Cross country best-ever sixth in state

From today’s Daily World coverage of the state championship cross country meet, held yesterday in Pasco:

North Beach’s Derek Moore came away with the best finish for any Twin Harbors runner on the day, leading the Hyaks to a sixth­ place team finish in the B boys meet.
Moore earned a podium spot with a 12th-place finish at 17:50, with South Bend’s Nathan Rogers alsoearning a spot on the podium in 14th at 17:52. The Hyaks’ Ben Gro­ver took 20th at 18:18, with team­mates Zack Deibel (39th at 18:37), Skyler Whipple (64th at 19:11) and Cody James (89th at 19:46) scoring for the team.
Hyak coach Rick Leighty was pleased with Moore’s finish as well as the team’s best team finish in school history. “He probably ran a near-per­fect race,” said Leighty, who noted that some of the runners were ill. “He settled into the top 15 and, in the last half-mile, started to pluck guys off to finish 12th.
“We set a goal for fourth place, but we’re happy with sixth,” Leighty added.

Mitchell McConkey took 55th place for Ocosta at 18:57, with two North Beach runners finishing, but not scoring for the team — Joseph Wagner (109th at 20:28) and Dylan Hearn (113th at 20:42).