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Monday, March 18, 2024
March 18, 2024

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Blankenship, Ferris make splash at 3A district cross country

By , Columbian Sports Editor
Published:

BATTLE GROUND — Austin Blankenship and Jamie Ferris literally left the competition in their wake.

The Class 3A district cross country meet Wednesday didn’t need course markers. Navigational buoys would have been more fitting.

A drenching rain saw the 2.9-mile Lewisville Park course become pock-marked with ankle- to shin-deep puddles.

Prairie coach Phil Phimister said it was the wettest he had seen a course in his roughly 30 years as a coach.

The wetness added adventure and novelty to races that were runaways. Neither the individual nor team competitions were close.

Blankenship, a senior at Columbia River, repeated as district champ. His time of 15 minutes, 19 seconds was 39 seconds faster than the second-place runner Aidan Lowman of Kelso.

Blankenship led five Columbia River runners in the top nine — Ian Rose placed third, Daniel Nehnevaj was fourth, Ryan Boe was seventh and Keegan Hanes rounded out the Chieftains scorers in ninth. The Chieftains’ 24 points were half that of second-place Kelso.

The rain didn’t bother Blankenship, who led by 20 seconds at the one-mile mark and continued to push the pace.

“It’s Washington,” he said. “Getting muddy and having fun is what cross country is all about.”

Wednesday might have been fun, but the season is getting serious for Blankenship and other top runners in the state. Next weekend is the 3A bi-district championships at American Lake Golf Course south of Tacoma followed by the state meet Nov. 8 in Pasco.

“I’m looking forward to running with some of the faster guys in the state,” said Blankenship, who finished 20th in state last year. “Hopefully I’ll finish in the top 10.”

Ferris, a Prairie senior, won her first district title after finishing second last year and third in 2012. She gradually pulled away from teammate Michaela Bruns to win by 37 seconds in 18:14.

The Falcons won the team title with 22 points, 24 ahead of Columbia River. Lindsay Asplund gave Prairie a sweep of the top three places, while teammates Meghan Bruns (seventh) and Sydney Roeske (ninth) rounded out the scorers.

When approaching a puddle, some runners opted to go around the edges.

Ferris wasn’t having any of that.

“With this sort of race, you just run through them,” Ferris said. “If you run around them, you’re adding so much to the race and it trips you up mentally. You’re going to be wet, so you just have to accept that. By the end, you just don’t care.”

Ferris is looking to build on her 16th-place finish at last year’s state meet.

“I’m really happy with it,” Ferris said of her race Wednesday. “I gave it my all. You can’t look at times because they’re going to be slower.”

Four teams competed Wednesday with the top three earning berths to the bi-district meet. Prairie, Columbia River and Kelso were the team qualifiers in both the boys and girls races.

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