PASCO — Olivia Thomas had just finished leading King\'s to the Class 1A state girls cross-country team title when the thought of next year suddenly crossed her mind.
\"We\'re going to have the exact same team next year!\" exclaimed Thomas, who finished second overall. \"We have no seniors!\"
All seven girls who scored points for the Shoreline school Saturday at Sun Willows Golf Course are underclassmen, including Thomas, a sophomore, and Adele Eslinger, Morgan Hamm and Makenzie Taylor, all freshmen.
\"I\'m excited for next year,\" Thomas said. \"I\'m expecting for us to do as great as we did today.\"
King\'s coach Rod Wilcox said Saturday was the end of a season-long process in which the girls learned to believe in themselves and deal with the stress of running in big meets against top competition.
\"We have a lot of inexperienced youth, but they\'re very talented,\" Wilcox said. \"They had to go through that deer-in-the-headlights stage, and now they know that they can run with these other girls.\"
The future looks bright. Eslinger outkicked another girl on the downhill finish, taking 12th to squeak into the last spot on the podium. Hamm and Taylor finished 33rd and 34th.
The team also includes sophomore Lauresa Smith (36th) and juniors Megan Northey (40th) and Rebecca Thompson (50th).
Thomas, in just her second year of competitive running, finished the 3.1-mile course in 19 minutes, 36 seconds, 16 seconds behind winner Lizzie Jewson, a senior from Charles Wright Academy in Tacoma.
The King\'s boys team, behind the Dull twins, also took home some hardware. Jeff Dull (3rd, 16:47), Evan Dull (9th, 17:19), Brandon Dean, Griffin McGinley, Erik Halvorson, Connor McMahon and Austin Dean finished second as a team, behind Lakeside of Nine Mile Falls.
In the 1A boys race, twin brothers Rigoberto (16:17) and Humberto Jiminez (16:28) from Royal blazed out front and took first and second.
In the other small-schools races, Brad Serdar of Reardan repeated as champion in the B boys race with a 17:01. He finished three seconds ahead of Klickitat\'s Herschel Sanchey and Jeff Pope of Valley Christian.
Other individual winners: 2A boys — Sehome senior Jake Riley (15:51) won by 36 seconds; 2A girls — Sequim senior Stephanie Marcy (18:28) won by 27 seconds; B girls — Northwest Christian (Colbert) freshman Lisa Vandenburg (19:20) had a 25-second cushion.
Team winners: 2A boys — Burlington Edison; 2A girls — Sehome; B boys — Saint George\'s (Spokane); and B girls — Northwest Christian (Lacey).
Note
• Bellevue Christian\'s boys were sixth in the 1A race, with Nathanael Sleight (14th, 17:37) the top finisher. Seattle Academy\'s Alex Johnson (16:59) was seventh.
Copyright © 2006 The Seattle Times Company