasn’t said to be a PR day. It was bad weather. Most of our team’s hopes weren’t quite there. But we knew what had to be done,” Shumate said. “I was super happy, but now with state next weekend, I have my goals set even higher. I’ve been trying to hit the 19s all season but have been battling through some injuries. Today when I was running, I felt strong.”
Sophomore Komaire Robles, who won districts last year, finished second at 20:23.2. Robles is the first District 4 1B/2B runner to finish in the top two at districts in each of her first two varsity seasons since 2018-19.
Sophomore Alexis Myers earned her second straight fourth-place finish at districts but improved her time on the course by 22 seconds, coming in at 21:19.3. Junior Kinsley Barlow also topped her districts time from last year by 30 seconds while finishing seventh at 22:11.3
Joining Rainier as a team in Pasco will be Toledo and Mossyrock, which finished second and fourth, respectively. Toledo was led by sophomore Braelyn Nyberg (sixth, 22:08.98), junior Onica Chase (ninth, 23:06.49) and sophomore Lilly Cooper (11th, 23:35.76).
Mossyrock senior Joan Wedam, a district winner as a freshman back in 2022, will make her fourth straight trip to Pasco by way of a 10th-place mark at districts at 23:12.3.
Other area state qualifiers include Adna eighth grader Chloe Gelvin (12th, 23:51.63), Adna freshman Iris Ballif (13th, PR of 23:55.69), Onalaska freshman Tia Henderson (16th, PR of 24:14.73), and Onalaska junior Maddy Hanson (26th, PR of 25:32.11).
Rainier, the reigning 2B/1B state champion, will look to maintain its crown when it heads to the Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco on Saturday, Nov. 8.
“I love this team, and I know we are all going to do great next weekend carrying this special moment with us,” Shumate said.
