PASCO -- Mount Rainier senior Ryan Prentice said he isn't close to being in top running shape this season because injuries have cut his training short the past month. What Prentice wasn't short on was his will to win as he captured the 3A boy's cross-country title at the Sun Willows course in Pasco.
Prentice covered the 3.1-mile course in 16:01, holding off junior Andrew Kimpel of North Central to win by four seconds.
"As I got closer to the finish I thought everybody was sneaking up on me," Prentice said. "I looked back with about 100 yards and saw I had a solid lead, but I ran the rest of the race like someone was two seconds ahead of me."
The North Central boys, one of the top teams in the nation, took the 3A team title with 36 team points. Seattle Prep took second with 110 points.
The Newport girls won the 3A team title with 66 points, while Lakeside, which took the district two title, placed second with 75 points.
"It was good to have a tough district meet," said Newport coach Caryn Heffernan. "It pretty much refocused us. The girls ran an excellent team race today."
Holy Names senior Chelsea Burns took second place in the 3A race after a disappointing ninth-place finish at the District 2 meet.
"The mud killed me at districts," Burns said. "I had the wrong spikes on. I was questioning myself all week, but today was awesome. What a great way to finish as a senior."
District champ Laura Sauvage of Seattle Prep was near the front of the pack for half the race, but dehydration took a serious toll on the sophomore, causing her to stagger the final 100 yards. She finished 40th.
Emily Farrar of Bainbridge took fourth (19:28), followed by Natty Plunkett of Newport (19:29) and Margo Cramer of Lakeside (19:31).
Mead took home the 4A boys team title with 108 points, just four points ahead of runner-up Gig Harbor. The Tides' Miles Unterreiner won the 4A race in 15:39, the fastest clocking of the day in any classification.
Rob Webster of Puyallup took second in 15:47. Jonathan Lafler of Tahoma was fourth with a 15:59, followed by Anthony Ellis of Redmond (16:01).
"My goal was to make top-three," Webster said. "Am I happy? Absolutely."
Yonaton Yilma of Edmonds-Woodway and sophomore Mitchell Briggs of Jackson finished sixth and seventh, respectively, with identical times of 16:09.
The Gig Harbor girls won their third consecutive 4A team title to go with a runner-up finish in 2004. The Tides recorded 97 team points, followed by Eastlake (117), Snohomish (142) and Redmond (163).
Redmond sophomore Devin McMahon took fourth (18:55) individually in 4A, followed by Mustangs junior Sarah Lord in fifth (18:57).
McMahon, who was following the path of eventual winner Andrea Nelson of Shadle Park, was in second most of the 4A race but a missed turn caused her to turn around and lose valuable seconds.
"I was following the leader and we both went outside a flagged corner," McMahon said. "Some officials yelled at me to go back and correct the turn, but I have no idea why they didn't make the leader do the same thing."
Ellie Bonner of Snohomish placed 11th overall (19:18) to pace the Panthers. Sophomore Chelsea Orr was the top individual placer for Eastlake with a 19.22. She finished 15th.