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The University High School girls cross country team, in addition
to one member of the boys squad, qualified for the state meet in
Pasco during the GSL/Big 9 Regional meet last Saturday at the Deer
Park Golf Course.
Led by third-place finisher Aime Dahnke, the U-Hi girls earned
fourth place with 165 points - five points better than Mead. Kamiakin
was the team champion with 90 points, followed by Mt. Spokane with
106 and Eisenhower with 140.
Ryan Mulvihill was the lone U-Hi boy to qualify. He finished 20th
in the 4A boys race. Eisenhower took the 4A boys title. Ferris was
second, Mead third and Mt. Spokane fourth to also qualify for state.
Central Valley sophomore Anna Layman also qualified, running to
eighth place in 19:05.
"I always feel good when we get out of our region," U-Hi
girls coach Steve Llewellyn said of qualifying for state, teamwise.
"We have a strong regional meet ... I'm pretty pleased with
how we ran."
Dahnke finished behind champion Stephanie Leniham of Davis and
Mt. Spokane's Megan O'Reilly. Her time was 18:36 over the 3.1-mile
course in 35-degree weather.
Alicia Johnston of U-Hi nearly qualified; she was 22nd (19:47).
Leah Wilson was 42nd, Kellie Harding, Katie Owens 56th, Katy Hawkins
57th and Kara Christen 58th.
"We got out real hard in the race," Llewellyn said. "We
were aggressive and went after it."
Llewellyn said Dahnke was battling a sinus infection and led the
pack at the one-mile mark. The coach said Johnston had a "wonderful
race." Johnston and Wilson both passed Mead runners late in
the race, moving up and enabling U-Hi to finish as high as fourth,
teamwise.
"We have good up-front strength," Llewellyn said. "We
had five in a pack that were 15 seconds apart."
Those were the Lady Titans' third through seventh runners.
"We aim to go to state every year," said the coach, who
has taken U-Hi teams to the event three of the last four years.
Mulvihill ill during race
A low-grade fever nearly kept U-Hi senior Mulvihill from qualifying
for state. He finished 20th and only the top 20 compete at Pasco
on Saturday.
"It's a miracle he made it in (to state)," U-Hi boys
coach Linda Lanker said. "Ryan was very, very sick."
Nic Borden was also ill and had a fever the next day. Borden was
54th.
"I thought we were past it," Lanker said of the sickness
the Titans had been experiencing the last several weeks.
Will Johnson ran to 42nd place. Lanker said Ben Sanders and Billy
McElroy, who were 58th and 59th, ran well.
The top finisher for the Central Valley boys was Justin Wagner,
who was 29th (16:24). Teammate Pat Swanson finished 39th (16:35).
Nick Atwood of East Valley was 63rd (16:57). Keith Holt was 65th
(16:59) and Sean Coyle 84th.
Kami Burse of CV was 38th (20:16) and Beth Schultz finished 77th
in the 4A girls race. Joanne Mayer of EV finished 51st (20:27).
At Saturday's state meet at the Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco,
the 4A girls race starts at 11:30 a.m. and the 4A boys begin their
run at 1:30 p.m.
The Mead boys and Snohomish girls are defending 4A state champions.
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