COULEE DAM – The Tonasket cross country team continued running strong last week in the Omak Invitational and the Lake Roosevelt Invitational.
On Tuesday, Oct. 6, the teams ran together at the Omak Invitational where the boys’ team came in first place.
“The boys ran a great race,” Bob Thornton, head coach, said. “With less than a half mile left in the race we were nine points behind Cashmere but our number two through number six runners dug deep and finished strong to pull out the win.”
Damon Halvorsen finished in second place at 17:04, Corery McCrarey finished in seventh place at 18:18, Matt Gschiel finished in eighth place at 18:23, Jake Hickman finished in 10th place at 18:38, Spencer Podkranic finished in 11th place at 18:42, Peter Williams finished in 17th place at 19:08, Barry Pentz finished in 27th place at 20:15 and Kellen Sauer finished in 29th place at 20:24.
“Despite not feeling her best, Jessica Spear ran a good race,” Thornton said. “Amy Johnson’s goal was to keep Jessica in sight and she did to run a great race finishing only a minute behind her. Michelle Carlson is getting stronger every race. Kablina Kochsmeire ran her best race of the season.”
Spear finished in fourth place at 21:20, Johnson finished in 10th place at 22:22, Carlson finished in 13th place at 22:47 and Kochsmeir finished in 26th place at 25:26.
On Saturday, Oct. 10, the team traveled to Coulee Dam for the Lake Roosevelt Invitational.
“The boys got fourth behind Republic, Lake Roosevelt and Medical Lake,” Thornton said. “We were missing our number two, Corey McCrarey who was sick, and our number run, Jake Hickman who went to a Seahawks game, runners and the others except for Damon didn’t run their best race. Damon got tripped after 100 yards and fell so he was in last place. He took his time and caught back up and finished in third, 25 seconds behind the first place who is from Republic.”
Halvorsen finished in third at 15:57, Gschiel finished in 18th place at 17:52, Podkranic finished in 19th place at 17:56, Williams finished in 25th place at 18:34 and Pentz finished in 36th place at 19:23.
“Jessica ran a good but not great race and finished fifth,” Thornton said. “While the girls ran well they were disappointed because they felt they could have run harder.”
Spear finished in fifth place at 20:41, Carlson finished in 12th place at 21:53 and Johnson finished in 14th place at 22:12.
The middle school team also ran in the Lake Roosevelt Invitational on a 1.4 mile course. For the girls, Kathryn Cleman finished in fifth place at 9:52, Norma Ornelas finished in eighth place at 10:44, Sarah Green finished in 14th place at 11:13 and Elizabeth Jackson finished in 17th place at 12:36. For the boys, Adam Halvorsen finished in seventh place at 9:58, Joaquin Polito finished in 11th place at 10:59 and Abe Podkranic finished in 14th place at 13:23.
As of press time, the cross country team had not yet competed in the Republic Invite on Tuesday, Oct. 13. Their next meet is on Saturday, Oct. 17 at the Colville Invitational beginning at 10 a.m.
