OH Lord, She\'s Fast

Oh Lord, she\'s fast! Sarah Lord led the 5th ranked 4A Redmond Mustangs to victory over league rivals Eastlake, Juanita and Lake Washington last Thursday at Grasslawn Park. The Mustangs capped an undefeated regular dual-meet season as they finished out at 10-0 heading into this week\'s showdown at the KingCo Championship meet.
Lord cruised on the flat and fast course, setting a new course record in 18:08. But unlike some of her previous races, Lord was challenged from the start with a pack of Eastlake Wolves on her heels. The Wolves, ranked just a spot ahead of Redmond in a previous 4A poll, put Redmond to the test, packing their top 6 in the lead pack in the early parts of the race. Eastlake freshman Chelsea Orr managed to break up Lord and her teammate, freshman Devin McMahon, in the last half mile finishing second in 18:18.
McMahon crossed the line in 18:29, good for 3rd place. The remaining top 10 was a parade of Wolves and Mustangs. Eastlake\'s Erin Blodnick out-leaned Redmond\'s Jillian Jaccard at the line for 4th place in 18:56. Eastlake\'s Sarah Fester and Ashley Horton came through at 19:06 and 19:12, 6th and 7th respectively. Rounding out the top 10 were Redmond\'s Chelsea Smith, 8th in 19:27, Eastlake\'s Jamie Dwyer, 9th in 19:28 and Jenny Light of Redmond, 10th, in 20:04.
The team title came down to a 1-point decision in Redmond\'s favor (27-28) and set the tone for a likely rematch at Lincoln Park this Thursday at the KingCo Championship meet.

In the boys match up, Juanita out kicked Redmond 32-43 led by David McCary\'s 2nd place finish in 16:14. Redmond\'s Anthony Ellis held off David\'s brutal kick in the last 600 meters winning the race in 16:11. The 9th ranked 4A Rebels finished out the regular dual meet season at 10-0 and knocked off the Mustangs from the 4A state rankings in the process.
Supporting McCary\'s 2nd place finish were teammates Spencer Nietmann, 4th in 16:21, Jeremy Rasor, 6th in 16:34 and Gidion Yitref, 9th in 16:43. Ellis\' teammates, sophomore Aiden Irish, was 3rd in 16:17 and senior Matt Stearns was 8th in 16:41. Lake Washington\'s Warner Smitt was 5th in 16:33 and Charlie Doherty cracked the top 10 as well in 16:38 good for 7th place. Rounding out the top 10 was Eastlake\'s Paul Kupcis, 16:43 in 10th place.
The top 5 boys and girls teams from the KingCo meet will advance to the newly aligned district meeting against the top 3 teams from the Greater St. Helen\'s league on October 28th.