Cross Country

State meet at Pasco

Two Naselle Comet cross country runners competed in the state meet last Saturday at Pasco.

Sophomore Katie Green placed 24th in the girls race, running the 5,000 meters in 21:40.

Senior Cramer Smith was 56th in the boys race, running the course in 18:37.

Mules at district

Editor's note: Mule Coach Marie Riley filed this report too late for publication last week.

The district meet took place October 29, at Lewisville Park in Battle Ground. It was a beautiful day with the sun out and a cloudless sky. Lewisville Park is a beautiful park on the edge of a small river surrounded by trees. It was a quiet, peaceful setting; until you filled it with hundreds of runners and spectators. The course was mostly flat with a couple of gentle rises, so it was pretty easy to run.

Our hopes were high as the gun went off and the runners dashed down the grassy start. Things looked good through the first mile with Collan and Connar Riley running in the top 20 at that point. However, from there until we saw them again at about 2.5 miles things had changed. Collan looked like he was struggling and Connar couldn't breathe. Adam Vasion had had two teeth pulled the day before but said that they didn't bother him. Junior Ramirez was probably the only runner we had without some kind of physical ailment.

Needless to say, our day ended without anyone qualifying for the state meet. It was sad and disappointing, but everyone has days like that. It doesn't always work out the way we would like.

Collan ended up finishing in 36th place with a time of 20:20. Connar was 40th in 20:44. Adam Vasion placed 45th in 21:35, and Junior Ramirez was 60th with a time of 23:59. We had a great season together and everyone got along and had fun together just like a team should.

On November 1, we had our team awards program. Team voted awards were as follows: Most Improved-Junior Ramirez, Most Inspirational-Shona Heywood, Leadership Award-Collan Riley. A special Coach's Award went to Lily Kolditz.