BATTLE GROUND — Prairie yellow. Prairie yellow. Then Prairie yellow again.
Sophomore Lindsay Tompkins led that flash of yellow Wednesday, claiming the individual title in the girls race at the Class 3A District 4 Cross Country Championship at Lewisville Park. It turned out, Prairie’s 1-2-3 finish was absolutely needed in order to claim the team title.
That is because the next wave of runners all wore the black and red of Camas. The Papermakers got five runners in the top 11, but it was the Falcons who managed a two-point victory in an intense team race.
About a half-hour later, Andrew Kaler of Camas outlasted Ryan Lisowski of Columbia River to win the boys race.
Lisowski and the Chieftains got to celebrate, as well. They won the team title, again in a close battle, taking down Camas by nine points, 27-38.
The top 20 individuals and top four teams from both races qualified for next week’s bi-district meet. From there, the top teams and individuals will qualify for state. The district meet, featuring teams from the Class 3A Greater St. Helens League, was the first step in the process.
And the Prairie girls like what it looks like from up in front of the pack.
“We just know we’re all there to help each other,” said Tompkins who finished the 3.1-mile event in 18 minutes, 14 seconds, two seconds ahead of teammate Taylor Guenther. “All of our times just get faster.”
“It makes it more of a team-thing for me,” Guenther said of having her teammates around her during most of the race.
“I think it makes me faster,” added third-place finisher Nicole Goecke. “I look ahead and see those two in front of me.”
If they had looked back, the would have seen a bunch of Papermakers on the hunt. Megan Napier, Jackie Premo, Austen Reiter, and Lindsay Wourms finished fourth through seventh.
“We tried to run for our teammates today,” Napier said. “We want to do well individually, but we also wanted to do well as a team.”
The Papermakers were oh-so-close, but when adding the top five finishers for each team, it was the Falcons — courtesy of that 1-2-3 finish — who left the park with the championship, 31-33.
The Prairie triumvirate ended up with a big lead over the rest of the field over the final mile of the course. It was just a matter of who would win.
“I was just doing my best to finish it out. I knew she was there,” Tompkins said, referring to Guenther. “I was just trying to get out of there.”
Guenther said she never really had a shot against Tompkins on this day.
Make no mistake, though.
They might be teammates, but they are competitive.
“Today was just her day,” Guenther said before turning to Tompkins and with a smile: “Next time, I’ll get you.”
Kaler led the last half of the boys race, but it was far from a sure thing, not with Lisowski making a charge.
“That River kid gave me quite a heart attack out there,” Kaler said. “He really pushed me. About 300 meters from the end, we both started pouring it on. I ended up outkicking him.”
Kaler finished the course in 15 minutes, 29 seconds, four seconds ahead of Lisowski.
“Hopefully the next two years will go this way, too,” said Kaler, a sophomore. “But right now, I’m just happy.”
Lisowski, who finished 15th last year, was pleased with his time and his second-place finish. But he was more thrilled with helping the Chieftains to their third consecutive district crown — even without senior Brian Piette, who has been out with an injury since early this month.
“The team title means every person on our team, from our freshmen to the seniors, are working hard and doing their best in the race to beat everyone that they can,” Lisowski said. “It really is a team sport. We train together, and we win together.”
Teammate Markus Duhamel finished third in the race.
“I didn’t come out here to win the race,” he said. “I just wanted our team to do well.”
Tucker Boyd of Camas and Heith Meler of Columbia River rounded out the top five in the boys race.
