Shannon is fastest Porter sister at state

PASCO -- All season long, Shannon Porter had finished in second place in every cross country meet she ran.

On Saturday at the state championships at Sun Willows Golf Course, Porter found herself a runner-up again -- just not to the runner she\'d been accustomed to trailing.

The Hockinson sophomore finished second in the Class 2A girls meet for the second consecutive year, but this time instead of finishing behind older sister Sarah, she trailed Sequim senior Stephanie Marcy across the line.

Marcy won in 18 minutes, 28 seconds, 27 seconds ahead of Shannon. Sarah Porter, a senior, faded in the final half-mile and fell all the way back to sixth place, more than a minute behind Marcy.

It was only the second time Shannon had even beaten her older sister in a race.

\"I really missed her,\" Shannon said. \"If we\'re together, it\'s so much funner. We go out as a team.\"

The pressure of being the defending champion hit Sarah full force Friday afternoon when she saw her picture front and center on the state program.

\"The pressure\'s been building ever since,\" Sarah said. \"I just choked. I did in myself.\"

She stayed with the leaders for the first mile, but by the 2-mile mark she\'d fallen back to fourth and just couldn\'t find the extra gear she\'d used last year to pass little sister down the final stretch.

\"It was a struggle from start to finish,\" Sarah said. \"It was all mental.\"

Hockinson finished 11th in the team standings with 257 points. Washougal placed 13th. Sehome won the team title. Ridgefield\'s Natosha Buruse placed 34th in 20:48.

In the 2A boys race, Cody Barton placed 34th in 17:37 as Ridgefield placed 11th with 290 points, best among teams from Southwest Washington which included Hockinson (14th, 328) and Washougal (15th, 342). Burlington-Edison won the team title.