PASCO — Sometimes it’s just not your day.
That sums up a disappointing Saturday for the Glacier Peak Grizzlies at Saturday’s Class 3A state cross country meet.
The Grizzlies suffered an individual and a team defeat that could at the very least be described as unexpected.
Glacier Peak’s Amy-Eloise Neale, the two-time defending state champion, lost a state meet for the first time, finishing second to North Central’s Katie Knight. Knight took first with a time of 17 minutes, 10.6 seconds while Neale ran the course roughly 18 seconds behind her with a time of 17:28.8.
Both runners topped Neale’s state record time of 17:31 from a year ago.
“It was the support of all my family and friends and everybody who was here to cheer for me,” Knight said. “The hard work that I have done this season has really been paying off. It was one of those races where it all just clicked. If it hadn’t have clicked, (Neale) would have gotten me. When I went into that race, I didn’t know if I was going to win or not. It was just a final push.”
Knight had finished second at state to Neale as a freshman and sophomore.
Neale gave the credit to Knight after Saturday’s state meet.
“I think that Katie Knight had a really strong race,” Neale said. “She put on a lot of really strong moves throughout the race. She was really tough today.”
Neale had the lead at the two-mile mark, but said the race turned with about a quarter of a mile remaining.
Knight had to pull out all the stops to get the state championship that has eluded her.
“I have raced with her enough times that I can start to tell that she is getting tired,” Knight said of Neale. “And so I could feel it, and I was just like, ‘Okay, one more, just make one more move.’ And she stuck with me because she is so amazing and finally I just made one last move and it worked.”
Glacier Peak head coach Dan Parker was asked how Knight finally defeated Neale, who came into the race ranked second in the nation according to ESPN.com.
“I am not sure, to tell you the truth,” Parker said.
“Somewhere out there she decided that the effort wasn’t worth making, I guess,” Parker added. “It happened past the two-mile mark, they were right together. Anytime they are right together, it comes down to the end, Amy is going to blow her out of the water because she has great closing speed. But they went up and around the green and when they came off that she had about 10 or 15 yards on her. So right in there the decision was made and the gap was widened from there.”
Glacier Peak’s second disappointment came at the hands on Camas High School, who unseeded the Grizzlies as the team state champions by just two points. Camas finished with 58 points and the Grizzlies finished with 60.
“As far as disappointments go, crushing disappointments,” Parker said. “Well, a two-point loss, that hurts. We had the race won right here with about 200 yards to go by maybe 10 points. And my number four and five girls allowed the two Camas girls to not only catch them in the last 200, 100 yards, but to have one of them move past. That was essentially it right there. We had it won.”
Parker said that as the years go by, this will be a not-so-pleasant memory that stands out for his girls.
“Essentially they are going to remember this for the rest of their lives as the state championship that they gave away.”
Katie Bianchini finished fifth in 18:17, Marlee Rothschild finished 19th in 19:15 and Megan Davis and Marren Haneberg finished 29th and 30th respectively, both with a 19:31.
Oak Harbor finished 10th with 249 points and Meadowdale’s Haley Suarez was the highest local non-Glacier Peak runner finishing 15th in 19:03.
Aaron Lommers covers prep sports for The Herald. Follow him on twitter @aaronlommers and contact him at aaronlommers@gmail.com.
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