Cross Country | Northwest School's thankful "Ms. Manners" dominates

PASCO — With a wide, braces-filled smile and a hug, Maddie Meyers was the first to congratulate her competition after the Class 1A cross-country meet.

Perhaps it was the least the Northwest School freshman — whose name on the back of her team sweat shirt reads "Ms. Manners" — could do after dominating the field with a 1A girls' course-record 18 minutes, 53 seconds at Sun Willows Golf Course on Saturday.

Meyers' time was 41 seconds faster than defending-champion Olivia Thomas, whose second-place finish led King's to a third-consecutive team title. Meyers' impressive victory capped a decorated season that the ninth-grader never imagined.

"I thought maybe top 10 would be good," said Meyers of her modest expectations at the start of the year.

Instead Meyers, who has trained at the Junior Olympic level, finished with a personal-best time, separating from the front pack of Thomas and Chanda Romney of Forks at the 1.5-mile mark.

It ended in a result her peers could only marvel at.

"I did the best I could," said Thomas, a senior who has finished on the podium each of her four years. "My goal was to race with no regrets, and I couldn't have gone any faster."

Thomas still left the meet a champion, though, as the top-ranked King's team won a third-straight 1A team title. The Knights of Shoreline were also the state academic champions with a combined 3.939 grade-point average.

"It's really exciting to see them go out on a high note," said King's coach Rod Wilcox of his seniors. "Obviously Olivia was a little disappointed, but winning as a team took a little edge off the disappointment."

King's win was just one of three three-peats in the girls' smaller classifications. In the 2A girls race, Sehome of Bellingham won its third team title in a row with a narrow 93-99 win over Cedarcrest of Duval Northwest Christian of Lacey won the 2B/1B title.

Sehome and Northwest Christian also won team titles on the boys side. The Mariners bested this year's 2A field with two runners (Clinton Overman and Scott Carlyle) in the top four.

Other individual winners included: Sequim's Allison Cutting (girls 2A, 18:25), Neola Putnam of Trout Lake/Glenwood (girls 2B/1B, 19:18), Selah's James Currell (boys 2A, 16:06), Quinton Decker of Port Townsend (boys 1A, 15:56) and Jeff Pope of Valley Christian in Spokane (boys 2B/1B 16:12).