STATE CROSS COUNTRY: Youthful Port Angeles girls runners have shot at a high finish

PORT ANGELES — For the second straight year, the Port Angeles girls’ cross-country team is the Westside Classic District III 2A champion.

While this is a remarkable accomplishment in its own right, what makes it especially remarkable is that the Roughriders this season won district with five new members on the team and no seniors. The team is made up mostly of sophomores and freshman, some of whom even managed to get lost on a cross-country course last season.

One of those young runners, sophomore Emma Weaver, told a story about “going off on an adventure” at a race last year when some Port Angeles runners missed a turn. “We had to climb a few fences,” she said.

Well, they’ve climbed a big fence this year, with a solid chance to finish in the top 10 at the 2A state cross-country championships in Pasco on Saturday.

The 2017 girls team was led by seniors Gracie Long and Madelyn Dougherty, both of whom are now running cross country in college (Long at Corban College in Salem, Ore., and Dougherty now at Central Washington).

The 2018 squad of zero seniors and just two juniors will compete as a full team at state after securing the No. 1 seed from District III by simply dominating at the Westside Classic.

“It’s an absolute thrill, we’re not only preparing for one race [at state], we’re already preparing for next year,” said girls’ coach Cheryl Gerardi.

The team is led by a strong young sophomore Lauren Larson, who had a solid freshman year. When Long struggled at the end of the season with illness, Larson became the top runner on the team.

This year, Larson has been lights out. She has won six total races, including league and district championships.

Along the way, she surged past North Kitsap sophomore phenom Madison Zosa, who blew everyone away in winning league and district last season.

In 2017, Zosa as a freshman won league by beating second-place Larson by 29 seconds and she won district by a staggering 51 seconds. This season, Larson beat Zosa by two seconds at league and nine seconds at district.

Larson didn’t anticipate at the beginning of the season that she would have such a successful year. “But, as I got to know the competition better, [winning league and district] started looking more realistic,” she said.

Last year, Larson finished 10th at state. This year, her goal is a top 5 finish.

Larson didn’t win district all by herself. In 2017 in winning district, the Roughriders had five runners in the top 49. This year, they had five in the top 33. Junior Kynzie DeLeon was fifth, junior Ella Holland 16th, freshman Kaylee Helgesen was 22nd, sophomore Kathryn Guttormsen was 33rd. For good measure, sophomore Emma Weaver was 45th and freshman Jenna McGoff was 47th.

The Riders won district by a solid margin in 2017, 90 points to Steilacoom’s 118. This year, to reiterate with no seniors, they crushed the competition, tallying 75 points (lower is better in cross country, much like golf), to Highline’s 161.

Only three girls on the team have postseason experience from 2017.

“I started out thinking I wouldn’t do well at all,” said Weaver.

“I did better than I thought I would. I came in not knowing what to expect,” said McGoff.

DeLeon, who runs track for the Riders, is another newcomer on the cross-country team who has contributed a lot to the team’s success with eight top-5 finishes on the season. DeLeon, who played soccer last year in the fall, thinks part of the team’s success is based on “we all support each other really well.”

The team also continues to get encouragement from Long and Dougherty, who were such a huge part of the team last and leaders for the freshmen and sophomores on the team. The girls said that even though Long and Dougherty are no longer around, they’re still part of the team.

“Gracie was sending us texts wishing us well,” DeLeon said. Long even showed up at one of the Riders’ races in Bellevue, surprising the team with her appearance.

Most of the girls run track for the Riders in the spring and some will be trying track for the first time. One of the big differences between track and cross country? You can’t get lost in track.

“Although I could probably still find a way to get lost,” Guttormsen said.

And to prevent that from happening, Gerardi said the team makes a point of studying race routes before each race. And true to her word, she had a map of the Pasco race in her hands at a recent practice.

And the team has a map to a very strong future.

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Sports Editor Pierre LaBossiere can be contacted at 360-417-3525 or plabossiere@peninsuladailynews.com.