Prep Roundup | TJ's girls cross-country team ends Tahoma's long run

AUBURN — Thomas Jefferson's girls cross-country team extended a winning streak Wednesday, and in the process ended Tahoma of Maple Valley's longer run of dual-meet success.

The Raiders, led by individual winner Kenna Patrick, had four of the top five finishers on their 3.1-mile home course and ran their streak to 49 consecutive wins over dual-meet opponents. They're unbeaten since 2001.

"Obviously we're pretty happy with it [beating Tahoma]," Thomas Jefferson coach Paul Ruston said. "It's more of a relief than anything."

Tahoma had defeated 89 consecutive opponents, a run that dated to 1996.

Patrick, two-time SPSL champion with back-to-back top-10 finishes at state, broke her own course record with a time of 18 minutes, 44.7 seconds. The previous best was 18:52.3.

Teammate Vanessa Bennum (19:25) was second and Tahoma's Hannah Mittelstaedt (19:30.7) took third.

Jefferson's Cassidy Robey (19:36.3) was fourth, and impressed Ruston.

"Our third girl had the most improvement of any of our girls," the coach said. "She had a really strong performance."

Robey's previous best time on the course was 20:57.

Tahoma, ranked fifth in Class 4A by the state coaches association, has won 10 consecutive SPSL North championships.

Second-ranked Jefferson won the past five SPSL South titles.

The teams avoided meeting each other in dual meets because they were in separate SPSL divisions. This year, because of a statewide realignment, Jefferson moved to the North.

Note

• Christy Cochrane had 10 kills, nine aces and 13 digs to help lead Nathan Hale to a 3-1 win over West Seattle in a Metro League Sound Division volleyball showdown. Game scores were 25-13, 26-28, 25-14, 25-14.

Alicia Schmoker had 14 kills and 15 digs for West Seattle (5-5 overall, 3-2 league).

The first-place Raiders improved to 6-3, 5-0.