Sports - High Schools

POSTED: Thursday, Oct. 22, 2009

PREP BOYS' CROSS COUNTRY: Bear Don't Walk finishes strong at NWC championships

BELLINGHAM - One year ago at the Northwest Conference Cross Country Championships, Nooksack Valley's Oliver Bear Don't Walk went out fast - really fast.

He was leading midway through the race, but quickly saw his advantage quickly disappear and ended up finishing 30th, more than a minute off the lead.

"I think last year was good for me," Bear Don't Walk said. "It got me in the right mindset. I knew what I could and couldn't do, I just didn't have the conditioning to keep it up."

Now a junior, Bear Don't Walk once again took off fast and was part of the lead pack on Thursday, Oct. 22, on the 5,000-meter Civic Stadium course. He stayed right on the heels of three top Class 2A runners - Connor Whan and Tyler Williams of Burlington-Edison and last year's NWC champion Scott Carlyle of Sehome.

But this year he managed to stick with the leaders throughout the race, finishing third with his time of 15 minutes, 56.32 seconds.

"I was running 90 miles a week," Bear Don't Walk said. "Every morning I would get up and run. It's nice to see all that hard work pay off."

Now he said he hopes Thursday helps propel him to a Class 1A individual state championship in a little over two weeks.

Whan, who has to be among the favorites for a 2A title, won the conference individual crown with his time of 15:38.43 and led the Tigers, who had all five scoring runners in the top 13, to the team title with 34 points.

"Burlington-Edison looks pretty good," Carlyle said. "They're going to be tough to beat these next two weeks (at the district and state meets). We're going to have to run great races."

Carlyle finished third in 15:49.79, as he, Whan and Bear Don't Walk all broke the course record he set a year earlier.

"I think I ran pretty well today," Carlyle said. "Connor's a good runner, but I stayed with him. ... He got a little bit ahead of me after the dip back there. I probably should have gone with him then. I'm not really sure why I decided not to."

Carlyle was the only Mariner to place in the top 15, though, opening the door for Squalicum to grab second place in the team standings with 78. Sehome finished with 85.

"I was happy with how the guys ran," Squalicum coach Peter Oviatt said. "Danny (Gibson) ran a great race, and we had some other strong runs in there, but what I was surprised with is how much everybody else has picked up. We started out strong and have kept getting better, but some other teams have made some really big jumps."

Gibson passed Williams to finish fourth with a time of 16:02.16. He was joined in the top 15 by Storm teammates Kole DeGolier (12th) and Patrick Gibson (15th).

Bellingham finished fourth with 92 points and was led by a 10th-place showing from Nick Lobb (16:20.58). The Red Raiders also got top-20 finishes from Andrew Ryder (11th) and Nick Rousseau (18th).

"That was a great run by Nick Rousseau," Bellingham's Bill McClement said. "I thought all our guys ran really relaxed, which was our plan for both our boys' and girls' teams coming in."

Connor Williams' 14th-place finish (16:29.03) helped lead Mount Baker to a sixth-place finish in the team standings with 183 points.

Bear Don't Walk led Nooksack Valley to a seventh-place finish with 193 points, while Lynden Christian finished eighth with 212 and was led by Jacob Hollander's 16th-place run in 16:32.35.

Lee George's ninth-place finish (16:10.75) led Ferndale to ninth in the team standings with 233 points, while Meridian was 10th with 259 and was led by Sam Ryan in 36th (17:06.57).

Freshman Tom Bradley finished 28th (16:53.08) to lead Blaine to 12th with 300 points, while Lynden finished 13th with 321 and was led by Dusty Duncan in 45th (17:30.70).

NORTHWEST CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS

At Civic Stadium

5,000 meters

Team scores: 1. Burlington-Edison 34, 2. Squalicum 78, 3. Sehome 85, 4. Bellingham 92, 5. Mount Vernon 164, 6. Mount Baker 183, 7. Nooksack Valley 193, 8. Lynden Christian 212, 9. Ferndale 233, 10. Meridian 259, 11. Anacortes 294, 12. Blaine 300, 13. Lynden 321, 14. Sedro-Woolley 375

Top individual finishers: 1. Connor Whan (Burlington-Edison) 15:38.43. 2. Scott Carlyle (Sehome) 15:49.79, 3. Oliver Bear Don't Walk (Nooksack Valley) 15:56.32, 4. Danny Gibson (Squalicum) 16:02.16, 5. Tyler Williams (Burlington-Edison) 16:04.23.

Burlington-Edison: 1. Connor Whan 15:38.43; 5. Tyler Williams 16:04.23; 7. Antonio Morales 16:05.65; 8. Nathan Power 16:09.97; 13. Alan DenAdel 16:28.78; 26. Darion Cherberg 16:50.76; 42. Ryan Spilsbury 17:22.98.

Squalicum: 4. Danny Gibson 16:02.16; 12. Kole DeGolier 16:28.45; 15. Patrick Gibson 16:30.96; 24. Jesse Runestrand 16:44.62; 25. Ian Palmgren 16:46.23; 30. Kyler Reed 16:58.58; 38. Hunter Bennett 17:12.24.

Sehome: 2. Scott Carlyle 15:49.79; 19. Nate Wilson 16:38.32; 20. Eric Schneider 16:38.49; 21. Kyle Szegedi 16:43.46; 27. Calvin Collander 16:51.95; 32. Blaine Nesbit 17:00.18; 35. Chase Mauro 17:05.63

Bellingham: 10. Nick Lobb 16:20.58; 11. Andrew Ryder 16:24.86; 18. Nick Rousseau 16:38.12; 22. Xion Knickrehm 16:44.19; 33. Grant Bennett 17:04.80; 41. Donovan Brogan 17:22.51; 57. Marshall Denton 17:52.51.

Mount Vernon: 6. Ethan Garrison 16:05.16; 17. Nate Minor 16:32.54; 34. John Groesbeck 17:05.05; 51. Jacob Phipps 17:40.26; 66. Daniel Corona 18:03.64; 77. Tyler Johnson 18:25.16; 78. Ben Kurtis 18:28.90; 108. Jared Jansen 19:47.10.

Mount Baker: 14. Connor Williams 16:29.03; 29. Dillon Quintana 16:57.71; 31. Wes Finger 16:59.10; 56. Matt Dunford 17:52.25; 65. Jonathan Carlson 18:02.02; 67. Jimmy Calhoun 18:05.41; 81. Billy Miles 18:36.83.

Nooksack Valley: 3. Oliver Bear Don't Walk 15:56.32; 40. Mitch Beard 17:15.98; 44. Connor Jackson 17:27.66; 60. Jordan VanDyken 17:57.49; 61. Forrest Crouse 17:58.17; 82. Trevor Parsons 18:38.50; 112. Brent Gwinner 19:54.57.

Lynden Christian: 16. Jacob Hollander 16:32.35; 49. Zach Crenshaw 17:35.56; 52. Chris VandenBos 17:42.35; 53. Tyler Reardon 17:47.39; 59. Luke Blok 17:55.11; 64. Hunter Weinert 18:01.83; 80. Josh Scholten 18:31.54.

Ferndale: 9. Lee George 16:10.75; 47. James Underwood 17:31.67; 54. Jake Catrain 17:50.67; 58. Logan Jungkuntz 17:52.87; 83. Isaac Robison 18:40.12; 85. Lucas Pitsch 18:42.42; 86. Alex Scheck 18:42.62.

Meridian: 36. Sam Ryan 17:06.57; 37. Evan Lee 17:09.05; 62. Joel Wiebe 17:59.74; 70. Marco Zamora 18:10.49; 71. Kelby Todd 18:11.56.

Anacortes: 23. Corey Rosson 16:44.42; 63. Nick Atkinson 18:01.17; 75. Zach Carter 18:16.77; 76. Tyler Thompson 18:24.84; 79. Lucas Papadakis 18:31.21; 88. Michael Hanson 18:46.30; 91. Jason Hogge 18:48.11.

Blaine: 28. Tom Bradley 16:53.08; 50. Perry Olason 17:37.48; 73. Eddie Fontes 18:15.29; 84. Andrew Montgomery 18:41.21; 87. Aaron Ballard 18:45.91; 89. A. J. Pieczynski 18:47.51; 94. Brad Whitley 18:58.15.

Lynden: 45. Dusty Duncan 17:30.70; 46. David Grambo 17:30.89; 68. Paulin Fleishman 18:06.36; 90. Jeremy Korthuis 18:47.83; 100. Josh Doerksen 19:04.37; 107. Taylor Jones 19:39.48.

Sedro-Woolley: 69. Josh Oudman 18:06.81; 72. Brandon Peden 18:14.72; 74. PJ DeVries 18:16.58; 95. Ryan Bradley 18:58.39; 99. Josh Macchi 19:04.14; 102. Isaac Bianchini 19:12.21; 110. Al Danielson 19:50.35.