PASCO — There were times this season when Rick Becker simply wanted five healthy runners. Just enough to field a girls cross country team or else get the dreaded tag of incomplete.
But on Saturday the Vikings were complete in more ways than they could count — on the course, at the finish and in their jubilant post-race circle.
Spending most of the season trying to piece things together, Selah\'s girls hit their stride last week in the CWAC district meet and then upped the effort yet again Saturday with a seventh-place finish in the Class 2A state championships.
\"For this group — they\'re all rookies here — it\'s just fantastic,\" Becker said. \"I could see it in the first mile. I knew they were having a good day and, at the finish, they knew it, too.\"
Unranked all season, Selah surged into the top 10 with the help of a slight 27-second gap between its first and third runners — freshman Karisma Martinez, junior Jay Winterfeld and junior Krista Garcia.
The Vikings earned the highest place of the three CWAC entries.
Toppenish\'s girls came in ranked seventh and finished 10th, but that\'s three spots better than last year.
Sophomore Stacey Kobes led Top-Hi in 33rd place. In her fourth and final state race, Grandview senior Brittnee Sanchez finished one place ahead of Kobes and was the top local finisher.
DAVIS\' MARTINEZ SEVENTH IN 4A: All Sandra Martinez wanted was a better time and a better place. No problem on either count for the Davis sophomore.
Running a smart and steady race, Martinez placed seventh in the state 4A race with a time of 18 minutes,
59 seconds.
Last year in her freshman appearance, she placed 44th in 19:56. So obviously it was all good on Saturday.
\"Oh yes, the whole race went well for me,\" said Martinez, the district champ and regional runner-up. \"I just went out and ran my own race and tried not to get caught up in what everybody else was doing. It went well, especially the time.\"
Martinez\'s effort marked the fifth time in the last seven years that Davis coach Jose Garcia has placed a girl in the top 10 at state.
Davis\' Shawna Schooley, also a sophomore, placed 35th in 20:00.
GLENWOOD SOPH THIRD IN
2B-1B: Neola Putnam put in her share of miles this fall. Running, for sure, but also getting a ride back and forth to Goldendale for practice.
The Glenwood sophomore trained and traveled to SCAC meets with the Timberwolves, but on Saturday she was on her own and handled it nicely.
Coming in under 20 minutes on a wet 5,000-meter course that was generally considered slow, Putnam placed third in the inaugural state 2B-1B race.
Putnam clocked 19:55, which would have been good for third in the
1A race, to wrap up her first season of cross country. She is an accomplished track runner, having placed second in the state 800- and 1,600-meter B races last spring as a freshman.
\"Cross country\'s a lot more work. It\'s a little depressing when you\'ve gone a mile and still have two miles to go,\" she said. \"But I had fun. This should help me a lot for track.\"
Bickleton sophomore Danielle Raschko placed 11th to earn a spot on the awards podium.
CHISM LEADS LOCALS IN 1A: Highland junior Rachel Chism, last week\'s SCAC district champ, earned her third straight top-30 state finish in Saturday\'s 1A race.
Chism placed 28th in 21:36.
Zillah\'s girls stuck together with a 30-second gap between their first and fifth runners, but the Leopards got swallowed up by an exceptionally deep field and finished 10th out of 16 teams.