GSL Cross Country Dual

Audubon Park, Spokane WA

Weather: Rain and 50 Degrees

Course Length: 3 Miles

Before the young season even began, this one was circled on many a Northwest cross country aficionado’s calendar. When the latest NTN rankings came out—with North Central of Spokane ranked NW#6—this little league tri-meet took on even added weight. US#1/NW#1 Mead boys squaring off against US#3/NW#2 Joel Ferris and NW#6 North Central on a rainy Wednesday afternoon, for a good share of the early-season marbles.

The race, for those present, apparently lived up to its billing. Ferris served notice last Saturday that they were the team to beat, with a solid thumping of Mead’s short-handed seniors in the grade-divided Highlander Invite. There was some speculation that Mead’s returning Foot Locker finalist, senior Taylor Nepon, would lace up the spikes for Wednesday’s race, after missing Highlander with nagging injuries. That was not the case; yet still, Mead brought the fight.

“It was quite the race,” new Mead coach Steve Kiesel related in an e-mail. “After Saturday [at Highlander] it looked like Ferris would run away with it. But the Men of Mead have a lot of pride. We were wounded, but we came out swinging and nearly pulled it off without two key players.”

Nepon was one of those key players missing, Marcus Budig was the other. But once the gun went off, it was all about the runners on the course, and Ferris’ David Hickerson was the wire-to-wire winner, taking the soggy 3 mi. race in 15:12. After that came a trio of Mead guys—Hatcher, Daratha and Lynch—intent on keeping things tight. Then a torrent of Ferris runners, four in a span of 12 seconds, to close out the deal. According to Coach Kiesel, Mead’s fourth man, Ryan Bishop, put on a valiant charge in the last mile in an attempt to break up the Ferris pack, but fell short and had to settle for 9th.

Even with NW#6 North Central in the race, the top ten resembled a dual meet, as Mead and Ferris split up the slots and the first NC runner didn’t cross until 11th. There, NC’s pack strength showed as they put four within 7 seconds and pushed Mead’s fifth (Jordan Curnutt) back to 15th.

The meet was scored as three separate dual meets, with Ferris beating Mead 27-29 in the tightest match-up of the day. The other tallies were: Mead-19 NC-38 and Ferris-15 NC-46.

With several more head-to-head opportunities in the next few months, you have a sense that this one is just getting started.

Place Runner School Time

1. David Hickerson Ferris 15:12

2. Dylan Hatcher Mead 15:32

3. Kelvin Daratha Mead 15:39

4. Kelly Lynch Mead 15:41

5. Cameron Quackenbush Ferris 15:46

6. Nick Laplante Ferris 15:50

7. Pat Maloney Ferris 15:58

8. Steve Olsen Ferris 15:58

9. Ryan Bishop Mead 16:02

10. Jeff Devlin Ferris 16:07

11. Leon Dean NC 16:15

12. Andrew Kimpel NC 16:18

13. Steven Hicks NC 16:20

14. Adam Tyler NC 16:22

15. Jordan Curnutt Mead 16:23

16. Mario Abata Mead 16:29

17. Steven Kutsch Mead 16:37

18. Paul Hawkins Ferris 16:39

19. Jeff Howard NC 17:07

20. Adam Reid NC 17:29

21. Mitchell Maly NC 17:38

Score

Ferris – 27

Mead – 29

Ferris – 15

NC – 46



Mead – 19

NC – 38

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