Navigators sweep to another double

CROSS COUNTRY: Northwest Christian boys and girls rule state meet again

The Olympian news services | • Published November 08, 2009

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PASCO – The Northwest Christian Navigators are state champions again.

Led by a 1-2 finish on the boys side, and five top-10 finishes for the girls, the Navigators swept the boys and girls Class 2B/1B state titles Saturday afternoon at the state cross country meet at Sun Willows Golf Course.

The boys edged Republic by eight points for the title behind a 1-2 finish by Lucas Graham (16 minutes, 25 seconds) and Justin Holden (16:41). It’s the second straight team title for the boys team.

The girls dominated their race, placing all five scoring runners in the top 11, adding two more in 20th and 21st place and finishing with 28 points for their fourth straight championship.

Sophomore Elizabeth Weber topped the team in third place (19:41), with Hailey Bredeson (20:00) and Joanna Sowers (20:05) finishing fifth and sixth.

“These girls took it to another level in terms of times today,” said Navigators coach Bill Kehoe, who lost five seniors from last year’s team.

With a combined six state titles in four seasons, it would seem that cross country has become the sport of choice at Northwest Christian.

Not so, says Kehoe.

“It’s still a tough sell with volleyball,” he said, “because you have to work so hard.”

But, said Graham: “I think we’ll get a lot less grief from the football players. They know the hard work we put in every week.”

Olympia’s Claire Kane (19:02) and Nate Brennand (15:58) finished 16th and 23rd, respectively in the 4A girls and boys races to highlight the Bears’ efforts. Olympia finished 10th (boys) and 13th (girls) in the team standings.

Central Kitsap senior Shane Moskowitz blazed through the 5-kilometer course in a record 15 minutes, 6 seconds to win the boys Class 4A title by 16 seconds over Gig Harbor’s Conner Peloquin.

Moskowitz, who will do his running for Oklahoma State next year, was upset by Redmond’s Mack Young last year.

“I was not going to let that happen this year,” Moskowitz said.

North Thurston’s Cortney Thomas was South Sound’s top 3A girls finisher, placing 35th (19:02).

Capital sophomore Aviva Browning was 43rd at 20:09, leading the Cougars to a 14th-place team finish.

Chehalis junior Dakota Parker finished second in the 2A boys race at 15:52.

Elma’s Todd Jackson, who led halfway through the 2A boys race, dropped out.

Black Hills’ Ellie Justice finished 43rd (20:41) in the 2A girls race.