Shelton boys qualify for state cross country meet

The Shelton boys cross country team qualified for the state tournament with a fourth-place finish at the District IV cross country meet Oct. 27 at Lewis River Golf Course in Woodland.

Jacob Miller was the highest finisher for the Highclimbers in third place, completing the race in 16 minutes, 9 seconds. Jaydon Blackburn took ninth place in 16:43. Carson Bursch took 21st place in 17:10, Landon Bursch finished 39th in 17:55 and Jack Parker ended in 51st place with a time of 18:32. Richard Beckman placed 55th and Nathan Gomez earned 65th place.

Tumwater won the boys team title. Tumwater's John Hoffer won the race in 15:50.

Lily Bennett will be joining the boys in Pasco this weekend. Bennett finished 26th in 21:05 to earn a spot in the state race.

Washougal's Sydnee Boothby won the girls race in 18:24 and Washougal won the girls team title.

Miller was happy with how he finished at districts.

"It was really awesome. Last year, I raced at the same course, so going back there, racing it again, I just wanted to really put it out there," Miller told the Journal. "It was really hard but I just stuck with the pack, put it all out there and came out with a third-place result, which is better than I was ranked going in and so I'm happy with that."

This is Miller's second year running cross country. He was a soccer player, who decided he wasn't that good at soccer, but is good at running.

"After I joined, I remember my first race where I got first on the team and I was like, 'Wow, that's crazy,' " Miller recalled. "It was awesome and I'm just having fun with it."

He said training has been a big part of helping him get to where he's at, and he credits the team for pushing each other.

Blackburn finished ninth and said he was pleased with his performance at the district race.

"It turned out that the original plan was for me and Jacob (Miller), we were going to go out with the front pack. That wasn't going to work for me, so I've never had a race like this before," Blackburn said. "I was in what coach calls 'No man's land,' so I was racing by myself for practically the entire time. Having that, I don't have someone to race with, which is mentally, it's kind of unsettling. I had to go the entire race pretty much by myself. It was more of a mental challenge than physical. I was running scared because there were 100 other kids behind me and so running by myself, it really is an unsettling feeling because I always have someone to race with, my teammate Jacob. The fact I was able to do that by myself, I was pretty pleased with that."

Blackburn is also a senior and he said he's been satisfied with his progression throughout his high school career. He started cross country in middle school because he liked running track and all his friends were competing in cross country.

"I first heard about the neighbor kid who is a lot older than me. He did cross country, you should do cross country," Blackburn said. "So I always had this, what is this cross country? Running through trails and stuff, I thought that was really fun."

Blackburn said the team has stuck together, knew what the team was capable of, and they have been training every day.

"We do a lot together. We're not just teammates, we're close friends," Miller said. "It (state) will probably be emotional but we're just going to have fun the whole way."

Shelton coach John Johnson said he was pleased with how Shelton performed at districts, showing a lot of mental toughness. During a speech before practice on Monday, he mentioned that the boys team finished last in league during the COVID-19 season but has qualified for state the last two years.

"That's the cool thing about sport. If you keep doing the little things every day, and you get a group of guys that agree to do that together, then that's when you turn things around, that's how you build success," Johnson told the Journal. "We've been really lucky because we just get groups of kids that like each other and want to work together. It's happened before and it happened again, it's nice to point out to them. It's like look, you guys decided to do this work together, you did what mattered, you focused on recovery, you focused on enjoying each other, focus on being consistent and back-to-back state appearances now."

Johnson said Bennett was hurt during track season and didn't have the same development during track season last year, but she's focused on strength training. Johnson said he was proud of Bennett for showing resolve and mental toughness and ran her fastest five kilometers ever.

Blackburn and Miller both hope to run in college. Blackburn has been getting letters and hopes to run at Saint Martin's University in Lacey and Miller said he is looking to run at Western Washington University in Bellingham.

Last year, the boys team was happy to be at the state meet at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco. This year, they want to make some noise.

"Last year, going to the state meet was our prize, our goal. Just making it there," Miller said. "This year, we're looking to do something. We're going to try to race well and me personally, being on the podium would be a fun goal which I think is top 15. It's up there, but I'm looking forward to it."

North Mason

North Mason's Jackson Bergdahl, Kezlie Thygesen and Cali DuPont all qualified for the state meet after competing at the Westside Classic District cross country championships on Oct. 29 at Chambers Bay in University Place.

In the girls race, Thygesen finished fifth with a time of 19 minutes, 46 seconds. DuPont placed 28th with a time of 22:01.

Bergdahl placed 24th in the boys race with a time of 17:38.

The Bulldogs will head to Pasco on Saturday to compete in the state cross country meet at Sun Willows Golf Course.

Author Bio

Matt Baide, Reporter

Shelton-Mason County Journal & Belfair Herald
Email: [email protected]

• Email: [email protected]