CHELAN – The Tonasket boys and girls cross country teams both took fourth in league at the Caribou Trail League Championship meet at the Chelan course on Thursday, Oct. 23.


“The Caribou Trail League Championship cross country meet was a fast and furious race for both the boys and girls,” Bob Thornton, head coach, said. “In the boys race, seniors Seth Pierson of Cashmere, Nick Ribera of Lake Roosevelt and Chase Anderson of Chelan, three of the best runners in the state, set a blistering pace right from the start, coming through the first mile in under five minutes.”


Thornton added that freshman Damon Halvorsen followed along with seven other runners to finish in 10th place with a time of 16:18, a time Thornton said would have placed him in the top five the last two years.


“Matt Gschiel, in a tremendous race, took almost two and a half minutes off his time from last year,” Thornton said. “Not far behind him was first year runner Peter Williams. In his best race of the year, Kellen Sauer kept passing runners and moving up the whole race. He looked really strong. Corey McCrarey also ran a strong race finishing not far behind Kellen. Right on Corey’s heals were Tomas Stefaniak and Trey Jensen.”


Gschiel finished in 16th place with a time of 17:04, Williams came in at 17:42 in 22nd place and Sauer finished in 25th place at 18:08. McCrarey finished in 31st place at a time of 19:04 with Stefaniak coming in shortly after at 19:15 in 33rd place and Jensen soon after him at 19:40 in 35th place. Thornton said the girls also ran an incredibly fast race.


“Veronica Puente ran a very smart race. She didn’t get caught up in the fast start but held a good steady pace the whole race and kept passing girls throughout the race. Veronica ran a personal best time on this course taking two minutes off,” Thornton said. “She ran very strong all the way. Jessica Spear once again proved her toughness by fighting through a side-ache to come back to run a great race. This is hard to do but she showed her competitiveness by never giving up.”


Thornton added that Amy Johnson is getting faster and strong every race and that Adeena Cleman also ran through a side-ache. Thornton said Adrianna Sharp helped the team finish in fourth and if she can move up a couple of runners, Tonasket can knock off Cascade, who only beat Tonasket by two points at the meet.


Puente finished in seventh place with a time of 19:35 and Spear finished in 10th place with a time of 19:44. Johnson came in at 21:01 in 18th place, Cleman finished at 21:28 in 22nd place and Sharp finished in 35th place with a time of 24:50.
The next meet is today at Walla Walla Point Park in Wenatchee. The girls race begins at 1 p.m. and the boys race begins at 1:40 p.m.


“For the girls, the top two teams and top 10 individuals qualify to race in the state championship meet at Pasco,” Thornton said. “For the boys, it is a regional meet with district six and seven and the top three teams and the top 10 individuals from our district qualify for the state meet.”