Sports - Sports News

POSTED: Thursday, Oct. 22, 2009

PREP GIRLS' CROSS COUNTRY: Krieger leads Sehome to NWC championship

BELLINGHAM - It was hard to miss the smile on Mimi Krieger's face as she neared the finish line. In fact, the Sehome junior smiled all the way around the track at Civic Stadium.

"When I came back into the stadium, I saw my time up on the scoreboard clock was 17:15," Krieger said. "That's exactly what I was aiming for. I knew if I could get back on the track with a 17:15, I would have a chance to PR (set a personal record). I beat my personal record by 10 seconds."

One year after finishing third at the Northwest Conference Cross Country Championships, Krieger came in first with a time of 18:30.11 on Thursday, Oct. 22, to lead the Mariners to the conference team title with 35 points. She was one of four Mariners to finish in the top 10 in the race, joining defending race champion Annie Moore (third), Jaden Duffy (eighth) and Katie Delahunt (ninth).

Bellingham had two runners - Molly Leischner (fifth) and Allie Reynolds (seventh) - finish in the top 10 and finished second to Sehome with 71 points, while Squalicum placed third with 106, as teams can now start to size themselves up for the next two weeks of postseason meets.

"It was kind of a mixed bag for us today," Squalicum coach Peter Oviatt said. "Obviously I'm ecstatic to get top-10 runs from Molly (Rider, fourth) and Brittany (Gappa, sixth), and to have a number of our girls set PRs. But on the other side, we finished behind Bellingham, and that kind of concerns me heading into next week. Only four teams go from our district, and you figure Sehome and Cedarcrest are going, and Lakeside looks pretty good, and then Bellingham beats us today. ... To have so many of our girls run so good and then get beat, that's a little concerning and a little frustrating."

The difference on Thursday was the strong finishes by Bellingham's mid-pack runners. While Kelsey Thomas, Clara Reid and Bekah Johnson finished 16th, 20th and 23rd, respectively, Squalicum's 3-4-5 runners finished in the 30s.

"I thought our girls ran real relaxed," Bellingham coach Bill McClement said. "That's what we hoped they would do - that and have some fun. We realized that we just needed to run within ourselves today, and I thought our kids did a great job of that. ... Squalicum is a quality opponent, and we know it's going to be quite a race with them next week."

Both teams, like most of the rest of the district, probably will be chasing Sehome at the Class 2A Northwest District Meet on Oct. 31 at South Whidbey, though, as Krieger was far from the only Mariner to PR on Thursday.

"We all ran pretty good today," said Delahunt, who said she knocked 40 seconds off her personal best on the Civic Stadium course, which makes multiple loops around the track surface and weaves around the surrounding complex. "I definitely think we're in good position heading to district and state."

Part of the reason for the optimism is for the first time Sehome ran with its top two runners in the same race. Krieger and Moore have battled a number of injuries and illnesses throughout the season and have not been able to go full out together until Thursday.

"It's been a little frustrating this year, but it's also given our third and fourth girls a chance to see what it's like to lead the team," Krieger said.

Moore, who has battled a foot and lower-leg injury this year, broke to the front on Thursday and held a 20-second lead midway through the race, but Krieger and Mount Vernon's Tessa Murray managed to pass her shortly before heading back into the stadium for the final time.

"It was definitely good to have the whole team together today," Delahunt said. "We showed that we can survive without Annie and Mimi this year, but obviously it's a lot better to have them back today and hopefully for the rest of the year."

Murray's second-place finish helped Mount Vernon finish second (116 points), while Sedro-Woolley placed fifth (147) and Burlington-Edison was sixth (156).

Kiersten Sigfusson got a top-10 finish with her time of 19:41.48 and led Blaine to a seventh-place finish with 229 points.

Jayna Edmonds finished 33rd in 21:12.05 to help the Trojans to the top finish by a Class 1A school and eighth place overall with 235 points.

Nooksack Valley (250 points) was right behind and was led by a 17th-place finish from Bailey DeBruin (20:19.42).

Rachel Hunter's 26th-place finish (20:45.10) led Mount Baker to 10th with 258 points, while Ferndale's Megan Morrison placed 13th overall in 19:58.16 to lead the Golden Eagles to 11th (260). Emily Visser (58th, 22:13.84) was the top finisher for 12th-place Lynden Christian, while Hannah VanZanten (19th, 20:30.97) got a top-20 finish for Lynden.

NORTHWEST CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS

At Civic Stadium

5,000 meters

Team scores: 1. Sehome 35, 2. Bellingham 71, 3. Squalicum 106, 4. Mount Vernon 116, 5. Sedro-Woolley 147, 6. Burlington-Edison 156, 7. Blaine 229, 8. Meridian 235, 9. Nooksack Valley 250, 10. Mount Baker 258, 11. Ferndale 260, 12. Lynden Christian 297, 13. Lynden 307.

Top individual finishers: 1. Mimi Krieger (Sehome) 18:30.11; 2. Tessa Murray (Mount Vernon) 18:43.42; 3. Annie Moore (Sehome) 18:52.77; 4. Molly Rider (Squalicum) 18:57.78; 5. Molly Leischner (Bellingham) 18:58.28.

Sehome: 1. Mimi Krieger 18:30.11; 3. Annie Moore 18:52.77; 8. Jaden Duffy 19:15.11; 9. Katie Delahunt 19:35.22; 14. Natalie Anderson 19:58.60; 21. Mahina Kaholokula 20:34.50; 22. Christy Sanford 20:35.69.

Bellingham: 5. Molly Leischner 18:58.28; 7. Allie Reynolds 19:12.81; 16. Kelsey Thomas 20:11.13; 20. Clara Reid 20:32.35; 23. Bekah Jensen 20:36.00; 30. Breck Smith 21:03.98; 37. Cory Brown 21:27.87.

Squalicum: 4. Molly Rider 18:57.78; 6. Brittany Gappa 19:00.70; 31. Tyler Franzen 21:06.06; 35. Abby Ludeman 21:25.22; 36. Katie Yaremko 21:27.37; 39. Cynthia Lilleston 21:28.72; 40. Makena DeGolier 21:30.20.

Mount Vernon: 2. Tessa Murray 18:43.42; 12. Kayla Johnston 19:55.31; 27. Jillian Beldin 20:52.12; 38. Makayla Kamb 21:28.37; 46. Teylor Wilbur 21:41.65; 50. Emma Johnson 21:53.55.

Sedro-Woolley: 18. Nicky Oudman 20:29.13; 24. Marissa Stiles 20:36.58; 29. Sharayah Blair-Nelson 21:00.01; 32. Jordyn Adams 21:06.63; 55. Sunny Garza 22:01.38; 62. Amy Halstead 22:26.73; 64. Amelia Wemple 22:31.58.

Burlington-Edison: 11. Sydney Brown 19:53.96; 15. Keala Bingham 20:09.29; 47. Kyndall Bingham 21:45.33; 48. Ali Dowling 21:50.76; 54. MacKenzie Templeton 21:59.68; 68. Rachel Garcia 22:55.53; 77. Kristine Thoe 23:48.44.

Blaine: 10. Kiersten Sigfusson 19:41.48; 34. Brittany Kent 21:19.87; 59. Rachael McKinstry 22:14.07; 63. Cassidy Hill 22:30.42; 92. Priya Sall 28:28.68.

Meridian: 33. Jayna Edmonds 21:12.05; 51. Jessica Hofbauer 21:55.43; 56. Hannah Hoyt 22:11.65; 57. Jill Crandall 22:12.88; 70. Marina Mendoza 23:11.38; 71. Rachel Hofbauer 23:15.68.

Nooksack Valley: 17. Bailey DeBruin 20:19.42; 53. Jordan Harvey 21:57.09; 61. Brittany Van Dyken 22:15.21; 73. Lynzee Davis 23:37.43; 79. Natalie Vandeist 24:14.50.

Mount Baker: 26. Rachel Hatcher 20:45.10; 52. Deanna Bozzo 21:56.91; 60. Ashley Fullner 22:14.99; 69. Brianna Zender 23:03.84; 84. Krity Pilat 24:46.63; 91. Ashley Davila 27:29.74; 93. Katie Wiede 28:47.37.

Ferndale: 13. Megan Morrison 19:58.16; 41. Makalee Latta 21:32.68; 74. Elysee Ledford 23:42.13; 81. Sabrina Delzell 24:19.72; 82. Karolin Anders 24:26.73; 85. Grace Burlingame 25:05.41; 87. Lauren Mittelstaedt 25:10.38.

Lynden Christian: 58. Emily Visser 22:13.84; 66. Chelsea Whitener 22:34.42; 67. Mia Unrein 22:43.61; 72. Lauren Visser 23:15.86; 76. Danica Dvorachek 23:44.33.

Lynden: 19. Hannah VanZanten 20:30.97; 78. Amber Stokes 23:49.03; 80. Kelly Lam 24:19.50; 83. Taryn Vis 24:43.05; 88. Amanda Pitts 25:13.08.

Anacortes: 49. Terrah Romano 21:50.97; 75. Alexis Chandler 23:44.12; 86. Jazmyne Sturgeon 25:05.73; 90. Erika Payne 26:00.72.