By Mike Cane
Herald Writer
LANGLEY - It\'s all about attitude.
Sure, the Everett High School boys cross country team could have slacked off this year after dropping from Class 4A competition to the 3A level. But that would have stopped the Seagulls short of their potential.
And boy, what potential they have.
Everett runners Axel Stanovsky, Logan Ordona and Arian Anderson finished first, second and fourth, respectively, on Saturday to propel the Seagulls to victory at the 4A, 3A and 2A District 1 boys cross country championships at South Whidbey High.
Everett scored 38 points to handily defeat Shorecrest (77) in the 3A race. Both teams qualified for next week\'s state meet in Pasco. All other top-10 individuals move on as well.
\"The whole season we\'ve been kind of focusing on not dropping down to what we call a 3A mentality,\" said Stanovky, who won the 3.1-mile race in 16 minutes, 38 seconds.
\"Whoever is the best is who we\'re comparing ourselves to,\" added Ordona (second, 16:46).
It was a triumphant day for Everett, which won its first district title since 1999. That\'s also the last time Everett sent a team to state and, stunningly, the last time Everett won a meet of any kind.
\"This is gratifying to finally get back there as a team,\" Everett coach Bruce Overstreet said.
Two Arlington juniors made the cut for state (Paul Simbeck and Luke Passalacqua), as did Meadowdale senior Alex Wipf.
Everett is not ranked but is listed as a team to watch in the Washington State Cross Country Coaches\' 3A poll. The surging Seagulls plan to show exactly what they\'re capable of at state.
Said Coach Overstreet, \"I think we\'ve been underrated all year.\"
Class 3A girls: Not since we were introduced to the likes of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader have the Meadowdale Mavericks had a girls cross country team this good.
Meadowdale qualified for its first state meet since 1977, finishing second behind Squalicum, with 71 points in the Class 3A District 1 championships at South Whidbey High School.
\"At the end of last year we knew we\'d be good. We ran as well as we could today,\" Meadowdale coach Kris Maraveller said.
Junior Eryn Jones led the Mavericks with a ninth-place finish and a time of 20:09, despite a sore left ankle.
\"I hurt it in basketball last season and re-injured it a few weeks ago. It didn\'t really hurt too bad today,\" Jones said.
Still Jones and her teammates were able to snatch up the second of just two team state-qualifying spots.
\"It\'s the best feeling ever,\" Jones said.
Squalicum, ranked No. 1 in the latest Washington State Cross Country Coaches\' 3A poll, took first place with a cross country \"perfect\" score of 15. Squalicum finished with the top five runners and were led by junior Bronwyn Crossman, who broke her 3A championship record from a year ago with a time of 18:55.
Everett\'s Katie Gebert qualified for state by finishing seventh overall. The junior is making her first trip to state after finishing 19th last year.
\"Katie is great!\" teammate Sonja Harrower said of Gebert.
Also qualifying for state was Arlington senior Kristina Bosket. Bosket and Jones were neck-and-neck coming into the finish line with Jones narrowly beating her out. Bosket grabbed the final qualifying spot with a 10th-place finish.
Herald Writer Kevin Johnson contributed to this report