Jessica Spear of Tonasket running for the cross country team in the Omak meet Friday, Sept. 18. Spear finished in first place for the girls team with a time of 22:19.

OMAK – In their second meet of the year, a Tonasket cross country runner took first place for the girls while a Tonasket boy took second place.

For the girls race, Jessica Spear finished in first place with a time of 22:19, 41 seconds before Omak’s Megan Thornton, who finished second. Also running for the Tonasket girls’ team was Michelle Carlson, who finished in sixth place with a time of 24 minutes.

“Several of the girls were sick so I didn’t run them,” Bob Thornton, head coach, said. “Jessica ran a smart race pulling away for the win in the second half of the race. Michelle ran a very good second half of the race as well.”

For the Tonasket boys team, Damon Halvorsen finished in second place with a time of 17:24, one second behind Omak’s Michael Goble. Also running for the Tonasket boys’ team was Matt Gschiel, who finished at 18:44, Corey McCrarey who finished at 18:56, Jake Hickman, who finished at 18:58, Peter Williams, who finished at 18:59, Spencer Podkranic who finished at 20:02 and Kellen Sauer, who finished at 21:42.

“The boys are learning to run well together as a team,” Thornton said. “They are helping each other to run good races. The ability to run in a pack will help the team do well this year.”

The Tonasket Middle School team also ran at the Omak meet. They ran a 1.5 mile course and for many of them, Thornton said this was their first race ever.

Finishing for the boys were Austin Knowlton in second place at 11:42, David Moreno in fourth place at 12:05, Joaquin Polito in fifth place at 12:17, Adam Halvorsen in sixth place at 12:18, Ethan Knowlton in seventh place at 12:26 and Abe Podkranic in tenth place at 15:12.

Finishing the girls’ race were Norman Ornelas in third place at 12:39, Kathryn Cleman in fourth place at 12:40, Kylie Hockett in ninth place at 15:05, Elizabeth Jackson in tenth place at 15:10 and Sarah Green in 12th place at 15:15.

As of press time, the cross country team had not yet competed in the Liberty Bell Invitational on Tuesday, Sept. 22. Their next meet is the Spokane Valley Classic on Saturday, Sept. 26 beginning at 9:30 a.m. They will then compete in the Chelan Invite on Wednesday, Sept. 30 beginning at 4 p.m.