Photo by Bob ThorntonJacob Longmire of Tonasket at the two mile point at the state meet in Pasco on Saturday.

PASCO – Tonasket Tiger Jacob Longmire was the sole runner from the cross country team to make it to state this year and ran one of his smartest races, according to Coach Bob Thornton.

“Jacob ran very well in his first ever state cross country meet,” said Thornton.

Longmire finished fifty-ninth out of 142 with a time of 18:43.

“He was able to beat several of those that beat him the week before at the regional meet. He probably ran his smartest race of the year,” Thornton said.

The Tiger athlete ran his first mile in 5:40, the exact time his coach had asked him to, and was in approximately 75th place. He was then able to continue to pass people the last two miles to finish in 59th.

“He finished feeling very good about his race and looking forward to track and next year in cross country,” said Thornton.

Before the race the seven Caribou Trail League runners huddled together and wished each other good luck. After the race the announcer called all seven up to the awards stand and announced who they were and where they were from and gave all of them sportsmanship awards.

The announcer said, “This is what cross country is all about, these seven are fierce competitors in the race but friends before and afterwards.”

“It is the first time that I know of that they have given seven sportsmanship awards in one race at state,” said Coach Thornton.