Cross country strong

The North Beach Boy’s XC Team finished a solid second in the Pacific League Championships held at Ocosta High School on Thursday, October 22nd. Lead by Senior Derek Moore’s 4th place finish the Hyak harriers finished behind only Northwest Christian, the defending state champions. Moore’s time of 16:23 for the 2.95 mile course was the fastest ever for a Hyak on Ocosta’s course. Sophomore Ben Grover followed Moore in 7th place with a time of 17:02. The newest Hyak runner, Zack Deible, also cracked the top ten in 17:46. Dylan Hearn clocked an 18:30 for 16th, followed closely by Skyler Whipple in 17th (18:43) and Joseph Wagner 18th (18:44). The Hyak team also included Cody James, 21st with a 19:13, John Johnson 25th in 20:14, Anthony Tignino 26th (20:34), Quinton Porter 28th (20:42), and Eric Shepard 30th (23:44).

Senior Leeanna Mong led the Hyak Girl’s contingent with a 20th place finish in a personal best time of 25:53. Megan Leighty finished 24th with a 34:59 and Crystal Lynch was 25th in 37:57.

The North Beach Jr. High runners finished their season with top performances. Kasey Hearn was the NB Jr. High runners with a 2nd place finish in the girls division. Sarah Kulhanek was the 9th place girl, while Cody Johnson finished 11th in the boys division.

“It was an excellent tuneup race for next weekends District Championships,” stated North Beach coach, Rick Leighty, “Everyone ran well and showed that their hard work is paying off. We now must repeat and ideally improve on our performance for November 1st.”

The District 4 B Cross Country Championships will be held at Evergreen State University in Olympia, October 31st on a 3.1 mile course. The Girl’s race will be held at 11:00 with the Boy’s running at 11:40. The top 4 teams and the top 20 individuals in the boys will qualify for the November 7th State Championships in Pasco. In the girl’s division the top 2 teams and the top 10 individuals will qualify.