EJ cross country teams compete at State

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The boys and girls of the East Jefferson Rivals cross country teams made their way to Pasco last weekend for the 1A State Championships, with the girls finishing sixth out of 15 teams and the boys in 12th out of 16 squads.

The runners embarked the Sun Willows Golf Course on Saturday, competing in chilly, extremely windy, and dry conditions for the 5K course.

The girls race had 154 competitors and was won by Alexis Leone of Seton Catholic High School in 18:22.3.

The EJ girls were led by junior Fiona Fraser, who placed 25th overall in a time of 20:55.4.

Senior Camryn Hines was the second EJ finisher in 35th place with a 21:25.7. She was followed by juniors Tadu Dollarhide (60th place, 21:18.2) and Sylvia Butterfield (65th, 22:22.5).

The team was rounded out by a trio of freshmen led by Hilina Taylor-Lenz, who finished 93rd with a personal record (PR) of 23:23.1. She was followed by Leah Ferland (108th, 23:49.9) and Michael Gregg (130th, PR 24:44.5).

Dollarhide, Butterfield, Taylor-Lenz, Ferland, and Gregg all really stepped up in the last mile, the coaching staff said, with each moving up a minimum of four spots to help the team take the sixth place overall spot out of 15 complete teams.

Taylor-Lenz can proudly be most responsible for the team jumping from eighth to sixth place, considering she moved up 22 spots in the final mile and closed her first high school cross-country season with a tremendous race.

The boys 1A race was won by Reid Headrick of Medical Lake High in a time of 16:01.1.

Senior Sebastian Manza led the EJ boys team with an 11th place overall finish and a time of 17:17.8. Sophomore Soare Johnston followed Manza with a 15th place finish and a time of 17:26.8. Both earned podium spots out of the field of 155 athletes.

They were followed by juniors Henri Huber (129th, 19:27.0) and Indigo Gould (141st, 20:09.8) and freshmen Dustin Hines (149th, 21:19.5) and Rylen Kruse (153rd, 23:51.9). Sophomore Alex Lott rounded out the EJ team with a PR of 30:30.7 and 154th place.

The boys team placed 12th out of 16 teams, beating the two teams that placed ahead of them at the district championship meet this season.

Both teams had impressive seasons and although both Camryn Hines and Sebastian Manza will be graduating this year, both teams have some strong runners returning for next season.

The girls team has a realistic shot at a podium spot next year at the state championships.