Heavy rainfall slows but doesn’t stop Olympia girls cross country from qualifying for state

It’s not that Olympia High School sophomore Stella Grimsted wasn’t prepared for inclement weather at the Class 4A/3A/2A/1A Westside Classic cross country championships.

“Our coach prepped us and told us there was going to be really bad weather,” she said.

But the reality turned out to be grueling at American Veterans Golf Course on Saturday.

“It was very muddy, and the mush sort of absorbs your energy,” Grimsted said.

That being said, she and the rest of the Olympia girls trudged along faster than most in the 5,000-meter race. They picked up second place in the 4A girls race with 101 points to qualify for next Saturday’s state meet in Pasco.

Camas took first with 30 points, including three runners in the top five.

“They’ve always been tough competition,” Olympia senior Brenna Carlson said. “I think coming into this everyone knew that they would win.”

Olympia’s top five runners — led by Grimsted who finished seventh at 19 minutes, 51.9 seconds — were separated by 1:30 and all finished in the top 40 of 140 runners.

“This is a tough course, it’s really competitive and it’s quite physical,” Carlson said. “At the beginning, we just had to get out there. Stella and I both had pretty good starts, I think, so we pushed each other.”

Carlson finished 10th at 20:14.3, while junior Kiersten Kimminau — a Northwest Christian transfer — senior Maia Halvorson and junior Ariel Wilhite rounded out the top five.

The Bears took 10th as a team at last year’s state meet, with expectations to podium this season.

“We have a really tight group,” said Carlson, who has traveled to state with Olympia three years in a row. “We know that physically, we’re there.”

The Olympia boys also snagged the seventh and final team slot in the 4A boys race to qualify for state, led by Noah Murry, who finished 12th at 17:30.7.

North Thurston leaves it on the course — literally

Tommy Johnson figured he was going to throw up before the 3A boys race even started.

“I ate a peanut butter sandwich only two hours before, so I kind of knew,” he said. “My stomach hurt the whole time. I thought, it’s coming, it’s coming right when I finished.”

The other thing that was coming for the North Thurston junior was a sixth-place finish at 17:03.8.

Senior Peter Allegre (16:39.5) and junior JT Bretschneider (18:30.6) helped Johnson away from the finishing chute, and also bookended him on the course, finishing first and third for the Rams.

Allegre placed second overall, edging Central Kitsap’s Cameron Carroll by eight-tenths of a second.

“We were just kind of even to the end,” Allegre said. “I ran with him until the last 400 meters and then outkicked him.”

Allegre and Johnson competed at state last year, but were surprised to learn the Rams would travel to the meet as a whole this season. They qualified for the sixth and final state berth with 197 points — 13 points ahead of seventh-place Enumclaw.

Which made Johnson’s ending all the more worth it.

“It’s always worth throwing up, especially if it’s for the team,” he joked.

Capital girls just miss 16th consecutive state trip

Naomi Reyes (seventh place, 20:28.6) will represent the Cougars at state next weekend, but she’ll be the only one.

Capital took seventh place in the 3A girls race with 191 points to narrowly miss qualifying for state for the 16th consecutive season — which would have tied the state record. The top six teams advanced, and Lakes locked up the final spot with 172 points.

“It’s disappointing because it’s been so long,” Capital coach Kevin Wright said. “The girls ran hard today, they were ranked seventh coming in and got seventh. We got beat by six better teams.”

Ericks eases by field

Tumwater senior Lauren Ericks breezed to a first-place finish at the District 4 1A/2A cross country championships at Lewis River Golf Course in Woodland on Saturday.

She posted a career-best 19:20 on the 5,000-meter course to win by 14 seconds.

The Tumwater girls finished second overall with 83 points. The boys team also finished second with 82 points, led by Evan Groat (16:37) and Joseph Morrissey (16:38) who took sixth and seventh.

Ridgefield swept the meet.

Northwest Christian boys team nearly perfect

The Navigators, currently ranked second in the nation for Division II schools by highschooltrackandcross- country.com, posted a 16-point win — 15 points is a perfect score — at the District 4 1B/2B cross country championships at Onalaska High School on Saturday.

The top five finishers — Luke Schilter, Corban Phillips, Luke Bredeson, Colton Buster and Eli Taylor — set a cumulative course record. Schilter, a junior, took first overall at 15:44 on the 5,000-meter course.

Ellie Summers (19:35.53) took the individual title in the girls race, followed by teammate Megan McSheffrey (19:46.57). The girls (51 points) took second to Ocosta (44).

This story was originally published October 31, 2015 at 10:02 PM with the headline "Heavy rainfall slows but doesn’t stop Olympia girls cross country from qualifying for state."